MEXICO CITY — NASCAR senior executive Ben Kennedy was non-committal Sunday on if the Xfinity and Cup Series will return to Mexico next year but said “we’re very hopeful to be back here in the future.”
Sunday’s race won by New Zealand native Shane van Gisbergen was the first Cup points event outside the continental United States since 1958.
Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue & racing innovation officer, said that he was pleased with the weekend’s events and the crowd. He noted that 44% of the crowd came from Mexico City and that 90% of the crowd came from Mexico. He did not reveal attendance numbers for the weekend or Sunday’s race.
Along with the inaugural Cup race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, thje Xfinity Series returned this weekend for the first time since 2008.
“I would say for us, this is more of a strategic move as a sport to expand our footprint globally and internationally and to a new mass fan base,” Kennedy said. “Just being in a country with 90 million people and over 20 million people in the larger Mexico City metro alone, not in and of itself, this is a success.”
Before the race, NASCAR Commissioner Steve Phelps addressed competitors in the drivers meeting and noted the importance of the event.
“We’ve had several game-changing firsts in recent years, but this one is different,” he said. “Racing here in Mexico City, amongst these passionate fans in such an impressive venue for the first time in NASCAR Cup Series history, is in a word, spectacular.
“Together, we are doing something that will be remembered in the history of our great sport.”
Highlights: NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico City
Watch highlights from the NASCAR Cup Series Viva Mexico 250 at the Autodromo Hermano Rodrigues in Mexico City.
While Kennedy would not commit to the NASCAR Cup Series returning, the sanctioning body is not known for going to a venue one year and then abandoning it the next year if it is deemed to be successful.
NASCAR’s experiment with the Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum went three years after a strong first year. The Chicago Street Race, fulfilling the original agreement, will host its third Cup and Xfinity weekend next month. The All-Star Race has been at North Wilkesboro Speedway the past three years and some were calling for that track to host a points race next year.
The Trackhouse Racing driver turned in a dominant performance for his second career Cup victory.
The only new track on the NASCAR schedule in recent years that hosted the Cup Series for less than three years was Road America. That date went to the Chicago Street Race.
Asked why wouldn’t NASCAR return to Mexico City next year, Kennedy said: “As we’re going through the planning of putting together the pieces of the 2026 schedule, there are a lot of dominoes that need to fall.”
Kennedy noted that NASCAR has learned much from holding this event. He admitted not all went well logistically. Two NASCAR-chartered planes carrying team members to Mexico were grounded Thursday, causing significant delays for those team members.
Kennedy did say that should NASCAR return it would “ideally be around an off week” because of the travel challenges for teams — particularly sending haulers straight from Michigan after that race to Mexico and then the haulers returning to Charlotte, North Carolina, this week before going to Pocono Raceway for this weekend’s race.
