For the first time in more than six decades, the NASCAR Cup Series is traveling with a passport.
Ben Kennedy, the sport’s executive vice president, chief venue & racing innovations officer, was on site in Mexico City Tuesday to announce NASCAR’s top racing division will conduct a points-paying event at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in June 2025, marking the series’ first official visit outside the United States since 1958.
MORE: Full details on Tuesday’s news | Scenes from the announcement
Joining Kennedy for the historic announcement was Daniel Suárez, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, who began his NASCAR journey in the NASCAR Mexico Series before graduating to the Xfinity Series in 2015 and won the championship one year later. Now an eight-year veteran of NASCAR’s premier series and locked into the Cup Series Playoffs courtesy of a February win at Atlanta, Suárez sat in awe Tuesday of what lies ahead in 10 months.
“Exactly 10 years ago, I was here racing NASCAR Mexico in 2014,” Suárez said via teleconference. “And I won a race here before winning NASCAR Mexico and moving full time to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2015. And I knew that some years before my time, the NASCAR Xfinity Series had the opportunity to come to Mexico for a few years and I remember thinking, what a dream would be for me to race the NASCAR Cup Series one day in my country. I remember thinking that. And fast forward now nine years later, here we are.”
Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion and six-time defending most popular driver, scored his first NASCAR national series victory in 2013, when the Craftsman Truck Series ventured north of the border for an event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. On Tuesday, Elliott praised the direction in which the sport is headed.
“The leadership group at NASCAR has been exploring a lot of different things that historically would probably have never happened, so I give them a lot of credit for that,” Elliott said in a separate teleconference. “I think to get outside the country is really a pretty cool thing. And it’s a pretty cool honor for us to have a following big enough to be able to leave and go somewhere and have an event and draw a big enough crowd for it to be successful. I think it’s really good and it’s healthy, and it’s something that we should probably look at doing if it goes well.”
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Suárez competed in the NASCAR Mexico Series as recently as February, running and winning the season-opener at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Aiding Tuesday’s unveiling was a vast and overwhelming crowd before Suárez, Kennedy and accompanying dignitaries, highlighting the local buzz for the upcoming marquee event.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Suárez said. “You know, there’s a lot of people excited here in Mexico today. Today already is a day that we’re going to remember for a very, very long time. We were talking last night at dinner that today, we’re making history. Today, we’re bringing the biggest series of stock-car (racing) in the world to Mexico City for a points race for the very first time in the modern era. So it’s unbelievable.
“I feel very, very humbled and blessed to be part of this announcement today, and I cannot tell you how many people were down downstairs today recording and taking pictures of this moment. The energy was unbelievable — and we’re still a lot of months away from the race. So I’m just very happy. I couldn’t be happier today. Today is a day that I will remember for a very long time.”
