The twists and turns of a road course often brings excitement and off-track excursions, and that’s exactly what happened in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway on Saturday (June 1).
Cars darted to three- and four-wide on the restarts, including on the next-to-last one. Occasionally, some clipped the grass within a turn and kicked up some dust, causing either themselves or a car behind them to spin out and off track.
In the end, Shane van Gisbergen survived all the chaotic restarts and was able to take the lead from Justin Allgaier in the closing laps to claim his first Xfinity victory and clinch his spot in the playoffs.
Allgaier took second, and his JR Motorsports teammate Sammy Smith was third. AJ Allmendinger and Ed Jones rounded out the top five.
Winners
Everyone knew when we got to a road course that van Gisbergen would be a contender. This is his skill set, and even though he’s never visited Portland and had limited time to practice, he’d still adjust well to the track.
Boy, did he ever adjust. Van Gisbergen started the race on the front row and immediately got the lead from polesitter Sam Mayer. However, Riley Herbst scooted by him on the first lap to get and hold the lead for the opening 15 laps. Van Gisbergen then got by Herbst, but on lap 23, Allgaier took the lead to win stage one while the No. 97 hit pit road.
SVG continued to get comfortable on the 1.967-mile course and, thanks to some late yellows, challenged Allgaier for first, taking the spot within the opening esses on lap 72.
It’s his first victory in the series, and one that his team and Kaulig Racing as a whole needed. Prior to this race, van Gisbergen had just one top five and two top 10s — a third at Atlanta Motor Speedway and a sixth at Phoenix Raceway. SVG did have two consecutive 15ths coming into Portland, but he never really contended for the win, except at Circuit of the Americas.
I feel this win was more impressive than his Cup Series win at the Chicago street course because he was racing against drivers who competed at Portland before. SVG had to work for this victory, which really makes it that much sweeter.
He also had a cool celebration to boot (see what I did there?).
Fellow Kaulig teammates Allmendinger and Josh Williams scored top 10s at Portland, showing where the organization’s strength lies. They were hard-fought results too, with Allmendinger starting from the rear with a…
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