The Hero of Mexico

NASCAR made an announcement on Tuesday (Aug. 27) that had been years in the making.

After Ben Kennedy’s promises to try and expand NASCAR out of the United States of America, it finally came to pass for 2025.

But instead of going back to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, as it had came close to in 2024, it instead went south and signed a deal to bring NASCAR to Mexico City.

Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, named for a pair of Mexican Formula 1 drivers in the 1960s whose lives were both cut short in separate accidents, is over 60 years old. It held F1 Grand Prix in the 1960s, then returned from 1986-92.

The track held four NASCAR Xfinity Series races from 2005-08. Interestingly, all four of the race winners are all active in NASCAR today; with Juan Pablo Montoya returning next month, he joins fellow winners Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

It wasn’t all roses. One big problem the track had I remember from reading the NASCAR Scene at the time was the added travel costs on teams. Teams had to drive 4,000 miles roundtrip and cross an international border twice. Cup teams could have bore the cost, but not Xfinity Series teams at the time for a standalone event.

The races themselves were not particularly memorable. The street course around a public park seemed similar in concept to Montreal. But unlike Montreal, the layout really didn’t lend itself to great racing.

In 2015, Formula 1 returned to the circuit. The chief reason for this was one driver: Sergio Perez. If you attended a U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas around this timeframe, there was an almost impossible-to-ignore frenzy of Latino fans who would rally around their hero. Even today, Checo is one of the most popular drivers whenever F1 goes to the States.

When he goes to Mexico City, however, things pick up.