For the first time since 1958, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series leave the United States behind for a points race, and this time, they’re going south of the border to Mexico City.
A field of 37 drivers face a 100-lap journey around one of North America’s finest racing facilities: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Longtime fans will remember that this isn’t NASCAR’s first foray into Mexico as the Xfinity Series paid a few visits to this circuit from 2005 to 2008, but since then, a trip down south failed to materialize as the Cup Series calendar stagnated.
Daniel Suárez returns to his home country for a race weekend for the first time while his Trackhouse teammate Shane van Gisbergen sits on pole and searches for his first victory in a very trying rookie season.
If a driver wants to stand on the top step of the podium today, this track will make them survive all the left and right turns to score the gold in Mexico. Que las probabilidades estén siempre a tu favor.
La Semana Pasada en Michigan…
With less than 50 laps to go, leader Carson Hocevar took the green-flag for the final time, leading to an economy run by him and the other drivers in the field to the finish.
After Hocevar lost a tire with 20 laps to go, the race came down to William Byron and Denny Hamlin, and with six laps to go, Hamlin completed the pass on Byron and cruised to his third victory of the season.
Esta Semana en NASCAR
Last week’s winner Denny Hamlin and fiancee Jordan Fish welcomed their third child into the world on Wednesday afternoon. As a result, Hamlin won’t be piloting the No. 11 Toyota Camry as he remains with his family. NASCAR granted Hamlin a playoff waiver while Ryan Truex will be in the 11 on sub duty.
FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass released his newest silly season article this week that seemed to telegraph a move to unite Legacy Motor Club and RCR driver Jesse Love for next season. Love used to be a Toyota Racing Development driver prior to his move to RCR prior to the 2024 Xfinity Series season.
The real big story from this past week should be focused on the NASCAR hauler drivers as they had to embark on a cross-country odyssey to get to the Mexican border after finishing the race in Michigan last week.
From Brooklyn, Mich., the haulers travelled 24 hours nonstop to the border where the contents of their vehicles were screened by customs. Once passed, it was another 700 miles down to Mexico City where Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is located.
For more on this story and the people behind it, check out The Athletic’s piece.
Former championship-winning crew chief Travis Carter passed away this week at the age of 75. Here is NASCAR’s statement about Carter from this week:
In the NASCAR Mexico Series race this weekend, former Truck Series driver Max Gutiérrez took the victory after regaining the lead on a late-race restart.
Just before the Xfinity Series race went green yesterday, news of the passing of Truck Series team owner Charlie Henderson broke. He was the second-longest tenured team owner in the sport at the time of his passing. Here’s a statement from his team:
As for that Xfinity Series race, Daniel Suárez completed a last-to-first challenge in his home race, making a daring three-wide pass on the outside of turn 1 to kick off the final stage before holding off Taylor Gray to win the Chilango 150. For a more detailed version of how that race played out, check out Jey’s recap from yesterday.
Speaking of Jey, we dropped the most recent power rankings piece on Friday, so if you’re interested in knowing who the 10 best drivers are at the moment, take a gander.
The clouds marred qualifying yesterday as the timed session left over 17 minutes on the board before being cancelled. Shane van Gisbergen took the pole, and Ryan Preece will line up beside him on the front row. For the full lineup, click here.
La Carrera
Today’s race will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, the fourth of five races airing on the service. Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Steve Letarte will be in the booth.
The Viva Mexico 250 covers 250 miles with 100 laps around the 2.57-mile circuit that features 15 turns. Those 100 laps will be split among three stages ending on the following laps: 20-45-100.
Elección del Escritor
Last week’s writer’s pick was Ryan Blaney. After climbing up from his 13th-place starting spot, Blaney earned points in stage 1 before losing a tire and getting in the wall before the end of the second stage, putting him several laps down and unable to contend for the win.
This week, I’m going with the home-country hero, Daniel Suárez.
After winning yesterday’s Xfinity Series race, the former NASCAR Mexico Series star looks ahead to this race as an opportunity to make the postseason for the second straight season.
Outside of Kyle Busch, Suárez is the only driver in the field with a winning record of any kind at the circuit, and in front of a crowd that’s pulling for him, I suspect he will rise to the occasion from his 10th-place starting position and score his third career Cup Series victory.
(Top Photo Credit: James Gilbert/Getty Images)
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