Charlie Henderson, owner of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team Henderson Motorsports, has died, the team announced via X.

Henderson’s involvement in NASCAR began in 1982 and his team fieled part-time cars in all of the top three divisions of NASCAR throughout his time as an owner. He entered 24 Cup Series races, 298 Xfinity Series races and 108 Truck Series races.

He won two Truck Series races as an owner with The CW color commentator Parker Kligerman as the driver of his No. 75 Chevrolet Silverado. Kligerman and the team nearly captured a third win at Daytona International Speedway this season before a ride height penalty disqualified them from the race.

Connor Zilisch Hangs On for Xfinity Pole in Mexico City

“We are grateful for the many years of leadership, friendship, and memories that Charlie gave to Henderson Motorsports and the entire NASCAR community,” Henderson Motorsports said in a statement. “We ask that you keep the Henderson family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

Wyatt Watson has followed motorsports closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretch as a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt is one of Frontstretch‘s primary IndyCar correspondents, providing exclusive video content on site. He hosts Frontstretch‘s Through the Gears podcast and occasionally The Pit Straight.You can find Wyatt’s written work in columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monsteras well as exclusive IndyCar features. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch’s social media team, posting unique and engaging content for Frontstretch.

Wyatt Watson can be found on X @WyattWRacing

With just over 22 minutes left in qualifying, Daniel Suarez went out on track for his first flying lap in the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Unfortunately, he never completed it as the car went off in Turn 11, slamming the barrier head-on.

The front of the car was completely destroyed, but Suarez was still able to back out of the barrier and limp back to the pits. He radioed to the team that he “locked the fronts” at corner entry.

Suarez will have to go to a backup car and be forced to come from the rear of the field. And JRM has very little time to get the car ready with the Xfinity race set to get underway in just a few hours.

Watch: Suárez on Xfinity qualifying wreck: ‘Just inconsistent with my brake pedal’

“I don’t want to blame anyone,” said Suarez after being checked and released from the infield care center. “I probably just trusted the car a little bit too much. In practice, I was having a long pedal. The brakes — we weren’t really sure if we were going try and fix it, start in the back or just try to go qualifying. I tried to brake like normal but the pedal just kept going down. Just very sorry for everyone at JR Motorsports. I probably just trusted it a little bit too much. The brakes were, for some reason, not 100%, but my bad. Hopefully, we can build another fast car. I think the car was pretty good.”

Suarez went on to say that he has no worried about the backup car, believing that it will be “just as good” as the primary. Even still, it’s a major setback at his home race after what has been an incredible week for him, constantly surrounded by fans and media.

Suarez is making his first Xfinity start of the year, but he has plenty of experience in these cars. He won the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, and has three race wins. His teammate Connor Zilisch earned pole position for the race, driving the No. 88 JRM Chevrolet.

Daniel Suarez, JR Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

It’s a weekend of firsts as NASCAR takes its big-league Cup Series to Mexico City for the first time.

Unfortunate news in the NASCAR world. Charlie Henderson, longtime Truck Series team owner of Henderson Motorsports, has died. Henderson and his race team were noted for their underdog status and ability to overperform on the track.

Charlie Henderson was not only the owner of Henderson Motorsports but also the owner of Food Country USA. The company was often featured on his race trucks throughout the years.

Earlier this season at Daytona, Parker Kligerman won the Truck Series season opener. That win was vacated after a post-race disqualification. Since their debut in 1982, Henderson Motorsports has raced in all levels of NASCAR.

In total, Henderson Motorsports earned five wins, three Xfinity and two Truck Series victories. The organization earned eight pole awards across those two series. WCYB in Virginia reported on his passing.

Charlie Henderson started his NASCAR organization in 1982. That year, Brad Teague drove a combination of Chevy and Pontiac cars. In 1983, Henderson qualified for its first-ever Daytona 500 with Ronnie Hopkins behind the wheel. Morgan Shepherd would make the final Cup start for Henderson at Martinsville in 1984, finishing P26.

It was in 1985 when Henderson went racing in the Busch Series (now Xfinity) with its iconic No. 75 where things really picked up. Brad Teague was the driver that year as well. He finished P2 and P3 at Darlington that season.

Charlie Henderson found success in NASCAR

During the 1987 season, Teague and Henderson had their big breakthrough. The No. 75 Chevy led the most laps and won the Martinsville race. Teague wouldn’t win another race for Henderson, but they weren’t out of victory lane for too long.

The 1989 season saw Rick Wilson in the car for Charlie Henderson’s organization. He won two races that season in the Busch Series. Starting on the pole at Bristol, Wilson led the most laps on his way to the win. He would then go on to win at Dover, leading more laps than anyone else that day as well.

When it came to the Truck Series, Parker Kligerman and Henderson Motorsports found success with one another on multiple occasions. Everyone will think of the DQ at Daytona this year, which the team disputes. However, Kligerman got it done for Henderson on two other occasions.

Kligerman was able to deliver two official wins to Charlie Henderson and his team. The first at Talladega in 2017. Then he did it again in 2022 at Mid-Ohio, the only road course win in NASCAR for Henderson Motorsports.

Our thoughts are with the Henderson family and NASCAR organization during this difficult time. Charlie Henderson dedicated much of his life to stock car racing and the pursuit of speed and victories. He will be missed.

As NASCAR takes on Mexico City this weekend, three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano spent a few minutes speaking exclusively with Motorsport.com’s Luis Ramírez in preparation for the event.

Despite failing to win at any road course race in roughly a decade, the Team Penske driver is looking forward to this weekend’s unique race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The event also presents several unknowns as it’s a track most drivers in the field have never seen before — and Cup cars have never raced here until now.

“We’ll have to wait and see … It’s obviously a lot of unique things, a lot of new things, for all of us to try and figure out and overcome,” said Logano. “You know, not just the race track being new, but all of us being south of the border for us is very new here in Mexico. It’s amazing the whole sport moved like this. Like, how many trucks have come down here and set up our race for everyone here in Mexico? It’s really exciting. It’s pretty impressive, to see it all come together, too.

“This has obviously been a lot of work for everyone at NASCAR. The teams, the truck drivers all had to put a lot into this. It’s going to be a great event. I’m excited about that. And like you said, we gotta figure out the race itself.”

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

It may sound unbelievable, but this weekend is the first time in 67 years that NASCAR has held a points-paying Cup race outside of the United States. Though a handful of exhibition races were held in Japan and Australia in the 1980s and 1990s, this might be a real turning point.

Officials have indicated that Mexico could be the beginning of some real international expansion by the top level of the sport, but how does the reigning champion feel about more races beyond the USA?

“I think this definitely is stepping out of our comfort zone and when you do that, you usually grow and see other opportunities that come along with that so I think this is a good start,” said Logano. “Lord knows where we go from here. I don’t know. I think if this is a great success — and it seems so far it has been going very well — but if this can be successful, then yeah, we can pick up and move to some different places. Mexico made good sense to be able to do this. The fans are very excited about us being here. You can drive the trucks here. You start going to other countries, you got to start figuring out how to fly things or put them on boats and that changes the game again. So this is a good step in the right direction.

No road course ace

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images

As mentioned, Logano doesn’t have the best record at road courses. Only one of his 37 Cup wins came at a road course, and that was Watkins Glen back in 2015. Nonetheless, Logano is one of the most successful drivers in the sport and is the only active driver with more than two titles, so why has it been so hard for him to adjust to road course racing?

“That’s a great question,” laughed Logano. “If I knew the answer, I would have done it by now. Just, I think road course races — I grew up racing short track ovals. That’s what my roots are so you feel at home doing that. The road courses…I feel more and more comfortable as we do them more in NASCAR these days, but yeah, I just think it takes a lot of things to all come together.”

Threat of rain

NASCAR Mexico City race logo

Photo by: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

And if attempting to learn to a new road course wasn’t difficult enough, Logano and the other 36 Cup drivers in the field will likely have to deal with some rain showers as well.

“Everything else is different, might as well add some water to the equation,” said Logano in response to the questionable weather forecast. “But it’ll be fine. Hopefully, it doesn’t pour. We’ll race out there in wet conditions, but I don’t think we’re gonna be out there in rainy conditions. Hopefully, the weather holds off enough to where it’s just a little shower and we can go out there and race.”

The NASCAR Cup Series has six sets of wet-weather tires on hand (per team) and has even experimented with racing on damp ovals in recent years, in addition to road course races.

Photos from Mexico City – Practice