Almost everyone is talking about Mexico City having its debut Cup Series race in 2025. People are excited to see the Cup Series expand its arms to Mexico, as this will be the first Cup Series race on the circuit. We have seen how in the past NASCAR made its way to Canada with the first international Cup race since July 18, 1958, in Toronto. Now that Canada is old news, Mexico steps up to host the upcoming international race.

But that’s not all. After the success of the non-oval formats of racing in NASCAR, the sport is following in the footsteps of Formula 1. The fun part is that at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, drivers will be racing on a similar route around the track to the open-wheel cars. So, with an international course added to the calendar next year, let’s dive into everything there is to know about the upcoming 2025 race.

Mexico City’s return to NASCAR with its debut Cup Series race

First, the NASCAR event will take place on June 14 and 15. On Saturday, June 14, the Xfinity Series and the Mexico Series will be racing. Then, on Sunday, June 15, the Cup Series will take the track. Specifically, the race will be held on a 17-turn, 2.674-mile road course, which is the same layout used for current Formula 1 races. Regarding the length of the races, it has yet to be announced.

In terms of broadcast, the Xfinity race will be shown on CW, while the Cup race will be available on Amazon’s Prime Video. So a little backstory about the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez; the track was named after two racing legends: Ricardo Rodríguez, who tragically died in a practice session for the 1962 Mexican Grand Prix. Unfortunately, his brother Pedro Rodríguez, also lost his life in a race nine years later. As a result, the track was named in their honor shortly after Ricardo’s passing.

For context, this circuit is 2.674 miles long. It is located in the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City Park in southeast Mexico City. The track is owned by the city government. However, it is operated by Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento through its subsidiary, OCESA.

By the way, CIE also organizes NASCAR and Desafío Corona races here and rents the track to other organizations. Besides the Cup Series plans for 2025, NASCAR used to host races at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez until 2008, so let’s take a look at the track’s significance within the sport.

Mexico City track’s importance in NASCAR

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In terms of NASCAR, the Xfinity Series raced here from 2005 to 2008. Martin Truex Jr. kicked things off with a win in 2005, and Denny Hamlin followed up with a win in 2006. For the 2007 race, they made some changes to the track layout to make it more exciting, which helped Juan Pablo Montoya snag a win. Kyle Busch took the final race victory here in 2008, after which NASCAR pulled the plug on racing there.

As of today, the oval is considered one of the most dangerous tracks in Mexico. This is mainly because of the limited visibility at the exits of turns 2 and 4. You see, the Foro Sol baseball stadium is right by turns 1 and 2, where there are some trees near turns 3 and 4, that can obscure drivers’ views.

For instance, during the 2006 season, there were a couple of accidents on the oval track during NASCAR Mexico T4 Series events. As a result, some drivers were knocked out of the race, among which some had to be rushed to the hospital. Nevertheless, the oval is used a couple of times each year for double-feature events, including races from the NASCAR Toyota Series and the NASCAR Mexico T4 Series.

With that said, are you excited to see NASCAR head back to Mexico City after spending 16 years on hiatus? Share your thoughts in the comments below.