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Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota, driven by Dean Thompson, is dressed out with Oregon State University sponsorship for Saturday’s race at Portland International Raceway.Jason Vondersmith\/For The Oregonian<\/p>\nYoung phenom Connor Zilisch continued his domination Saturday at Portland International Raceway, securing his NASCAR Xfinity rookie record eighth win despite missing turn one twice late in the race.<\/p>\n
It culminated more than two hours of action as powerful engines roared and stock cars thundered their way around the road course. There was a car completely painted in Oregon State orange-and-black and a large Beaver logo on the hood. <\/p>\n
In the end, despite the rookie star winning again, fans left the Pacific Office Automation 147 feeling a little empty, as it\u2019s the last NASCAR Xfinity race at PIR for the time being. <\/p>\n
NASCAR\u2019s second-tier series has raced at Portland since 2022, but it is off the next year\u2019s schedule. A street course at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, Calif. has been added and PIR road course dropped on the 2026 series schedule.<\/p>\n
There are rising stars, competitive racers and veterans in the Xfinity Series, which changes to the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series next season. They\u2019ll be racing elsewhere next year, not at PIR.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery sad,\u201d said Brenda Nelson, a Friends of PIR member from Central Oregon. She volunteered for the race along with more than 100 others, including friend Susan Thorn of Battle Ground, Washington. They attend races every week at PIR, and seeing NASCAR depart hurts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWheels going around \u2014 doesn\u2019t take much for us (to be excited). Fast cars, the sounds \u2026 and this is family,\u201d Thorn said. Nelson said it\u2019s a strong \u201cculture\u201d event.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally unfortunate,\u201d said Kaden Fritzler of Roseburg. \u201cIt was the only (big) NASCAR event in the Northwest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Hit Machine and Wrangler played live music and classic country rock and more blared over the loudspeakers \u2014 \u201cSweet Home Alabama\u201d and the like. American flags were aplenty, although not visible \u201cTrump\u201d stuff. No official attendance was given, but RV spots appeared to be full, first-turn \u201cShelton\u2019s Corner\u201d seating had plenty of inhabitants and pit road plenty of spectators \u2014 although front-stretch grandstands had many vacancies.<\/p>\n
There was an interesting subplot to Saturday\u2019s race, as Dean Thompson drove the No. 26 Thompson Pipe Group GR Supra Toyota Camry of Sam Hunt Racing that was adorned with Oregon State University colors and a huge Beaver logo on the hood. It\u2019s the third NASCAR partnership with an NCAA school this year.<\/p>\n
Thompson and a show car made an appearance in Corvallis at Reser Stadium\u2019s Parker Plaza on Friday.<\/p>\n
Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota, driven by Dean Thompson, is dressed out with Oregon State University sponsorship for Saturday’s race at Portland International Raceway.Jason Vondersmith\/For The Oregonian<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Oregon\u2019s statewide university, we\u2019re proud to welcome NASCAR back to Portland and share our pride with the many Beaver Nation NASCAR fans,\u201d said Rob Odom, OSU\u2019s vice president of University Relations and Marketing<\/p>\n
\u201cI was all for it,\u201d said Thompson, 24 and from Anaheim, California. \u201cI like the logo \u2014 it\u2019s a lot of fun. There have been a lot of people talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thompson, who has six top-10 finishes and decent races on road courses, qualified 22nd and appeared to lose power on lap 13 and then went off the track on lap 16 (while eight laps behind Zilisch). He finished 32nd in the 37-car field, seven laps down.<\/p>\n
VIP tickets were raffled off at the Corvallis event, and they went to a big Beaver fan (Kaden Fritzler) and a Washington Husky (his father, Brad Fritzler, of Corvallis). They got to meet Thompson and crew and be around the car and pits.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to have Oregon State representation in NASCAR,\u201d said Kaden, who wore an OSU hat to the race. \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to make fans \u2014 sponsoring a NASCAR ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Count Brad among the disappointed NASCAR fans with the Portland race departure. He and his son have attended three of the four PIR events.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are some of the best drivers in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cFender to fender, bumper to bumper, bare-knuckle racing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another fan, who only went by \u201cScott,\u201d might have said it best: \u201cI was hoping it would go the other way \u2014 and Cup (Series) and maybe the Trucks would come to Portland.\u201d<\/p>\n
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PORTLAND, OREGON – AUGUST 30: Connor Zilisch, driver of the #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet, leads the field to start the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway on August 30, 2025 in Portland.Getty Images<\/p>\n
Zilisch, 19 and from Charlotte, N.C,, piloting the No. 88 Weathertech Chevy Camaro of JR Motorsports \u2014 Dale Earnhardt Jr.\u2019s team, had the series wins record of eight in sight. Zilisch, leading for the first 68 laps, faced a late challenge when he overshot the first turn after a restart with seven laps remaining. Despite going off track, he recovered through \u2018Shelton\u2019s Corner\u2019 to regain second place.<\/p>\n
On another yellow flag and restart with a two-lap overtime, Zilisch sprinted ahead of Hill but missed the first turn again but he quickly righted himself and came out of \u201cShelton\u2019s Corner\u201d with the lead and went on to win his eighth race.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not really slow (corner),\u201d Zilisch said, of his first turn mishaps and recoveries. \u201cAs soon as I hit the brakes, I just committed to it. Worked out. I wasn\u2019t really planning on it, but last resort, you gotta do what you gotta do.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has signed to race in the Cup Series for Trackhouse Racing in 2026.<\/p>\n
The win came 21 days after a mishap at Watkins Glen, in which he climbed out of his cockpit in victory lane and promptly got his feet caught in window netting and fell hard to the ground. He had surgery on a broken collarbone, but he started the next race at Daytona \u2014 and substitute driver Parker Kligerman finished it for Zilisch\u2019s seventh win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurt, but it hurts so good,\u201d he said, of the collarbone.<\/p>\n
Zilisch won the first two stages of the 75-lap race at PIR before the late restart mishaps, and goes into the series\u2019 final regular-season race, before the series playoffs, with the points lead over Justin Allgaier and Sam Mayer, who each had late issues and fell back in the field. Allgaier is second and Mayer third in points. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got a W on the hood,\u201d Zilisch said, of his sponsor\u2019s initial. \u201cNo better thing to do than win with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo proud of this 88 team. It\u2019s been such a fun year.\u201d<\/p>\n
BrieflyZilisch was the top qualifier, just missing Mayer\u2019s track record for stock cars last year (73.3751 seconds, 96.654 mph) on the 1.97-mile, 12-turn road course.Zilisch, who has won five road course races, had tied Christopher Bell (2018) for series rookie wins in a season.Zilisch tied the series record for consecutive top-5 finishes (13).No serious incidents happened in the race, save for a few drivers going off track. The stock cars cut all the corners, too, going partly off pavement, unlike the more fragile IndyCar machines.Greg Biffle, the retired NASCAR Cup driver who grew up in Camas, competed in Friday\u2019s ARCA Menards Series West race. Biffle, who won 19 Cup races during his career, placed fourth. William Sawalich won, and then performed well the next day in the Xfinity Series race.PIR race winners in the Xfinity Series were Zilisch (2025), Shane van Gisbergen (2024), Cole Custer (2023) and A.J. Allmendinger (2022).It\u2019s not official, as IndyCar Series hasn\u2019t announced its 2026 schedule, but PIR will remain on the circuit, sources say.<\/p>\n
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Young phenom Connor Zilisch continued his domination Saturday at Portland International Raceway, securing his NASCAR Xfinity rookie record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[425,99],"class_list":["post-122281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}