Nascar confirms Mexico City on 2025 schedule

Nascar has confirmed that the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City will form part of the 2025 schedule.

Confirmed:

• Mexico will host the first points-paying race outside of the US in Nascar history
• Cup Series event to air live on Prime Video, while companion Xfinity Series race will air on The CW
• Nascar will partner with OCESA for the event, which promotes Formula One’s Mexico City Grand Prix

Context:

This will be a first for the Cup Series, but the circuit hosted four races in the second-tier Xfinity Series between 2005 and 2008. The stock car racing series also has a substantial presence in the region through the Nascar Mexico Series, while Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez is sure to attract swathes of partisan support.

For Prime Video, this represents further good news in the first year of its new TV deal with Nascar. The Mexico City event is bound to draw increased attention from audiences, while it is also set to benefit from broadcasting the Coca-Cola 600, one of the series’ flagship events.

Comment:

Ben Kennedy, Nascar’s executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovation officer, said: “This has been on our radar for a long time.

“We’ve been talking about the continued iteration of our schedule, right? You can go back a few years, went to new markets like Nashville and Austin, Texas. We went to the Coliseum for the Clash.

“We went to our first street race in downtown Chicago, and this is going to be another first for us in a lot of ways. This is going to be certainly a monumental event for us, the first time we’re going south of the border.”

Coming next:

The first-ever points-paying Cup Series race outside of the US will take place on 15th June next year.

Go deeper:

• Nascar’s US$7.7bn TV deal: Why the annual value went up, who gets what, and the impact on fans
• The reluctant activist: How Bubba Wallace went from a kid racing cars to driving change in Nascar