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

The NASCAR Cup Series makes its historic debut in Mexico City at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The field will set the lineup for series’ first race in Mexico City, the first points-paying race since 1958 and first international race since 1998 when the series ran an exhibition at Twin Ring Motegi Superspeedway in Japan.

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Denny Hamlin is coming off his third win in the June 8 race at Michigan but is not racing in Mexico City as he awaits the birth of his third child with his fiancée, Jordan Fish.

Qualifying is set to begin at 11 a.m. CT, follow the action with our live updates.

NASCAR Mexico City qualifying live updates

Qualifying for the NASCAR Mexico City race is one of the race weekends which falls under the expanded practice and qualifying procedure under NASCAR’s new rules for the 2025 season. There will be two groups of cars on track for separate 20-minute qualifying sessions for one round of qualifying in Mexico City.

NASCAR Mexico City entry list for Viva Mexico 250

• Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

• Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford

• Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

• Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford

• Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

• Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

• Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

• Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

• Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

• Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford

• AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

• Chris Buescher, No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

• Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

• Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

• Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

• Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford

• Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota

• William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford

• Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota

• Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

• Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford

• John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

• Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

• Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 HYAK Motorsports Chevrolet

• Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

• Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford

• Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

• Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford

• Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

• Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

• Katherine Legge, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet

• Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

• Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

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What channel is qualifying on today for the NASCAR Cup race at Mexico City?

• Qualifying time: 11 a.m. CT June 15

• Streaming: Amazon Prime Video; NASCAR.com and SiriusXM for audio (subscription required)

• Track: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (2.42-mile road course in Mexico City, Mexico)

NASCAR Mexico City news, stories

EXPERT PICKS: NASCAR Mexico City predictions 2025: Expert picks for Cup Series race

FROM LAST WEEK: NASCAR Michigan winners and losers: Denny Hamlin wins on 701st start, Carson Hocevar blows tire

CUP POINTS PICTURE: NASCAR points standings: Cup Series points update after Michigan race

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NASCAR Mexico City qualifying live results: Cup Series starting lineup

Denny Hamlin will have all his playoff points in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs even though he’s missing Sunday’s race in Mexico City.

NASCAR granted Hamlin a waiver to keep his playoff eligibility Friday after he announced Thursday he would miss the race. Hamlin and fiancée Jordan Fish welcomed a son this week. The couple now has three children together.

Ryan Truex, the brother of former Joe Gibbs Racing driver and Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr., will drive Hamlin’s No. 11 for JGR in Mexico City.

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Hamlin had been open about missing a race if necessary for the birth of his son. Truex had been available as a standby driver in recent weekends as Hamlin and Fish awaited their third child’s arrival.

NASCAR tweaked its playoff waiver rules ahead of the 2025 season and said a driver who skipped a race and made the playoffs wouldn’t be able to keep the playoff points he accrued in the regular season. However, the birth of a child is listed as a reason NASCAR would give a waiver. If, for example, Kyle Larson missed the Coca-Cola 600 for a second straight season after racing in the Indianapolis 500, he would have been forced to start the postseason without any playoff points.

Hamlin won last week’s race at Michigan for his third win of the season. He previously won at Martinsville and Darlington. Hamlin is currently third in the regular-season standings behind William Byron and Larson and has scored 18 playoff points through 15 races. Only Larson, with 23, has more.

Sunday’s race in Mexico City will be the first Cup Series race in the country. The race is held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the same track where Formula 1 annually hosts its grand prix. However, the Cup Series will compete on a slightly modified track with a different section around Turn 4.