More than three months have passed since the ARCA Menards Series West last competed on a road course. The right turns are back this weekend at Portland International Raceway.
And as the West Series returns to the 12-turn, 1.967-mile road course in Portland, Oregon, for the first time since 2012, it is not alone.
Saturday’s Portland 112, the sixth of nine races on the 2021 West Series schedule, will take place as part of the Grand Prix of Portland. ARCA will share the weekend stage with the NTT IndyCar Series, which will race Sunday.
A pair of West Series practice sessions at Portland are scheduled for Friday with qualifying and the race (4:25 p.m. PT / 7:25 p.m. ET) slated for Saturday.
Tickets to Saturday’s Portland 112 are available. The race will be shown live on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass with an audio feed available on ARCARacing.com.
Portland 112 at Portland International Raceway
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
We’re guaranteed to get a new road-course winner in the West Series this season. Chase Briscoe, the NASCAR Cup Series regular who won the West race at Sonoma Raceway in June, is not in Saturday’s field.
That leaves the door to victory wide-open for West Series regulars.
Defending series champion Jesse Love enters the sixth race of the West season as the points leader. He has an 11-point edge on his Bill McAnally Racing teammate Cole Moore in second. Jake Drew and Todd Souza are tied for third, 14 points back from Love.
Given his brief-but-successful history at road courses in the West Series, Love will look at the Portland 112 as a chance to strengthen his advantage in the title race. The 16-year-old has a win and two top-five finishes in his three road-course starts dating back to last season.
Moore has one top-10 finish in three road-course races in the West Series. Drew’s seventh-place run this season at Sonoma marks his only road-course start. Souza, of course, has plenty of experience in the West Series on road courses. He has 12 top-10 finishes in 26 road-course starts dating back to 2006.
Souza also is one of just three drivers in Saturday’s field who have experience in a West Series car at Portland. He finished eighth, 13th and 23rd at Portland in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively.
Dave Smith and Tim Spurgeon are the others in the Portland 112 field who have experience at the track. Each has one start.
One driver, Caleb Costner, will be making his debut on the ARCA platform Saturday at Portland. The Dallas, North Carolina, native will race for Joe Nava’s Performance P-1 Motorsports team.
The complete entry list for Saturday’s Portland 112 at Portland International Raceway can be found here.
