A.J. Allmendinger survives chaotic inaugural Portland Xfinity race

It might be an understatement to call the inaugural NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway a calamity. As rain fell upon the 1.9-mile road course, many drivers went off course or were involved in unusual accidents as they slipped and slid along. A.J. Allmendinger, who already has seven road course wins in his NASCAR career, started at the rear following major repairs and survived his own off-road excursions to win yet again.

“I crashed before it went green,” Allmendinger quipped. He previously won his maiden Champ Car race at the track in 2006. “I was making so many mistakes, trying so hard. I put so much pressure on myself in these races because I know what everyone expects and I know what I expect out of myself, more importantly.”

Perennial road course favourites Sheldon Creed, who won at Portland in the Stadium Super Trucks in 2019, and Ty Gibbs looked to be the top names as they dominated the first half of the race. However, Gibbs’ race took a turn when he was turned by the laps-down Jesse Iwuji from the lead. Iwuji, whose rookie campaign has drawn scrutiny for frequently being off the pace, later apologised to Gibbs via social media message.

“I want to sincerely apologize to the #54 team for the incident during the caution at Portland,” began his statement. “It was not intentional at all. When the caution came out the #54 had accidentally passed me so race control had came over the radio and told me to go buy him and the pace car and get behind the field. Right after I had gotten that communication over the radio from my crew, the #54 car was nearing Turn 1 and had moved over to the outside wall which I assumed he was doing because I needed to pass him when in reality he was only moving over to big arc his corner into that turn and when he did I was already heading right to the inside of the corner where we collided and I accidentally spun him. I received some damage and I’m not sure if he did. I got penalized 2 laps and also had to go see the series director after the race. Once again, I apologize for the incident and any issues it caused.”

Creed was also the victim of drama when a turn one stack-up on a restart caused Jade Buford to clip his rear and spin him. As Creed and much of the field had to skip the chicane, he could not avoid Alex Labbé and destroyed his front end. Perhaps taking a page from his mentor Robby Gordon without throwing his helmet, Creed walked up the racing surface and gave two middle fingers to Buford (whose Big Machine Racing Team is a technical ally of Creed’s Richard Childress Racing), though the recipient later explained Ryan Sieg had pushed him into Creed.

With Creed out and Gibbs having to scramble through the field, Allmendinger and Myatt Snider became the new contenders, and the latter would score the Stage #2 win. Multiple cautions for debris were called during the final segment to set up a restart with four laps remaining. Despite an effort by Snider, Allmendinger’s road course prowess was just too much for Snider to handle.

“Just A.J.’s experience. I could tell he was setting up those (corner) exits better than I was,” commented Snider. “To me, that was good hard racing.”

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	10	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
2	25	31	Myatt Snider	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
3	2	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
4	19	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Running
5	9	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Running
6	3	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
7	6	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	75	Running
8	35	66	J.J. Yeley	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	75	Running
9	11	9	Noah Gragson	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Running
10	23	36	Alex Labbé	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
11	22	19	Brandon Jones	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	75	Running
12	28	68	Brandon Brown	Brandonbilt Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Running
13	20	5	Scott Heckert	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Ford	75	Running
14	5	48	Jade Buford	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	75	Running
15	13	10	Landon Cassill	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
16	27	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	75	Running
17	15	44	Andy Lally	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	75	Running
18	17	13	Matt Jasol*	MBM Motorsports	Toyota	75	Running
19	36	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Toyota	75	Running
20	12	02	Brett Moffitt	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	75	Running
21	33	07	Joe Graf Jr.	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	75	Running
22	31	78	Josh Williams	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	74	Running
23	37	47	Ryan Vargas	Mike Harmon Racing	Chevrolet	73	Running
24	26	45	Stefan Parsons	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	73	Running
25	29	91	Mason Filippi	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	72	Running
26	38	34	Jesse Iwuji	Jesse Iwuji Motorsports	Chevrolet	71	Running
27	18	26	Parker Chase	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	62	Accident
28	8	18	Connor Mosack	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	62	Accident
29	24	08	Spencer Pumpelly	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	62	Accident
30	34	4	Bayley Currey	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Accident
31	1	23	Anthony Alfredo	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	62	Accident
32	7	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	55	Accident
33	21	27	Jeb Burton	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	55	Accident
34	16	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	44	Accident
35	14	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	35	Accident
36	30	6	Gray Gaulding	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	27	Accident
37	32	38	Darren Dilley	RSS Racing	Ford	25	Accident
38	4	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	12	Accident

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points