Ever since siblings Callie and Alex Carpenter founded Adna-based Pacific Northwest Cookie Co. in 2018, the company has done nothing but grow.
The business arose from humble beginnings with the Carpenters converting their mom’s homemade cookie recipes to be gluten free, dairy free and vegan after one of their other siblings developed gluten and dairy intolerance.
A certified women- and military spouse-owned business, PNW Cookie Co. has grown from selling cookies in a handful of local coffee stands to catering for the Amazon corporate office and online sales with cookies going all over the nation, producing anywhere between 1,200 and 2,000 cookies a day on baking days.
Now, they’re a part of NASCAR too, as they are one of the sponsors of the NASCAR Xfinity Series BRK Racing and SS Greenlight Racing No. 14 Chevrolet driven by Garrett Smithley.
Xfinity Series racing is NASCAR’s developmental racing series, with lighter and less advanced cars driving in shorter races compared to the NASCAR Cup Series.
Along with the business’s logo adorning both the door pillars and rear fenders of the No. 14 car, PNW Cookie Co. brought over 700 cookies to hand out as free samples to fans during the race and sampled a new “Sublime” lime cookie, which tastes like a key lime pie in cookie form.
Smithley’s mother, Bethanie Smithley, thanked Callie for providing the team with delicious cookies throughout their travels on the NASCAR circuit this season.
The Chronicle joined the Carpenter family and their friends as they got VIP pit and garage access last weekend at what may have been the final NASCAR race at the Portland International Raceway, the NASCAR Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 on Saturday, Aug. 30.
While the drivers love racing through the trees and marshes on Portland’s street circuit, NASCAR officials have removed the track from the Xfinity Series 2026 schedule because the track is in dire need of upgrades, according to BRK Racing team owner Randy Knighton.
For example, there are no electronic or internet connections on pit row for the teams to hook up their pit boxes too, meaning they can’t even watch the race broadcast or track car telemetry without bringing their own generators and mobile internet hotspots.
This means Saturday’s race might have been the last NASCAR race in the Pacific Northwest, at least for the time being. Randy, an Olympia resident who owns Knight Fire Protection, lamented the possibility of never returning to a race in Portland again.
“It’s the only race on the calendar where I get to sleep in my own bed,” Randy said.
Randy runs the team together with his wife, Beth Knighton, who is the legal owner of the car and one of the few women to own a car in any NASCAR series — Cup, Xfinity and even the Craftsman Truck Series.
“You can count the women-owned cars on one hand,” Randy added.
Having been together for seven years now and married for almost three, Beth said she had no interest in racing or NASCAR when she and Randy first met.
“I was very reluctant at first. I started watching NASCAR with my heels dug in the sand,” Beth said. “But, as we started going to more tracks and having this experience here, I started enjoying it more.”
She learned more about the sport quickly, including all of the development and upgrades that actually go into a car throughout the racing season, along with the planning involved in the motorsport when it comes to things like fuel loads, pitting for fresh tires and in-race strategy.
“I’m a competitor. Once I realized the strategy that’s behind it and started understanding and appreciating that it was just more than cars driving in circles, I was hooked,” she added.
Prior to actually owning BRK Racing, Randy had been sponsoring another NASCAR team for nearly a decade already.
“Then this opportunity arose this past year, and we did it, here we are. I’ve got skin in the game now and I’m the listed owner,” Beth said.
Being one of the smallest teams on the grid, they don’t have the same budgets as teams like Joe Gibbs Racing or the Haas Factory Team, but they’re still doing what they can to be as competitive as they can — hence their partnership with the Mooresville, North Carolina-based SS Green Light Racing team.
“We’re working at ground level. I feel like the team this year, we’re just continuing what was happening previously. But, we have plans to improve and make it better,” Beth added.
Along with forming sponsorship partnerships with local businesses like PNW Cookie Co., the Knightons are working with television producers who are currently editing episodes of a docu-series called “Over the Wall,” following their journey on the NASCAR Xfinity Series racing circuit earlier this season.
They hope to sell it to The CW, the television network which currently owns the broadcasting rights to the Xfinity Series. More money means more development being done to the car, which they hope will translate to success on the track.
Money is always needed as well as it’s not cheap to race in NASCAR. Randy even has to purchase tires from Goodyear Racing, which cost about $13,000 for four sets every race.
As for Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 race, Smithley qualified 31st in a field of 37 drivers.
And despite losing control early in the race and mowing the grass near turn 12 — resulting in him being lapped by the race leader — Smithley recovered to finish on the lead lap and even cracked the top 25, finishing 25th.
He did this despite the No. 14 car receiving some front-end damage during one of the last chaotic caution flag restarts too. After the race, neither Smithley nor Randy had any idea which car hit them or when.
“I have no idea what happened,” Smithley said after the race. “I knew we hit the nose a little bit on something, but I don’t know what.”
Smithley, Randy and Beth, along with the rest of the BRK Racing and SS Greenlight Racing teams, are off to the next race on the NASCAR Xfinity Series calendar scheduled for Sept. 6 — the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog race at the World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois.
And though the Carpenters would love to go to that race as well, the business’ logo will continue to get exposure at every track on the circuit. To learn more about PNW Cookie Co., or to order cookies from them, visit https://pnwcookies.com/.
