NASCAR finalizing deal to add Mexico City to Cup Series in ’25 for first points race outside U.S. in 67 years: Sources (2024)

NASCAR is finalizing a deal to stage a Cup Series race in Mexico City in 2025, according to sources briefed on the decision but not authorized to speak publicly, bringing its premier circuit outside the U.S. for the first time in 67 years.

According to those sources, the deal could be announced as soon as Tuesday in Mexico City at a press conference expected to include NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy and Mexican driver Daniel Suárez.

The race will be held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course in Mexico City, a world-class circuit that also hosts Formula One annually. The race is slated for June 15. Additionally, there will be an Xfinity Series race on June 14.

A race in Mexico City would give NASCAR its first international points-paying Cup race since 1958, when its premier series raced at the Canadian Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario.

“It’s not official until it’s official,” Suárez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, said on Aug. 10. “Honestly, it would be like a dream to me. I’ve been in the Cup Series already for several years and a race in my native country, it would be like a dream. Since I moved out of my country in 2011, it’s been a dream to come back as a Cup Series driver.

“And if that’s real, it would be amazing and winning that race for me, it would be as big as winning a championship.”

Adding an international points race to the Cup schedule has long been a goal for NASCAR. For the past few years, NASCAR has held discussions with the promoters for Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, plus representatives of other venues within Mexico and Canada, in an attempt to expand beyond the United States, but previously was unable to complete a deal.

An international race would continue NASCAR’s push to bring its Cup Series to new markets in major metropolitan areas. That effort is spearheaded by Kennedy, the great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and nephew of NASCAR CEO Jim France. With Kennedy in charge of framing the schedule, NASCAR has added races at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2022 and in downtown Chicago in 2023, each of which was considered an out-of-the-box idea at the time.

“The opportunity for us to continue to expand internationally is a huge growth opportunity for the sport,” Kennedy said on Aug. 17. “An opportunity for us as we think about our future is bringing NASCAR racing to new people and new places. We’ve been able to prove that out by going to L.A. and Chicago and having three-quarters of the people that come to those events for the first time, people that have never been to a NASCAR race. And if we have opportunities to go internationally, there’s probably going to be some people that will come from the U.S. There will be a lot of people that have never been to a NASCAR race.”

NASCAR, and motorsports as a whole, has seen its popularity grow considerably in Mexico over the past few decades. NASCAR’s second-tier series raced at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez from 2005 to 2008, and Formula One has competed there in two different stints, including since 2015, to great fanfare.

“I think it’s a great thing for the sport,” Martin Truex Jr., who won the inaugural Xfinity race in Mexico City, said. “I remember the fans there, it was nuts. They were everywhere. And loud, I could hear them in the car when I won the race. I could hear the air horns and music and whatever the hell they were doing and it was loud. It was crazy how many people were there.”

The addition of Mexico City to its 36-points-race schedule is expected to come at the expense of Richmond Raceway losing one of its two dates, according to a tentative 2025 schedule obtained by The Athletic and verified by multiple industry sources.

Richmond has hosted two NASCAR premier series races annually since 1959, and once was considered a hotbed where its pair of races regularly attracted sold-out crowds.

However, the Virginia short track has struggled in recent years to produce consistently high-quality racing and crowds have not come out like they once did. That downturn has created continual speculation that NASCAR would scale back how often it visits the track.

“I kind of understand NASCAR’s decision because if the fans turned out here and we sold out every race, then there would be two races,” Denny Hamlin — a Chesterfield, Virginia, native who’s won five times on what he considers his home track — said on Aug. 10. “They’re going to do things that the fans want to participate in.

“What’s just crazy is that it’s always one of our top five markets that watch us on TV, but (they) don’t actually come to the racetrack itself. There are plenty of racing fans around here, but getting to the racetrack has been challenging in the past.”

NASCAR finalizing a contract with Mexico City opens the door for the sanctioning body to release the entirety of the 2025 Cup schedule. That announcement could happen as soon as this week, according to industry sources.

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(Top photo of Kyle Busch celebrating his win at the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Mexico City: Jason Smith / Getty Images)

Jordan Bianchi is a motorsports reporter for The Athletic. He is a veteran sports reporter, having covered the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball, college basketball, college football, NASCAR, IndyCar and sports business for several outlets. Follow Jordan on Twitter @jordan_bianchi