By Lonnie Hugh Skinner

NASCAR Cup Series

Next Race: Viva Mexico 250

The Place: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

Track Length: 2.42 Mile Asphalt Paved Road Course

The Date: Sunday, June 15

The Time: 3 p.m. ET

The Purse: $12,561,250

TV: Amazon Prime, 2 p.m. ET

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR (Channel 90)

Distance: 242 miles (100 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 20),

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 45), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 100)

Sunday, June 15

NCS Race: Viva Mexico 250 (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM at 3 p.m. ET)

NASCAR Cup Series

Mexico City Storylines and Insights:

·       This is the first NASCAR Cup Series points-paying race held in Mexico and the third held outside of the continental U.S., the other two were held in Canada.

·       Mexico City is the first NASCAR Cup Series point-paying race held outside of the continental United States since July 1958, when the Cup Series raced in Toronto, Lee Petty won the race, and Richard Petty made his Cup debut.

·       Mexico City is the 16th different road course to host a NASCAR Cup Series race.

·       Including Mexico City, six of the last 10 new tracks to host a Cup race were road courses.

·       Mexico City is only the 13th new track added to the Cup schedule this millennium.

·       The NASCAR Xfinity Series competed in Mexico City between 2005 and 2008.

·       Chase Elliott (three), Ryan Blaney (two) and Joey Logano (two) combined have won seven of the last 11 Cup Series point-paying races hosted at new tracks.

·       It takes 36 hours to drive the 2,167 miles from Michigan International Speedway to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and 31 hours to drive the 1,975 miles from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to Charlotte Motor Speedway (all 15 teams are based within 53 miles of Charlotte Motor Speedway).

·       Four of the 11 races remaining in the regular season are on road courses.

·       Hendrick Motorsports leads all teams in poles, wins, top fives, top 10s, laps led and average finish on road courses in the Next Gen era.

·       Hendrick Motorsports won at eight different road courses, more than any other team in Cup history.

·       Hendrick Motorsports won five of the last eight road course races with three different drivers winning: Byron (twice), Larson (twice) and Bowman (once).

·       The last six road course poles were won by six different drivers, the last five were won by five different teams.

·       The driver leading the most laps failed to win four of the last five road course races after winning the prior four.

·       The driver earning the most points won 13 of the 18 road course races in the Next Gen era.

·       Five of the last 10 road course races were won by drivers getting their first road course win.

·       A stage winner is winless in the last seven road course races.

·       Chris Buescher has the best average finish on road courses in the Next Gen car (8.7) but ranks 21st in stage points earned, fourth in overall points scored.

·       Hendrick Motorsports has led 1,824 laps this year, the third most through a season’s first 15 races in team history, the most for the organization since 1996, and the most for any Cup team since 2016 (Joe Gibbs Racing – 1,892).

·       William Byron will make his 268th Cup start with Hendrick Motorsports this weekend, passing Ken Schrader for seventh most all-time with the team.

·       In the Next Gen, winless drivers above the cutline after Race 15 have made the Playoffs without a win only 50% of the time.

·       Six of the 14 road course regular season races in the Next Gen were won by a driver ranked 16th or worse in the Playoff standings.

·       Five of the 13 drafting track regular season races in the Next Gen were won by a driver ranked 19th or worse in the Playoff standings (not including the Daytona 500).

·       Chase Elliott leads all active Cup Series drivers in road course wins with seven. If he were to win this weekend, he would tie Tony Stewart for second-most on the all-time Cup Series road course wins list with eight each.

·       Only three drivers entered in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Mexico from 2005-2008 – Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski. Busch (2008) and Hamlin (2006) each won at Mexico in the NXS.

Understanding the In-Season Challenge:

·       The top 32 in driver points following the Nashville race are eligible (Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst and Cody Ware failed to qualify among full-time drivers).

·       Three races (Michigan, Mexico City, Pocono) establish the seeding for the challenge based on the best driver finishing positions over those races. Tiebreakers are decided by the second-best finish and then the third-best finish among those races. If needed, the final tiebreaker is points standings after Pocono.

·       The first of five races for the In-Season Challenge is Atlanta, with drivers competing in a bracket-style tournament until the final two drivers face off in the finale at Indianapolis with the best-finishing driver winning $1 million.

·       Select this link for the In-Season Challenge Infographic & Bracket

NASCAR & Mexico City, Etc.

Historical & Significant Events at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez:

·       The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a racetrack located within the large Ciudad Deportiva Magdalena Mixiuhca sports complex in the southeastern part of Mexico City, near the city center and just a couple of kilometers from the airport.

·       The track was designed in 1955 by engineer Oscar Fernández Gómez Daza as his thesis project, due to the lack of a racetrack in Mexico City at the time.

·       Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was built in 1959 and is owned by the Government of Mexico City.

·       Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is the fastest circuit in Formula 1, as Felipe Massa reached 364 km/h during the 2015 Mexican Grand Prix.

·       The track was named in 1973 in honor of brothers Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez, considered the best Mexican Formula 1 drivers of the 1960s.

·       Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is known for its very bumpy surface, primarily because Mexico City is located in a geologically active region.

·       The track sits at an elevation of 2,285 meters (7,500 feet), which causes a significant loss of engine power and makes breathing difficult for drivers.

·       The Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix was held at this track from 1962 to 1970.

·       For safety reasons—following an accident in which a spectator died—the race was discontinued in this category until 1986. After the circuit was upgraded with improved safety measures, it was raced again from 1986 to 1992. In 2015, it rejoined the Formula 1 calendar.

·       The racetrack has also hosted prestigious international motorsport events such as the World Endurance Championship, Formula E, Champ Car, NASCAR Xfinity Series, A1 Grand Prix, and the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.

·       It also hosts rounds of NASCAR Mexico Series, Super Turismos, Copa TC2000 México, GT Pro Series, Super Copa Telcel, Racing Bike México, Night Drags, and the traditional 24 Hours of Endurance.

·       At the end of the track, there is a very fast corner (the Peraltada) leading into the main straight toward the finish line, very similar to the Monza circuit.

·       After the last Mexican Grand Prix in 1992, a large event venue (Foro Sol) was built inside that corner.

·       When the Champ Car World Series began using the track in 2002, the Peraltada was partially bypassed with a series of tight corners that pass through the Foro Sol, rejoining the Peraltada halfway through.

·       The circuit is operated under concession by the Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento, S.A. de C.V. (CIE), through OCESA, one of CIE’s subsidiaries.

·       In 2005 the NASCAR Xfinity series raced for the first time in Mexico City. To accommodate the heavy stock cars, a temporary chicane was constructed on the main straight and a new ‘stadium’ curve added in place of the Lake esses. For the 2007 event, the slightly clumsy chicane on the start/finish straight was removed. The series raced there from 2005-2008.

·       In 2015 in order to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix once again, the racetrack had to be rebuilt almost in its entirety, with the construction of a new race control building, a VIP area, a hospital, the construction of new stands and a complete repave of the track, all this so that the FIA (International Motoring Federation) considered it suitable in terms of safety and logistics.

·       The NASCAR Mexico series has run the oval layout which measures just under one mile in length and incorporates the Peraltada curve outside the Foro Sol and the Curva Plana.

·       Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has multiple track layouts, the Grand Prix Circuit Formula 1 uses is a 2.67 mile 17 turn course. NASCAR will use the National Circuit which includes the Foro Sol, this layout is 15 turns and 2.42 miles long. The Recta Pricipale straight runs from turn 15 to turn one and is 3,937 feet (1,200 meters) long.

·       This weekend marks the first time the NASCAR Cup Series has raced in a point-paying international event in the modern era (1972-2025), and also the first time the series has competed at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

COURTESY NASCAR COMMUNICATIONS