The official 2022 Pacific Office Automation 147 NASCAR XFINITY Series race lineup, determined by qualifying results, shows the starting positions of all drivers at Portland International Raceway.
Saturday, June 4th, 2022
Portland International Raceway, Portland, OR
AJ Allmendinger won an action-packed Pacific Office Automation 147 - the NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at the Portland International Raceway road course Saturday afternoon.
Action-packed being the key words from green flag to checkered; in the rain, in the dry and in the rain again.
Allmendinger literally came from last on the grid to earn the win – after changing “everything but the motor” before the race, he claimed in victory lane. His No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet led only six of the race’s 75 laps and bested Myatt Snider by 2.879-seconds to earn the popular veteran his second Xfinity Series victory of 2022; his other win coming on the road course at the Circuit of the Americas early this season.
“It might be one of the craziest wins I’ve ever had,’’ the 12-time Xfinity Series winner Allmendinger said smiling.
It would be hard to argue otherwise. Not only did the 40-year old Californian Allmendinger start from the rear, he had his first of a half-dozen off-track excursions before even taking the checkered flag. He went down a lap early but managed to stay focused and rally back to the lead lap in a race that had nine cautions and only 21 of the 38 cars on the lead lap at the finish.
“Man I cannot believe this, I crashed before it went green,’’ said Allmendinger, who also earned his first Champ Car win at Portland back in 2006.
“I was making so many mistakes, trying so hard,’’ he added. “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. But what a win.’’
Snider, who led five laps in the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, managed a smile himself acknowledging that runner-up to Allmendinger on a road course isn’t such a horrible defeat.
“Just A.J.’s experience,’’ Snider said, managing a smile as he explained the difference in winning Saturday. “I could tell he was setting up those [corner] exits better than I was. To me that was good hard racing.
“So cool to be disappointed with second [place] with a team that’s only a year-and-a-half old and to get my first stage win and maybe the first Top-3 with this car,’’ he added.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished third with JR Motorsports teammates Josh Berry and Justin Allgaier rounding out the Top-5.
Daniel Hemric, Ty Gibbs, JJ Yeley, Noah Gragson and Alex Labbe completed the Top-10.
As with Allmendinger, much of the top finishers had adventurous days.
The opening stages on the 1.97-mile course called for wet-tires with a steady downpour at the green flag that dissipated slowly as the race progressed. By the Stage 2 break, most teams opted for the Goodyear slicks as the rain lessened and was replaced with heavy mist. Only to have the rain come back in the final stage – after cars had swapped to the dry tires.
It was the sort of drama that characterized the race.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Gibbs led a race best 42 laps in the No. 54 JGR Toyota but was involved in several on-track incidents vying for the lead - and even just driving under caution at one point, hit from behind by Jesse Iwuji, who was three laps down.
Gragson, who like Allmendinger started from the rear of the field, made up a race best 22 positions by the start of Stage 2 and was running Top-5 when he was pushed off course by Gibbs on a mid-race re-start that proved to be consequential for many of the day’s top drivers.
Gibbs had contact with Gragson then with Sheldon Creed – resulting in both Gibbs and Creed’s cars going off-course. Creed returned to track and then was involved in a multi-car accident with 20 laps to go – damaging his No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet beyond repair.
“I thought we had an okay day going. I made a mistake running second there but got back to the lead,’’ said Creed, whose wife is due to give birth to their first child any day now.
“The way my year’s gone, every time we have speed something goes wrong. … Today I felt like we had a really good shot at winning.’’
With the victory Allmendinger extended his championship lead over Gibbs to 44 points. Gragson’s ninth place finish keeps him 45 points behind.
ST | # | DRIVER | MAKE | SPD | TIME | BHND | SPONSOR | TEAM | CREW CHIEF |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 23 | Anthony Alfredo | Chevrolet | 93.229 | 76.071 | 0.000 | Dude Wipes | Our Motorsports | Pat Tryson |
2 | 21 | Austin Hill | Chevrolet | 92.973 | 76.280 | 0.209 | Bennett Transportation and Logistic… | Richard Childress Racing | Andy Street |
3 | 11 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 92.832 | 76.396 | 0.325 | Cirkul - Water Your Way | Kaulig Racing | Alex Yontz |
4 | 1 | Sam Mayer | Chevrolet | 92.808 | 76.416 | 0.345 | Accelerate Pros Talent | Jr Motorsports | Taylor Moyer |
5 | 48 | Jade Buford | Chevrolet | 92.706 | 76.500 | 0.429 | Big Machine Spiked Coolers | Big Machine Racing | Patrick Donahue |
6 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 92.228 | 76.896 | 0.825 | He Gets Us | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chris Gayle |
7 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | Chevrolet | 92.006 | 77.082 | 1.011 | Whelen | Richard Childress Racing | Jeff Stankiewicz |
8 | 18 | Connor Mosack | Toyota | 91.914 | 77.159 | 1.088 | Open Eyes | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jason Ratcliff |
9 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | 91.812 | 77.245 | 1.174 | BRANDT | Jr Motorsports | Jason Burdett |
10 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 91.782 | 77.270 | 1.199 | Nutrien Ag Solutions | Kaulig Racing | Bruce Schlicker |
11 | 9 | Noah Gragson | Chevrolet | 92.469 | 76.696 | 0.625 | Bass Pro Shops TrueTimber BRCC | Jr Motorsports | Luke Lambert |
12 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Chevrolet | 92.399 | 76.754 | 0.683 | Hometown Lenders | Our Motorsports | Kris Bowen |
13 | 10 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 92.308 | 76.830 | 0.759 | StormX | Kaulig Racing | Jason Trinchere |
14 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Ford | 92.257 | 76.872 | 0.801 | Monster Energy | Stewart-haas Racing | Richard Boswell |
15 | 44 | Andy Lally | Chevrolet | 91.874 | 77.193 | 1.122 | Clear Cryptos | Alpha Prime Racing | Michael Brandt |
16 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Chevrolet | 91.852 | 77.211 | 1.140 | First Pacific Funding | Jeremy Clements Racing | Mark Setzer |
17 | 13 | Matt Jaskol | Toyota | 91.731 | 77.313 | 1.242 | Auto Parts 4 Less | Motorsports Business Management | Carl Long |
18 | 26 | Parker Chase | Toyota | 91.692 | 77.346 | 1.275 | Tower Family Foundation | Sam Hunt Racing | Allen Hart |
19 | 8 | Josh Berry | Chevrolet | 91.620 | 77.407 | 1.336 | Tire Pros | Jr Motorsports | Mike Bumgarner |
20 | 5 | Scott Heckert | Ford | 91.341 | 77.643 | 1.572 | Malco | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | David Ingram |
21 | 27 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 90.939 | 77.986 | 1.915 | Uvalde Strong | Our Motorsports | Chad Walter |
22 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Toyota | 90.773 | 78.129 | 2.058 | Menards\Patriot Lighting | Joe Gibbs Racing | Jeff Meendering |
23 | 36 | Alex Labbe | Chevrolet | 90.732 | 78.164 | 2.093 | Larue Industrial Snow Blowers | Dgm Racing | Nathan Kennedy |
24 | 08 | Spencer Pumpelly | Ford | 90.697 | 78.194 | 2.123 | TicketSmarter | Ss-glr W/jeff Lefcourt | Jason Miller |
25 | 31 | Myatt Snider | Chevrolet | 90.402 | 78.450 | 2.379 | Tree Top | Jordan Anderson Racing | Shane Whitbeck |
26 | 45 | Stefan Parsons | Chevrolet | 89.820 | 78.958 | 2.887 | Lanphere Auto Group | Alpha Prime Racing | Frank Kerr |
27 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | Ford | 89.815 | 78.962 | 2.891 | CMRroofing.com\ A-game | Rss Racing | Kevin Starland |
28 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Chevrolet | 89.671 | 79.089 | 3.018 | Brandonbilt Foundations | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Doug Randolph |
29 | 91 | Mason Filippi | Chevrolet | 89.264 | 79.450 | 3.379 | OpenFender.com | Dgm Racing | Mario Gosselin |
30 | 6 | Gray Gaulding | Chevrolet | 89.252 | 79.460 | 3.389 | JT Marine Inc | Jd Motorsports | Kase Kallenbach |
31 | 78 | Josh Williams | Chevrolet | 88.893 | 79.781 | 3.710 | Alloy Employer Services | Bj Mcleod Motorsports | Mike Tyska |
32 | 38 | Darren Dilley | Ford | 88.578 | 80.065 | 3.994 | Willamette Valley Hops | Rss Racing | Steve Addington |
33 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr | Ford | 87.956 | 80.631 | 4.560 | BuckedUp Buck Shot | Ss-glr W/jeff Lefcourt | Joe Williams |
34 | 4 | Bayley Currey | Chevrolet | 87.942 | 80.644 | 4.573 | Team JD Motorsports | Jd Motorsports | Wayne Carroll Jr |
35 | 66 | JJ Yeley | Ford | 87.305 | 81.232 | 5.161 | Motorsports Business Management | Motorsports Business Management | George Church |
36 | 35 | Patrick Emerling | Chevrolet | 86.690 | 81.809 | 5.738 | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Emerling Gase Motorsports | Rick Bourgeois |
37 | 47 | Ryan Vargas | Chevrolet | 86.519 | 81.970 | 5.899 | Mike Harmon Racing | Mike Harmon Racing | Ryan Bell |
38 | 34 | Jesse Iwuji | Chevrolet | 78.167 | 90.729 | 14.658 | Equity Prime Mortgage | Jesse Iwuji Motorsports | Dan Stillman |