“This Is So Dumb”- Agitated Fans Call Out NASCAR’s 63-Second Portland Headscratcher Amidst Wrong Rules Muck-Up

NASCAR is heading to two different states this weekend. First, the Toyota Owners 200 Truck race will kick off all festivities at WWT Raceway in Madison, Illinois at 1:30 PM ET. Then the Xfinity Series will fire up for the Pacific Office Automation 127 road course race more than 2000 miles away at the Portland International Raceway in Oregon around 4:30 PM. Finally, the Enjoy Illinois 300, Cup Series main event is set to conclude another weekend of the latest NASCAR action, with the green set to drop in Gateway at 3:30 PM on Sunday.

But a press release gone awry has shifted the spotlight from the premier-tier excitements in Illinois to the second-series shenanigans taking place shortly in the Beaver State, courtesy of one Bob Pockrass. And in between a removed tweet & confusing pit lane rules, the fans are left scratching their heads over another assumed NASCAR blunder.

Hauler drivers as pit crew members in the Portland Xfinity race

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Pacific Northwest state of Oregon for its third consecutive year. Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger won the first edition of this 147-mile, 75-lap event at PIR in 2022. Heading into this weekend’s encounter, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Cole Custer emerges as the reigning race-winner. This was his first of three victories en route to claiming his and his team’s first-ever Xfinity championship.

Not even a year away from his 2023 prospects in Portland, SHR has announced the decision to exit the NASCAR scene at the end of this season. But taking attention away from these unfortunate developments, NASCAR correspondent for FOX, Bob Pockrass updated fans on an embarrassing yet hilarious howler made on the part of NASCAR. The journalist posted two pictures on Twitter, one since removed and the other displaying revised pit road rules for Saturday’s Xfinity race. He captioned his post writing, “So nascar sent to media the wrong pit road rules, Here are the Portland pit stop rules:” 

While containing interesting specifications, the newer version of the updated rules presents some confusing aspects. For starters, “Any pit stop, where tires are changed and/or fuel is added, must not be completed faster than the minimum time allotted from yellow line to yellow line: 63 seconds minimum.” 

Additionally, owing to the shared schedule of this NASCAR weekend, some teams like Kaulig Racing, SHR & Richard Childress Racing will not be able to field complete crews for their second-tier entries. This has brought forth another debatable modification. As per Pockrass’ tweet, “all 8 roster personnel may participate in the pit stop” and this includes “2 Hauler Drivers” from undisclosed teams acting as “assist crew member(s) to clean the windshield and assist the driver.”

It is important to note that the last two winners of this race claim teams splitting their appearances across Portland and Madison this weekend – AJ Allmendinger & Cole Custer. This throws a still-unperceivable wrench in their plans for Saturday. Moreover, fans are contemplating the potential uncertainties these regulations could manifest, with many asserting at least one car will DNQ for “dumb” reasons. 

Will “Dumb” rules be the decider? NASCAR fans think so

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Fueled by Pockrass’ post going viral in the last few hours, social media has exploded with fans voicing their frustrations about the confusing rules. They’re not holding back, expressing their colorful opinions loud and clear. As one diehard fan inquired on the official NASCAR subreddit, “Why not just have normal a*s pit road rules?” Other members of the NASCAR nation clarified his confusion writing, “Because the normal a*s pit crews will all be in gateway. (this weekend)”

But this fan drove the still unconfirmed sentiments home as they stated, “Haven’t read anything, but after the week we’ve had I’m just going to assume it’s bad and join the roast party.”

Others exclaimed, “This is lame. If you can’t field a pit crew. Don’t show up, someone will.” However, that suggestion could, very well, result in an unfulfilled field starting the Portland Xfinity race. Another fan took these earlier grievances one step further as their comment read, “Regular competitive pit stops or don’t give points. This is so dumb.”

Nevertheless, this well-informed fan cleared out much of the dirty air surrounding these unforeseeable discussions in a well-thought-out alternative comment. “It will be very interesting. What people are missing is the 63 seconds is including rolling time on pit road. So teams truly have around 30 seconds in the stall. And non pit crew members will be rushing to get the stop done in 30 seconds. A top car is gonna lose this race on pit road,” predicted Reddit user u/quig50.

How will these changes affect the Pacific Office Automation 147 on Saturday? We await the green in Oregon at 4:30 PM ET with all the action set to unfold on FS1.