Abnormal Day Ends with Allmendinger Winning Portland

Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR

AJ Allmendinger Wins Wacky Inaugural Xfinity Race at Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. – “It might be one of the craziest wins I’ve ever had, most mistakes ever to win a race for sure,” AJ Allmendinger said after taking the victory in a wild Portland race. The inaugural Xfinity race from Portland International Raceway was unforgettable to say the least. After starting in heavy rain conditions, transitioning to dry, only to have showers again, the racing was quite literally all over the place. Many restart crashes took out close to half the field. On the final restart though, it was Allmendinger taking the win away from Myatt Snider. Portland marks win two of 2022 for Allmendinger and the Kaulig 16 crew. 

This race truly had two very distinct halves. All but one lap of Stage 1 was led by Ty Gibbs, as the 54 took off like a rocket in the wet. Gibbs was very much unchallenged out front, as he cruised to the Stage win by 15 seconds.

Gibbs appeared to be well on his way to another win for Stage 2, until a late caution came out. Under caution the first weird moment of the day happened, as Jesse Iwuji spun Gibbs out in turn one. The 34 was three laps off the pace and trying to get by Gibbs, but communication had not yet reached driver 54. After minimal damage, Gibbs was able to retain his spot as leader.

On the restart, Noah Gragson undercut the 54 into turn one, briefly grabbing the lead away from Gibbs. However, the 54 ran into the back of the 9, spinning him from the top spot.

Once Gragson went around, the race lead went to ringer Andy Lally. Despite his best efforts, Lally was passed late in Stage 2 by Myatt Snider, picking up his first career Stage win. The Jordan Anderson Racing No. 31 would be a heavy factor for the rest of this race, with Snider’s wealth of road course experience.

After Stage 2 most teams did opt to switch to racing slicks, as the track was quickly drying out. A few restarts however resulted in turn one pileups, as drivers fought for every inch of space.

On one restart with 13 laps left, AJ Allmendinger managed to get by Myatt Snider, passing him in turn two. A multi-car accident behind the leaders though would bring out another yellow. Under this caution, rain picked up again, forcing AJ and most of the field to pit for wet tires again.

With a few slower cars staying out, the restart with seven laps left was chaos. Allmendinger quickly grabbed the lead again, only for Snider to get back by him. The final restart came with four laps left, as Snider got outsmarted by the crafty veteran Allmendinger again. From that point onward, Allmendinger cruised to his 12th career Xfinity Series win, and eighth on a road course.

“All the men and women at Kaulig Racing deserved that, I was awful,” Allmendinger admitted. “I crashed before we went green! I think I was off the racetrack four times, made all kinds of mistakes, and was all over the place. Just proud of everybody on this Nutrien Ag Solutions Chevy. I was melting down in the car honestly. Making so many mistakes, trying so hard. I put so much pressure on myself at these races, because I know what everybody expects, I know what I expect out of myself more importantly.”

“All the fans at Portland, thanks for staying out here! This place is packed. 16 years ago this month, I won my first Champ Car race here. It’s surreal that I still get to do this. Thanks to Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice, all the men and women for allowing me this. My dad’s here, he was here on Father’s Day for my first win. Can’t thank ECR, RCR, and everyone else enough. This thing was having so many problems yesterday engine-wise. They changed everything but the motor, fixed it, and I was the only issue in the car today.”

Behind Allmendinger and Snider, the top five were Austin Hill, Josh Berry, and Justin Allgaier. Other top finishers included Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs, JJ Yeley, Noah Gragson, and Alex Labbe.

After a two week break, the Xfinity Series returns to action at Nashville Superspeedway. The Tennessee Lottery 250 will go green Saturday, June 25 at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Written by Peter Stratta

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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images for NASCAR