The ending of this past Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Portland International Speedway didn’t come without controversy. Connor Zilisch had the lead off the final restart in overtime, but he appeared to lock up his brakes heading into the Turn 1-2 chicane.
He quicky turned left and went through the A-frame penalty area once it became clear he was going to miss the corner. Zilisch came out well ahead of the field — of which many completely missed the corner — to take his eighth checkered flag of the season. It was chaotic but it didn’t need to be that way, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Tuesday’s “Dale Jr. Download.” Earnhardt called the Turn 1-2 chicane a “bad idea,” adding he’s glad Portland is not on the 2026 Xfinity schedule.
“I can’t argue that maybe how they did it at Portland wasn’t as much as a deterrent. I would just say I’m glad we’re not going back,” Earnhardt said. “It’s nothing to do with location or really anything else but the fact of that Turn 1 and 2 combination is just not good.
“… I just feel like that type of a turn being the first — that chicane or whatever you want to call it — that being the very first turn you’re going to enter after a restart for any racetrack is a bad idea. It’s just not a good design.”
That particular corner at Portland has caused problems for years. It was all anyone wanted to talk about in the aftermath of Saturday’s race. Yes, Zilisch was the rightful winner as he led 70-of-78 laps from the pole. The way it happened left a bad taste in the mouths of many.
If NASCAR does return to Portland in the future, Earnhardt believes the Turn 1-2 corner needs to be redesigned. He called the chicane “bullshit.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. upset with NASCAR over Portland track layout
“We’re four-wide on that final restart, and the majority of the cars missed the [the corner] and cut the inner curb. So, the majority of the top five cut Turn 2… that right there isn’t any fun. That’s just something we don’t need to be doing. The corner is the problem. Just get rid of the corner,” Earnhardt said. “Can we go straight? Can we just run straight down into the next? … There’s a lot of pavement there where you could probably design something different. I think that hard right-hander to get over to Turn 2 is just way too much.
“For the NASCAR series — if we ever do go back to Portland — they need to redesign this part. … I don’t f*cking got a problem with them hitting. I don’t like the fact none of them make Turn 2. This chicane is bullshit. You shouldn’t have this aggressive of a chicane at the end of the front straightaway, especially when you’re going to have a green-white-checkered.”
Earnhardt isn’t placing any blame on the drivers for missing the corner. He directed his frustrations at NASCAR for putting them in a less than favorable situation.
“NASCAR’s got to give them a little better situation,” Earnhardt said. “If I’m the promoter, track owner or the series manager, I would say I didn’t put them in a good position to succeed. If I’m owning the series and they’re getting ready to run a restart, this would be what I’d be afraid might happen.
“I don’t know how people feel, but I would not want this to be the result. … Just get rid of the f*cking corner. This if F1, this is IndyCar bullshit. It’s fine for them in IndyCar and F1 to run that corner. We don’t need corners like that.”
