PORTLAND, Ore. – The addition of Portland Int’l Raceway to next year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule brings the Pacific Northwest into the NASCAR national series fold for the first time in more than two decades.
It will be the first NASCAR national series race in the region since June 2000, when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series raced at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash.
The Truck Series also raced at the Portland 1.964-mile road course in 1999 and 2000.
“Pacific Northwest, especially when we started that process, is a part of the country where frankly we haven’t had any racing action at all for over two decades,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Strategy and Communication, in a teleconference Wednesday. “It felt like it was an important part of the country for us to get back to in some way, shape or form.
“We had an opportunity to go out there, get a small group to go out to the Pacific Northwest over this summer,” Kennedy added. “Looked at a number of different options.
“If you look at the Camping World Truck Series back in the day. I think it will be a really good addition to the schedule,” Kennedy continued. “Again, we’ve got a really growing fan base in that part of the country and we wanted to get there as soon as we can.”
The move to Portland is through Green Savoree Racing Promotions, which runs the Oregon-based circuit, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, and hosts NTT IndyCar Series events on various street circuits.
Portland’s date comes from the repositioning of Mid-Ohio, the 2.258-mile road course ending an eight-year run with the Xfinity Series and shifting to the Truck Series next year. Kennedy believes the schedule shift from Mid-Ohio to Portland makes perfect sense.
“I think both from the perspective of having a relationship with Green Savoree Productions and the Mid-Ohio space with the Xfinity Series, but also the opportunity to go out to a track that’s race-ready in 2022,” Kennedy said.
NASCAR’s history in Portland actually runs deep.
Portland Speedway, the defunct five-eighths-mile oval that ran from 1924 to 2001, hosted seven Cup Series races from 1956 to ‘57.
The road course, meanwhile, has hosted IndyCar, IMSA and Trans-Am through the years. IndyCar will return to the circuit for the fifth-straight year in 2022.
Stock car racing returned to Portland this season when the ARCA Menards Series West raced at Portland Int’l Raceway, where Taylor Gray emerged as the winner following a chaotic finish.
“It’s been an important part of our country that we felt like is important for us to be in,” Kennedy said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth from a fan perspective in the Pacific Northwest.
“It also gives us an opportunity to test out some of these markets as we look at future iterations of the schedule,” Kennedy added. “Obviously we’ll be getting a lot of data and fan feedback coming out of those events and continue to look towards what the future of the schedule looks like based on how they all go.”