{"id":49861,"date":"2025-02-26T21:06:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T03:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=49861"},"modified":"2025-02-26T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T03:06:22","slug":"nascar-expands-global-reach-with-upcoming-mexico-city-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/nascar-expands-global-reach-with-upcoming-mexico-city-race\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR expands global reach with upcoming Mexico City race"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

MEXICO CITY \u2014 More than 200 Mexican journalists packed into a media event Wednesday morning in Mexico City to hear from local race organizers, NASCAR executives, and a quartet of the sport\u2019s biggest stars sharing updates on the June 13-15 NASCAR race weekend in Mexico. Tickets for the event go on sale this week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NASCAR Vice President Steve O\u2019Donnell welcomed the crowd in Spanish. After a brief question-and-answer session on stage with drivers Ryan Blaney, Daniel Su\u00e1rez, Christopher Bell, and Chase Elliott, the drivers conducted one-on-one interviews with an enthusiastic Mexican media contingent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say today was awesome,\u201d O\u2019Donnell said afterward. \u201cYou always think about all the work that goes into prepping for events, and to see it come to fruition, to see the enthusiasm today from the drivers \u2014 obviously they\u2019ve been here taking in the culture, learning about things they aren\u2019t normally exposed to \u2014 I think they\u2019ll take that excitement back to the U.S. and talk to the other drivers and people in the industry, and that will get them more excited for the event too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come to a new venue, particularly in a new country, seeing people who may not understand the sport but want to learn, and seeing their enthusiasm for NASCAR, is awesome. And it kind of refreshes you. This is what the sport\u2019s all about, and we\u2019re lucky we get to do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program included a preview of the upcoming Netflix docuseries NASCAR: Full Speed. A featured clip highlighted Su\u00e1rez, the first Mexican-born driver to win in NASCAR\u2019s top series, who emotionally shared that he did not come from a wealthy family and relied on talent and perseverance to reach the highest level of the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have done some things that seemed impossible by following my dreams,\u201d Su\u00e1rez said in the film.<\/p>\n

On stage, Su\u00e1rez recalled an emotional moment early in his career when he sought advice from 10 close confidants about whether he should move from Mexico to the U.S. to pursue a NASCAR career. Eight of them told him no. But he listened to the other two, moving to North Carolina, where he learned English and survived on very little money.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the Monterrey, Mexico, native won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Since then, he has earned two NASCAR Cup Series victories and made two playoff appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the complications actually made the journey,\u201d the Trackhouse Racing driver said. \u201cThis is a dream, and I\u2019m trying to enjoy every single minute of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That passion is what draws fans to the sport\u2014both die-hard and new. For Su\u00e1rez, the opportunity to return to Mexico as a top-tier driver for a top-tier team is something he doesn\u2019t take for granted. His inspiring journey wasn\u2019t lost on his fellow NASCAR Cup Series stars sitting beside him on stage.<\/p>\n

Chase Elliott, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the sport\u2019s perpetually voted Most Popular Driver, called his time in Mexico City this week\u2014and the chance to return for the race\u2014\u201ca great honor for all of us involved.\u201d He thanked the community for greeting them with \u201copen arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we ask for is the opportunity, and you have given that to us,\u201d said Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

Bell, last week\u2019s winner at Atlanta Motor Speedway, also noted the warm reception they have received\u2014from touring the track at the famous Aut\u00f3dromo Hermanos Rodr\u00edguez to sampling authentic tacos and attending a Lucha Libre wrestling match Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

Not only is NASCAR experiencing a new culture, but the sport is also bringing a new experience to the Mexican people and the large international crowd expected to attend the three-day event in downtown Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love, love the fact of diversifying the schedule and going to new venues,\u201d said Bell, a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, while speaking with a group of Mexican media members.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just want the crowd to turn out, and you want crowd engagement. Based on what we\u2019ve experienced this week and what we know is to come, I think that\u2019s going to happen here in Mexico,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a banner weekend, and the crowd seems like it\u2019s going to be very engaged and show up in a big way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a big advocate of going to different venues, and coming here\u2014this is a world-class facility. It\u2019s a place we should be coming. It\u2019s going to be fun seeing it all unfold.\u201d<\/p>\n

As event executive Federico Alam\u00e1n Gonz\u00e1lez said with a smile and in perfect English:<\/p>\n

\u201cGentlemen, start your engines!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service MEXICO CITY \u2014 More than 200 Mexican journalists packed into a media event Wednesday morning in Mexico City to hear from local race organizers, NASCAR executives, and a quartet of the sport\u2019s biggest stars sharing updates on the June 13-15 NASCAR race weekend in Mexico. Tickets for the event go<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":49868,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-49861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cYd","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/29597330_Alejandro_Alvarez_20250225_214947-1.jpg?fit=1300%2C690","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49861"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49861\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49869,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49861\/revisions\/49869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}