Despite being a rarity these days, Xfinity Series drivers enjoy running standalone events

Saturday's race at Portland International Raceway will be the first in the Pacific Northwest for the Xfinity Series

PORTLAND, Ore. – Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 will mark the first NASCAR Xfinity Series race in the Pacific Northwest. It will also mark something that’s become quite a rarity in NASCAR’s secondary series these days - a standalone event.

Of the 33 races that make up the 2022 Xfinity Series schedule, Portland is the only race that will not be paired with NASCAR’s Cup Series. It is also the only track that is used exclusively by the Xfinity Series.

The Camping World Truck Series will have three standalone events this year at Knoxville (Iowa), Mid-Ohio, and Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis. Still those events make up only three of the series’ 23-race schedule.

Standalone Xfinity and Truck Series events used to be very popular with both drivers and fans alike, as it allowed NASCAR to reach markets skipped over by the Cup Series and gave the lower series drivers the chance to be the “big stars” of the weekend at whichever track they were racing at.

But many of the tracks that once hosted standalone events like Road America, Nashville SuperSpeedway, and WorldWide Technology Raceway have become additions to the Cup schedule (the latter of the three hosts its first Cup race on Sunday).

Other former standalone venues like Nazareth, Mansfield, Walt Disney World Speedway and Myrtle Beach have been demolished or sit abandoned. And tracks like Memphis, Iowa, Milwaukee, and Circuit Giles Villeneuve in Montreal still exist but do not currently host NASCAR events.

Of course, there is some reasoning for the lack of standalone events, as they often have purses much smaller than Cup tracks (several Xfinity Series teams will lose money this weekend due to the cost of traveling all the way from Charlotte to Portland).

Saturday’s race will also not feature live pit stops as most pit crew members will be in St. Louis servicing Cup (and Truck Series) teams. A.J. Allmendinger will also miss practice for Sunday’s Cup Series event at Gateway due to his Xfinity Series commitments in Portland.

Regardless, some of the drivers in Saturday’s race stated they do enjoy running standalone events.

“I really like being in the Northwest here,” said Ty Gibbs. “It’s cool coming out. It’s a fun track.

“There’s a lot of cool tracks out west - Laguna Seca - all these tracks out west. I think they put on good shows. It’s just different, and I think different is good. I enjoy it.”

Sheldon Creed, who was the fastest in practice Friday morning, said “It’s cool for Xfinity to be on our own and be the premier series this weekend.

Fellow Xfinity Series driver Myatt Snider agreed with both drivers’ sentiments, and said the race this weekend at Portland had a “relaxed vibe”.

“I think it’s definitely very different from how we usually do things,” Sinder said. “No live pit stops, no Cup Series around.

“It gives me a late model race vibe. I like that vibe. It’s more laid back. It’s more fun - I mean we got five-six hours until we qualify - so there’s a lot of time to just sit around and enjoy the scenery.

:I like these standalone races. It’s a little different now not having live pit stops. We’re just going to come in, stop, and I might even have enough time to get out and grab a bottle of water or something. These standalone races can be fun sometimes.”

While there may not be any guarantee that more standalone events are added to the Xfinity Series schedule in the near future, make no mistake, many fans and competitors absolutely love them.