Getty NASCAR Xfinity Series in Portland.
Keep Portland Weird is a popular slogan in Portland, Oregon that appears on bumper stickers, signs, and public buildings throughout the city and surrounding areas. During the June 1 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, things got really weird at the end of the second stage when a coyote seemingly appeared out of nowhere and made its way onto the track, dodging multiple cars in the process.
“Oh my,” FS1’s Adam Alexander said surprised as the broadcast showed the wild animal running through the grass.
“Is that a coyote?” a stunned Trevor Bayne questioned.
“We’ve got wildlife on the loose,” the play-by-play announcer replied.
Things are getting weird, @Race_Portland.
“Oh!” the 2011 Daytona 500 winner said with concern in his voice as the animal made its way onto the track.
“Only in the great Northwest,” Alexander said laughing.
“Oh, my lord. Whoa!” Jamie McMurray sounded off as the coyote accelerated and narrowly avoided several cars zipping by on the track.
“Holy smokes,” Bayne responded.
“That’s a pass-through penalty I think right there,” Alexander joked and ended the conversation with the race broadcast going to a commercial break due to a caution.
TV Viewers Missed Final Outcome of Coyote’s Fate
Fans watching at home didn’t see what happened to the coyote because of the commercial. The last thing shown on the broadcast was the four-legged animal weaving back and forth on the asphalt surface with no apparent avenue for escape.
NASCAR Xfinity shared the full video and eventual outcome for the coyote on its X account. It showed the animal terrifyingly running toward more cars, including making a beeline straight at the fast-approaching No. 42 car of Leland Honeyman before it made a hard right and darted through an open area in the fence before running through a narrow area of grass and somehow making its way under the grandstands as fans watched in disbelief.
Based on that video, the animal appeared to be unharmed.
Other Animals Haven’t Been as Fortunate
Unfortunately, animals entering a hot track don’t always result in happy endings. Just last year in the second race of the season on February 26 and the final race run at Auto Club Speedway, Kyle Busch was the main headline for recording his first win with Richard Childress Racing.
However, there was another news item that people were talking about after the race on the two-mile configuration when a cat somehow made its way onto the racing surface before it was tragically hit and killed.
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t a big discussion point during the broadcast.
But this year before the March 24 race at Circuit of the Americas, Noah Gragson brought up the incident when asked about the most bizarre thing he’s ever seen on the track in his NASCAR racing career.
“There was a cat on the race track at Fontana last year,” the Stewart-Haas Racing driver said.
Now, multiple Xfinity Series drivers have had their own bizarre moment. Thankfully, theirs had a much happier ending.