From Winner to Champion, Part 3: Championship Metal
Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a seven-part series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship and the first for Hendrick Motorsports in 1995. Join us each Thursday as we relive all the moments and talk to many of the players involved in one of the organization’s and the sport’s most unforgettable […]
Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a seven-part series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship and the first for Hendrick Motorsports in 1995. Join us each Thursday as we relive all the moments and talk to many of the players involved in one of the organization’s and the sport’s most unforgettable and important seasons.
For Jon.
CONCORD, N.C. – Throughout the fall and winter of 1994 and into the early parts of 1995, Chad Knaus spent much of his time in Detroit … living like a vampire.
And he was far from alone.
It was all part of an intensive, collaborative effort that brought Chevrolet teams in NASCAR as well as engineers and professionals from General Motors together for a common cause. Knaus, then a fabricator and tire changer on Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team, was very hands on in the development of what would turn out to be one of the most successful race cars in the sport’s history: the Generation 4 Chevy Monte Carlo, which would replace the Lumina after the 1994 season.
“I can remember testing, going to the wind tunnel so many times that offseason that I didn’t think the sun ever came up in Detroit,” Knaus said. “Every time I went to Detroit it was cold and snowy and gray and then we would go in and have a 12-hour shift in the wind tunnel, we would arrive when it was dark and leave when it was dark. It was something else. A tremendous amount of work was put into that program that year.”
In the mid-1990s, wind tunnels were fewer and far between than present day. And though GM housed one, research and development for its passenger cars took priority over the racing side, relegating work on racing to any and all time slots that were left over.
Affectionately coined, ‘the zero shift,’ often those hours were from midnight until 8 a.m. Sometimes, there were 16-hour shifts. If there was a waking moment to be had, the group took it.
“One of the most important things to ask in the wind tunnel was, ‘What does everyone like on their pizza?'” recalled Dwight Woodbridge, aerodynamics manager at GM at the time.
Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in 1995. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
Don Taylor, group manager for Chevrolet Racing at the time, also recalled the logistical challenges facing teams that made the journey to Michigan.
“The production car people would commandeer it for the daytime, and we would get the nightshift. Those guys would pile in the truck and come up and get here at nine or 10 at night, so, it was already dark in Detroit and there’d be snow on the ground and they had light jackets if anything,” Taylor said. “I remember they had these little, thin-sole leather shoes, which didn’t do too well in six inches of snow. They thought it would be warmer in the wind tunnel. It wasn’t.”
Cold and tired, yes. But determined, to be sure. And what’s a little adversity in the face of discovery?
The 1995 Chevy Monte Carlo was so many things all at once. Perhaps the pinnacle of manufacture and race team cooperation, the car also signaled the beginning of an end of an era in car building as well. In the years and generations that would follow, cars would become more and more uniform with NASCAR regulations growing ever stricter.
Perhaps part of the reason for those reductions in gray area from stock car racing’s governing body in the years that followed was the success the Gen 4 Monte Carlo would accumulate almost right away.
Undoubtedly, Gordon and the No. 24 team with Ray Evernham atop the pit box was at the forefront of the coming Chevy onslaught.
“That was one of the finest stock cars ever built,” Evernham summarized. “It was the last stock car to ever fit the templates properly and the Hendrick group go out ahead of it. We felt like we were ready to go head-to-head with the best.”
FROM WINNER TO CHAMPION, PART 1: ‘One Hot Night’
Meetings of the minds
In part two of this series, drivers, crew chiefs and others long involved in NASCAR commented on the hesitance of individual race teams to conform to the constructs of team racing.
And if teammates under a shared organizational umbrella had trouble cooperating, cars connected only by a manufacturer’s emblem on the grill were near mortal enemies.
Yet, like it or not, the development of the Chevy Monte Carlo was one catalyst that began to turn the tide of teamwork as team representatives were thrust together inside boardrooms for long periods of time. It was a process, however, that wasn’t without its own growing pains.
“The teams were all operating independently and so, we would pull them together in one room and they’d look at each other like, ‘This is not my friend here,’” Taylor recalled.
“It was another jumping off point for a lot of teams because none of the teams really shared much with each other,” echoed Andy Petree, crew chief for the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt. “Even though they were a Chevy team, they were the enemy. But we had to start doing some developing together. We’d go to the wind tunnel and invite other teams and we’d all take some knowledge from that wind tunnel session.”
Petree and all involved realized there was a bigger picture to keep focused on, one worth setting competitive squabbles and on-track incidents aside. At least for a while.
FROM WINNER TO CHAMPION, PART 2: Championship Material
A Chevrolet ad promoting the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
The objective was clear: build the fastest, best race car possible through a collaborative effort among all the Chevrolet race teams and the best and brightest engineers at GM.
Seems simple enough.
Luckily, the teams were given quite a head start as the production Monte Carlo was a much closer resemblance to a race car than its predecessor, the Lumina.
“The Lumina was never intended to be a race car, it was all we had,” said Herb Fishel, executive director of GM racing at the time. “If you just sit and look at the Lumina vs. the Monte Carlo, the Monte Carlo is a pretty sporty looking car. The idea of racing a car and having something in the show room that resembled it, that idea had germinated with our design staff years before it ever became a car in 1995.”
Yet, there were plenty of challenges facing the group as it looked to take an albeit, “sporty” production Monte Carlo and create a Cup Series winning race car from it, specifically harnessing the latest advances in aerodynamics. The biggest of which being the idea of just how married to the showroom vehicle stock cars still had to be.
The landscape was changing and the team sensed it.
“It was probably the end of an era,” Fishel said. “Everything that came after that was highly modified. By then, the legitimacy of the term, ‘stock car’ had been diminishing for years and I think the story really ended as far as that terminology goes with the ’95 Monte Carlo. It was the last variation of a believable stock car from what you bought in the show room versus what you saw on the race track.
“We were just a good team. We had a lot of smart guys. Racing at that time was becoming a collaborative thing and we were good at that.”
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‘Renegades and bottom feeders’
By the time 1994 rolled around, Terry Laise had been with GM for over two decades and played an integral part in bringing several iterations of Chevrolet race cars to life including the Monte Carlo SS in the early 1980s.
Responsible for aerodynamics on the ’95 Monte Carlo, Laise had a pretty simple view of what teams were looking for out of a new race car.
“We wanted the best lift/drag ratio you could come up with, meaning that it would be fast and still go around the corners,” Laise explained. “We wanted to have the ability to maximize the downforce at the expense of drag, in some instances.”
With the production car set and clear goals in mind for the race car, the real work began.
“On a race car, time is a lot shorter than on production cars. You’ve got a year maybe at most but back in Detroit, it’s a little longer because you know what you’re coming out with whether it’s a new Monte Carlo, new Lumina, whatever,” Woodbridge explained. “We would get clay molds going before teams had seen anything. We had a couple of guys that were magicians in terms of working with clay and getting shapes right. Once you’ve got that process figured out, you take it to the teams and say, ‘OK, we need to start doing this.'”
According to Petree, that’s where RCR came in.
1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo specs
Wheelbase:
110 inches
Length:
205 inches
Width:
64 inches
Height:
51 inches
Track:
60 inches
Ground clearance:
3.5 inches
Weight:
3,400 lbs
Distribution:
52% front, 48% rear
Braces and cage:
Round tube
Front suspension:
Independent A-arm
Rear suspension:
Full floating axle and hub
Steering:
Power heavy-duty worm and pinion
Brakes:
Four-wheel disc
Wheels:
9.5×15 inches
Tires:
12×15 inches
Engine type:
Chevrolet V-8
Displacement:
358 cubic inches
Compression:
14:1
Carburetion:
750 cfm 4-barrel Holley
Horsepower:
700 @ 8,000 rpm
Torque:
520 lbs @ 6,200 rpm
Transmission type:
4-speed GM manual
Fuel capacity:
22 gallons
Oil system:
16 quarts
Cooling system:
14 quarts
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“At RCR we were tapped by GM to build the first one,” Petree recalled. “The way that process went, the streetcar version of a Monte Carlo, we were able to get full-size print of the profiles of the car and cut accurate templates off of them. We got all the body panels and started putting it together.
“Basically, on the bumpers, we fabricated a valance on it. They’d make the fenders and the deck lid stock, but the rear bumper had to be shaped with taillights. We got the whole thing finished and rolled it out there and took it from there to be scanned in Detroit. Then a scale, wind tunnel model was made from that scan. That wind tunnel model is still in my shop.”
Long before the ensuing hours, days, weeks and months spent in Detroit, the group had a clear vision on certain features of the car in order optimize it aerodynamically. And in conjunction with the cooperation fostered throughout the process, even the production side made concessions along the way, according to Taylor.
“We got together with the styling group early in the development of this car and we said, ‘One of the features we’d like was this squared-off, rear edge of the bumper – a vertical square edge,’ and they actually put it into production,” Taylor said. “And there were some changes on the roof, so they contributed directly to the success of the car.”
“The production car we started with was good aerodynamically. So, it was easy to do the thing you had to do that we knew from previous cars,” Laise expanded. “We learned a lot of the things we needed to know from the earlier Monte Carlo and the Lumina. They understood what was needed from the very beginning.”
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A promotional pennant announcing the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo’s debut at Daytona International Speedway in 1995. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
From there, the grind commenced, sleepless nights in the wind tunnel with every sheet metal curvature, hard corner and indentation under the magnifying glass.
Adjustments would be made, tested in the wind tunnel, tweaked again, tested again and eventually, taken to the GM Proving Grounds facility in Mesa, Arizona to be put to the test in real conditions.
“The policy at that time was that none of that was supposed to be happening,” Fishel said. “GM operated under secrecy and those sessions were clandestine because of policy. Overall, at the company, the priority was production work and production cars. The racing group, we were kind of renegades and bottom feeders in a sense. Whenever the time window came up, it didn’t matter whether it was in Mesa or the GM wind tunnel, we took the spot. If it was two in the morning, that’s when the team would show up with the car and that’s when we used it.”
Hours and days ran together, but the labor was bearing fruit. Knaus recalled a test session at Texas World Speedway, a now-defunct 2-mile oval in College Station, Texas, that served as a key catalyst toward the build of future-race-winning Monte Carlos in the No. 24 stable.
“We tested there and it was really fast,” Knaus said. “We went to that test and that car had skull and crossbones on the hood, which was really cool. And yeah, we ended up building some really good cars.”
One of those is the famed Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 2411, affectionately known as, “Blacker”. The car would become the most successful Chevy to ever run under the Hendrick Motorsports banner with Gordon driving it to victory lane 12 times from 1995-1999. It’s now on display in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Hendrick Motorsports chassis No. 2411, known as “Blacker”, is on display at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
“That car was an aerodynamic step change for us,” Knaus said. “We needed something new from the Lumina and we were pushing further forward and were able to get it.”
Yet, the process wasn’t without its hiccups.
“I can’t remember which team, but we had the full-length template for the car and we fired up the wind tunnel and the template went flying down the tunnel and it just made a mess,” Woodbridge laughed. “It’s kind of one of those things you always remember. It was, ‘Oh my god, we just broke the wind tunnel.’ It was a $20,000 mistake.”
At times, the process was slow and laborious. Crew chiefs and teams would provide feedback from test sessions and GM engineers would go back to the drawing board, making minor modifications and then call a meeting of the minds in Detroit to consider feedback and offer updates.
And near the forefront of it all was Evernham, a crew chief who would reach rarified air over the back half of the decade, largely with outside-the-box thinking and methodology as well a relentless pursuit of perfection.
Obviously, the days weren’t always fun. Some were long, others seemed never ending. But the aura of teamwork guided the group through, and small gestures went a long way to ensure that spirit remained.
“I will say, Ray is a very particular guy, but the thing that’s so cool about Ray, is sometime later you’d get a piece of mail, and it was a, ‘Thank You’ card from him for doing some test and that always meant a ton,” Woodbridge said. “When I got one, when anybody else got them, the guys would always remember that.”
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Rick Hendrick makes his pitch
Between General Motors and the personnel involved from Chevrolet NASCAR teams, there was no shortage of engineering knowledge and technical acumen when it came to building the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
But all of that research and building would have been for naught if NASCAR had not signed off on it. One of the things those interviewed for this story romanticized about the most was the relative freedom, or wiggle room, there was within the rules at that time. There was some creativity allowed.
“That was an era when divisions were allowed to develop cars, so, NASCAR was not so involved in stipulating everything, designing everything, engineering everything and there was freedom for Ford, Chevy, Dodge and others,” Fishel said. “It was up to the engineers and ingenuity to build the best car and bring it to the track.”
Yet, Bill France Jr., NASCAR chief executive officer at the time, as well as Gary Nelson, director of the then-Winston-Cup Series and newly hired chief operating officer, Mike Helton, were still determined to keep as level of a playing field as possible in the interest of competition. Anything the GM group came up with had to stay within the rules, passing the sniff test of NASCAR’s brass.
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The Monte Carlo served as the pace car for the 1994 Brickyard 400. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
“You had to look at the rules and put together a car that met the rules and you had to work in between the rules,” Laise said. “Back in those days, there was a lot more working in between the rules than there is today.
“My recollection is, we selected Hendrick Motorsports as the team to build our submission car. We built a car and we would submit it to NASCAR and say, ‘This is what we want,’ and they’d make the judgment on whether or not they were willing to accept it.”
“There were a lot of discussions with NASCAR,” Woodbridge added. “You’d say, ‘OK, this is what we want to do. What are the procedures to get this thing through the wind tunnel without upsetting them too much?’ There is no question that would happen. You would just try to pick your battles.”
All remembered a particular battle, one that involved the Monte Carlo’s rear fascia.
“The rear bumper, the fascia, that was improved on the car, and it was something we knew from the wind tunnel that the wider and squarer it was, even departing from production, the better off we would be,” Taylor said.
There was no doubt to the team that the rear fascia, one that performed supremely in terms of aerodynamics, was a sticking point. It was nonnegotiable.
But when it came time to convince NASCAR, well, that’s when one of the world’s best businessmen stepped up with an idea that quickly came to the minds of all that were there. Even if a few of the details may vary.
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Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick made a pivotal sales pitch to NASCAR when it came to the rear fascia of the 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
“And so, we had NASCAR come here to one of the Hendrick garages, I believe,” Taylor said. “So, Bill France Jr. came in there and Mike Helton and Gary Nelson, they came in there and we had the car, and we had two different rear ends molded up to fit on the car. We had a less aggressive one and a really aggressive one and it was the less aggressive one that we really wanted.
“So, Rick Hendrick said, ‘Put the real aggressive one on there. Show that to NASCAR.’ Of course, NASCAR sees it and says, ‘Woah, that’s too much.’ And he said, ‘Well, I guess we could do with this other one over here,’ which is obviously the one we really wanted. And they agreed as a ‘compromise.’ Rick being the salesman he is, sold them on the rear bumper fascia that we wanted all along.”
While his salesmanship was a key piece to the puzzle, and the overall success of that race car would finally help lead Hendrick Motorsports to a championship breakthrough after 11 years in NASCAR, its development still wasn’t the most important thing to him. The most meaningful thing to Hendrick was the group of people involved.
Those who sacrificed time and dedicated themselves to the creation of a car that would change the sport forever.
“The car was part of it, but it always came down to the people,” Hendrick said. “Our group poured themselves into learning that car. There wasn’t a magic trick. It was just a relentless effort from everyone to get better. That mindset is what made the difference, not just the sheet metal.”
‘Hit the track running’: 1995 and beyond
Thirty years later, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo developed ahead of the 1995 season stands as a testament of human collaboration, ingenuity and drive. Its success was immediate and overwhelming.
The car looked incredible. It drove even better.
“Overall, that was the most excellent car we did,” Laise said. “Just everything came out right.”
Counting the Clash and both Daytona Duels, a Chevrolet went to victory lane in each of the first 10 races of 1995. It would go on to win 21 of 31 races that season and from 1995-1998, the Monte Carlo won 66 of 128 Cup Series events and all four championships, three for Gordon, one for Labonte (1996).
Unsurprisingly, the car was met with rave reviews by Chevy drivers.
Jeff Gordon lounges on the hood of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo in New York City. (Courtesy of the NASCAR Hall of Fame)
“I remember that was one of the best cars that I think we’d ever had or that Chevy ever had,” Labonte said. “I can remember week after week the Ford guys crying about this and crying about that. I know NASCAR had to make some concessions for Ford.”
Indeed, France Jr. still had a sport to run and facilitating competition only improved the product. And obviously, the going wasn’t nearly as easy or as fun on the Ford side of things in the early part of that year.
“Sure, we were out there, campaigning for our camp but it was clearly a great race car,” said Mark Martin, driver of the No. 6 Ford at the time. “It was frustrating for us because we felt like Chevrolet did that car to be a race car. That’s how we felt and that’s what it looked like. Ford was not engaged enough in motorsports to do something like that. To shape the Thunderbird into being a better race car. You had to give props to GM and Chevrolet for doing that but also had to remember that they had pretty incredible teams with Gordon and Ray coming of age and of course with Earnhardt and Childress.”
Laise shared a story of a particular such meeting with France as concessions were gradually made.
“At Atlanta that year, on Saturday evening, I was watching final practice on top of Richard Childress’ trailer,” Laise said. “Gary Nelson came to the bottom of the trailer and said, ‘Mr. France asked me to drive you to the hotel, he wants to talk to you.’ And that was unheard of.
“But he explained to me that the sport couldn’t withstand Ford not being competitive and he was approving changes for the Ford. And it kind of went that way – (Ford) won their share of races the rest of the year and so did (Chevrolet). It was a big change but, whatever. My attitude was always, ‘What is, is,’ and you’ve got to deal with what is.”
To Martin’s point, and what is the overarching theme when it comes to the 1995 season, it was a confluence of factors coming together at the right time to make the year so special and successful for Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and the sport itself.
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A Chevrolet promotional ad for the Monte Carlo after Jeff Gordon won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. (Courtesy of General Motors, 2025)
Three of the first six races of the season went to Gordon, serving as an early and loud warning shot to the rest of the field that just maybe, the No. 24 team had arrived as a championship threat a little before most thought it was ready. Pairing Gordon’s great and rapidly developing talent and Evernham’s cunning, inventiveness and tenacity with a brand new, aerodynamically groundbreaking hot rod was a combination that would rule the sport with an iron fist until the arrival of the new millennium.
“The timing was great for Jeff and this car was just an amazing car at the time,” Fishel said. “If you look at the debut of that particular car versus all the cars after it, particularly the new generation cars, that car hit the track running and had little difficulty … other than NASCAR’s challenge to slow it down.”
Gordon, of course, wasn’t the only beneficiary and with the car surging during an era in which NASCAR was peaking in terms of popularity, the 1995 Monte Carlo has long been imprinted on the minds of fans who’ve been around the sport since.
“Those were classic cars, visually,” Taylor said. “They looked good, they had that smooth front end and smooth surface headlights and they became iconic because teams back then had the same sponsor. The No. 24 rainbow car, the No. 3 car, the No. 5 car with Kellogg’s on the hood, those are iconic.”
The Gen 4 Monte Carlo ushered in an era of change, and the sport has continued its evolution since, with rules packages and regulations becoming stricter and cars across manufacturer lines becoming more and more similar.
Jeff Gordon (24), Dale Earnhardt (3) and Bobby Labonte (18) all drove new Chevrolet Monte Carlos in 1995.
And in fairness, there were reasons for that. Safety, especially in the wake of Earnhardt’s fatal crash in the 2001 DAYTONA 500, became the unquestioned priority in car building. Of course, as the years have gone, manufacturers, teams and NASCAR have also become more financially efficient.
“We spent a ton of money doing wind tunnel work and testing using high-tech equipment – we’re to blame for the fact that the sport got so expensive,” Woodbridge said. “We’re to blame for NASCAR coming down and saying, ‘You can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ We were always trying something.
“The lesson is, don’t give a bunch of creative guys free reign to do something.”
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But the ’95 Monte Carlo will always serve as a testament to what that kind of creativity and free reign can produce. Woodbridge hopes it will forever be a reminder that the science behind the sport far exceeds any kind of unfair reputation from the outside world.
“There are so many cool memories. I would say that on a per-hour income level, I barely made more than a floor sweeper,” Woodbridge concluded. “But from a pride standpoint and just having a rewarding career in that era and realizing in that era that you’re participating in the fastest growing sport on the planet was just amazing.
“It’s interesting. Some people would say, ‘In NASCAR all they do is go around in circles.’ I don’t think they quite grasp the concept that in the garage, there are more PhDs at one time than anywhere else in the world. There’s a bunch of brilliant people working really hard in that garage to make that show go on.”
NASCAR’s Mexico City weekend — and Daniel Suárez’s win — a dream come true for many fans
MEXICO CITY — For years, Oscar Sanchez has jogged around Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and imagined what it would be like to see NASCAR Cup Series cars on his home track. The circuit is open during weekdays to runners and cyclists, and Sanchez, a 38-year-old auditor and nearby resident, often takes advantage of its public access. […]
MEXICO CITY — For years, Oscar Sanchez has jogged around Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and imagined what it would be like to see NASCAR Cup Series cars on his home track.
The circuit is open during weekdays to runners and cyclists, and Sanchez, a 38-year-old auditor and nearby resident, often takes advantage of its public access. So when he stood in the grandstands on Friday for the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series practice session and watched the Cup cars zoom around the same track, it was an emotional moment.
“The roar of the engines for the practice was … Oh!” Sanchez said Saturday amid the hum of the bustling fan midway. “I closed my eyes and just smelled it.”
He imitated the experience, shutting his eyelids and waving a savory scent toward his nose like a chef hovering over a freshly prepared dish. Then Sanchez’s eyes flashed open again.
“It’s really a dream come true,” he said.
Much of the focus for NASCAR’s inaugural Cup Series race in Mexico City (airing Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime) — its first points race outside the United States since 1958 — has been the search for new fans. International expansion has long been coveted by NASCAR executives, who believe they have an opportunity to grow their non-American audience as other major sports leagues have.
But a smaller group of longtime Mexican NASCAR fans, who had never seen Cup Series cars in person until this weekend, didn’t need to be convinced. As diehards getting their first real-life taste of NASCAR’s top series, it’s been sensory overload.
“It was so loud,” said Mauricio Sanchez, a 25-year-old photographer from the Cancún area (and no relation to Oscar). “Our local races are not that loud, even in a pack. Kyle Larson was the first car to go out (in practice), and he just flies by, and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ …
“The first impression, I will never forget it for the rest of my life. I will never be able to repeat that moment, the first time you hear the Next Gen driving full throttle.”
Mauricio first watched a NASCAR race at age four, according to his parents, and gravitated toward Kyle Busch, who was a teenager at the time. More than two decades later, Busch is now a 40-year-old veteran who still races in NASCAR.
Mauricio was wowed to see Busch’s No. 8 car go around the track (Busch qualified 11th for Sunday’s race) in person and proudly wore the gear of a driver he praised for having “a personality with no filter.”
“Watching him driving is just awesome,” Mauricio said. “We have a lot of fans who are new to the sport, but having this opportunity to watch something I’ve loved only on TV is just impressive.”
“Having this opportunity to watch something I’ve loved only on TV is just impressive,” fan Mauricio Sanchez said of NASCAR’s return to Mexico City. (Jeff Gluck / The Athletic)
Americans get 35 points races plus two exhibition races in their country this year, and the oversaturation can lead to some malaise among the fan base. But for those seeing Cup cars for the first time, the freshness and enthusiasm are high.
For example, while some traditional fans have criticized NASCAR’s Next Gen car, Mauricio said it “looks incredible” and is “better in person.”
Oscar Sanchez was drawn to NASCAR for its thrilling oval racing — not road courses like Mexico City (which is the track Formula One uses on its annual visits here). But he’ll take what he can get for a first Cup experience, he said.
“I would prefer Daytona or Talladega, but this is amazing,” he said.
Oscar first learned about NASCAR through games on the original PlayStation in 2000. He felt connected to the sponsor brands at the time and liked that stock cars looked like real cars on the street.
In 2002, when he got cable TV, he came across NASCAR races and realized he recognized real-life tracks like Daytona and Charlotte from the games he played. He’s been a fan ever since, changing his rooting interests from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Chase Elliott (the son of Bill Elliott, whom Oscar associates with his early days as a fan).
“You can see drama, you can see many cars, you can see crashes,” Oscar said of NASCAR’s appeal. “It’s more connected to the people than Formula One, I think.”
Indeed, most Mexican race fans are more drawn to open-wheel racing (Formula One and IndyCar) instead of stock cars. But some find NASCAR more appealing.
Mexico City resident Andres Lambreton, 27, became a NASCAR fan by accident. He watched NFL games on Sundays with his father (a huge Dallas Cowboys fan), and the channel would often get turned to golf when the football game was over. But Lambreton was bored by golf, so he once changed the channel to a same-day replay of a NASCAR race at Texas.
Now-retired Martin Truex Jr. was leading that mid-2010s race at the time, Lambreton recalled, so the youngster decided Truex was his new favorite driver. Watching NASCAR suddenly became a regular tradition for father and son.
“NASCAR is an awesome product and an awesome race series, but it’s hard to give it a chance if you haven’t consumed it or been close to it,” Lambreton said. “So this is a massive opportunity for NASCAR and for motorsports fans from both countries to become closer.”
On Saturday, Daniel Suárez won NASCAR’s Xfinity Series race in his home country. “I cried as hard as a situation like this permits,” one fan said. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)
But Lambreton’s passion went to another level when Mexico native Daniel Suárez began his stock car career.
Lambreton can rattle off the key moments from 2016, when Suárez won his first three Xfinity Series races and the series championship. He remembers crying when Suárez won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch the title, and his interest in racing led to a job doing social media for a sports website. And the emotion returned later Saturday when Suárez won the first Xfinity Series race in Mexico City in 17 years.
“I cried as hard as a situation like this permits,” he said via text message.
Each of the longtime fans said they hoped Sunday’s race would be enjoyable or that their favorite driver would do well. But Mauricio then caught himself, not wanting to sound too greedy.
“I’m living a dream,” he said, “and that’s all that matters today.”
(Top photo of fans reacting to Daniel Suárez’s win in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
How to watch NASCAR Cup Series Race at Mexico City for free
New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change. NASCAR is heading south of the border this weekend for the inaugural running of the Viva México 250. In addition to being the Cup Series’ first race at the Autodromo […]
NASCAR is heading south of the border this weekend for the inaugural running of the Viva México 250.
In addition to being the Cup Series’ first race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, it’s also the first time a points-paying race in the series will take place outside of the United States since 1958 when NASCAR raced in Toronto, Canada.
The course is a road course, also used for the annual Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. Set at the highest elevation of any course on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, the track is 2.429 mi with 15 turns and 100 laps total.
what to know about nascar in mexico city
Race: Viva México 250
When: Sunday, June 14, 3 p.m. ET
Where: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (Mexico City, Mexico)
Streaming: Prime Video (30 days free)
Here’s everything you need to know about today’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico City.
Viva México 250 start time: What time is today’s NASCAR race on?
Today’s (June 14) NASCAR race, the Viva México 250, begins at 2 p.m. ET.
What channel is today’s NASCAR race on?
Today’s NASCAR race won’t be on traditional television; it will air exclusively on Prime Video.
How to watch the NASCAR Cup Series at Mexico City for free:
If you aren’t a Prime Video subscriber yet, you can get started with a 30-day Amazon Prime free trial, including Prime perks like the Prime Video streaming service, free two-day shipping, exclusive deals, and more. After the free trial, Amazon Prime costs $14.99/month or $139/year.
All 18- to 24-year-olds, regardless of student status, are eligible for a discounted Prime for Young Adults membership as well, with age verification. After a six-month free trial, you’ll pay 50% off the standard Prime monthly price of $14.99/month — just $7.49/month — for up to six years and get all the perks.
With Prime Video, you can also take advantage of the streamer’s Shop the Race storefront, exclusively on the Amazon mobile app, to shop gear, flags, and more for your favorite driver.
NASCAR Mexico City starting lineup:
No. 88 Shane van Gisbergen
No. 60 Ryan Preece
No. 1 Ross Chastain
No. 54 Ty Gibbs
No. 71 Michael McDowell
No. 5 Kyle Larson
No. 34 Todd Gilliland
No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
No. 22 Joey Logano
No. 99 Daniel Suarez
No. 8 Kyle Busch
No. 9 Chase Elliott
No. 21 Josh Berry
No. 43 Erik Jones
No. 35 Riley Herbst
No. 17 Chris Buescher
No. 7 Justin Haley
No. 12 Ryan Blaney
No. 19 Chase Briscoe
No. 2 Austin Cindric
No. 3 Austin Dillon
No. 45 Tyler Reddick
No. 77 Carson Hocevar
No. 38 Zane Smith
No. 23 Bubba Wallace
No. 41 Cole Custer
No. 24 William Byron
No. 10 Ty Dillon
No. 48 Alex Bowman
No. 6 Brad Keselowski
No. 20 Christopher Bell
No. 42 John Hunter Nemechek
No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
No. 51 Coyd Ware
No. 4 Noah Gragson
No. 11 Ryan Truex
No. 78 Katherine Legge
NASCAR on Prime Video 2025 schedule:
Prime Video will broadcast two more NASCAR races this season, including today’s.
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NASCAR Race Today: Mexico City start times, schedule and how to watch live on TV
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series hits Mexico City today, Sunday, June 15, for the Viva Mexico 250.
Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez marks the first time that the Cup Series has raced internationally in a points-paying event in the division’s modern era, and the first time that a NASCAR national series has raced in […]
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series hits Mexico City today, Sunday, June 15, for the Viva Mexico 250.
Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez marks the first time that the Cup Series has raced internationally in a points-paying event in the division’s modern era, and the first time that a NASCAR national series has raced in Mexico City since the Xfinity Series (then known as the Busch Series) in 2008.
READ MORE: NASCAR confirm Joe Gibbs Racing facing penalty after Mexico City mishap
Last time out at Michigan, it was Denny Hamlin who came out on top in the No. 11 Toyota, securing the 57th win of his Cup Series career to make him Joe Gibbs Racing’s most-winningest driver of all time.
Hamlin, however, won’t be in action on Sunday, instead replaced by Ryan Truex after choosing to remain at home following the birth of his baby son.
The last time that NASCAR hit a road course this season was at Circuit of the Americas back in March, with Christopher Bell winning that day ahead of the likes of William Byron and Tyler Reddick.
All three of those drivers suffered a rough qualifying session on Saturday, however, meaning they face a huge battle to be in contention on this occasion.
With that said, let’s get into all of the important details you need to know ahead of today’s action and how you can watch it all unfold live.
READ MORE: NASCAR Qualifying Results: Ross Chastain and SvG shine as Trackhouse star in Mexico City
NASCAR Cup Series: Mexico City race start times
The 100-lap NASCAR Cup Series race from Mexico City starts today, Sunday, June 15, 2025, at 3 pm ET.
Here are the start times converted to your local city and time zone.
City (Time Zone)
Race Start Time
New York, NY (ET)
3:00 PM
Charlotte, NC (ET)
3:00 PM
Columbia, SC (ET)
3:00 PM
Charleston, WV (ET)
3:00 PM
Augusta, ME (ET)
3:00 PM
Chicago, IL (CT)
2:00 PM
Pierre, SD (CT)
2:00 PM
Nashville, TN (CT)
2:00 PM
Des Moines, IA (CT)
2:00 PM
Montgomery, AL (CT)
2:00 PM
Mexico City, MX (CT)
2:00 PM
Denver, CO (MT)
1:00 PM
Salt Lake City, UT (MT)
1:00 PM
Albuquerque, NM (MT)
1:00 PM
El Paso, TX (MT)
1:00 PM
Los Angeles, CA (PT)
12:00 PM
Las Vegas, NV (PT)
12:00 PM
Seattle, WA (PT)
12:00 PM
Portland, OR (PT)
12:00 PM
San Francisco, CA (PT)
12:00 PM
Rio de Janeiro, BR (BRT)
4:00 PM
London, GB (BST)
8:00 PM
Madrid, ES (CEST)
9:00 PM
Sydney, AU (AEST)
5:00 AM (Monday)
Perth, AU (AWST)
3:00 AM (Monday)
Adelaide, AU (ACST)
4:30 AM (Monday)
READ MORE: NASCAR legend issues verdict on Denny Hamlin retirement
How to watch NASCAR Mexico City race on TV today
Today’s NASCAR Cup Series action from Mexico City will be broadcast live on Prime Video in the United States.
Radio coverage of the race will also be available via SiriusXM and MRN.
Broadcast details vary depending on your location. Please check below to see how you can catch the Cup Series action in your country.
Country
Broadcaster(s)
United States
Prime Video
United Kingdom
Viaplay Group
Australia
Fox Sports Australia
Spain
DAZN
France
Mediawan (AB Moteurs/Automono)
Germany
More Than Sports, Sport1
Belgium
Ziggo Sport
Brazil
Bandriantes
Canada
TSN, RDS
MENA
Abu Dhabi Media
Netherlands
Ziggo Sport (Liberty Global)
Italy
Mola TV
Portugal
Sport TV
Singapore
Mola TV
Japan
Gaora
China
Huya, Bilibili
Hong Kong
PCCW
Hungary
Network4
Turkey
Saran Media International
READ MORE: Hendrick Motorsports announce driver health update ahead of Mexico City with replacement on standby
How many laps is the NASCAR Mexico City race?
The NASCAR Mexico City race will require 100 laps to complete.
What date is the 2025 NASCAR Mexico City race?
Sunday, June 15th 2025.
What time is the 2025 NASCAR Mexico City race?
The NASCAR Mexico City race will start at 3:00 PM ET.
What channel is the NASCAR Mexico City race on?
Amazon Prime will broadcast the race with radio coverage from MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Where is the NASCAR Mexico race located?
The NASCAR Mexico City race is a 242-mile long NASCAR Cup Series motor race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico.
How many miles is the NASCAR Mexico City race?
The NASCAR Mexico City race is 241 miles or 389.46 kilometers.
When was the NASCAR Mexico City race first run?
The 2025 NASCAR Mexico City race is the first event at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
NASCAR in Mexico City: Where to watch, start time, stream, lineup, race preview for inaugural Viva Mexico 250
Compared to all other forms of motorsport throughout the world, NASCAR maintains an identity as being distinctly and unmistakably American. But as the language of racing is universal, so is the language of NASCAR. For the very first time in the sport’s modern era, the NASCAR Cup Series races outside the United States this weekend […]
Compared to all other forms of motorsport throughout the world, NASCAR maintains an identity as being distinctly and unmistakably American. But as the language of racing is universal, so is the language of NASCAR.
For the very first time in the sport’s modern era, the NASCAR Cup Series races outside the United States this weekend with its first trip to Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the Viva Mexico 250. Located in Mexico City and named for Mexican racing heroes Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez presents a 2.42-mile, 15-turn course that will greatly challenge the Cup field as they try to become the first of their generation to win a points-paying international race at the highest level of stock car racing.
Denny Hamlin gets waiver from NASCAR to skip Mexico City race following the birth of his son
Steven Taranto
Where to watch the NASCAR Cup Series in Mexico City
When: Sunday, June 15, 3 p.m. ET Where: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez — Mexico City, Mexico Stream: Amazon Prime
Starting lineup
Shane van Gisbergen won the pole for the Viva Mexico 250 in qualifying on Saturday, setting the fastest time (92.776, 93.904 mph) in a session that was cut short by rain. Van Gisbergen’s pole is his first of the season and the second of his Cup career.
#88 – Shane van Gisbergen (R)
#60 – Ryan Preece
#1 – Ross Chastain
#54 – Ty Gibbs
#71 – Michael McDowell
#5 – Kyle Larson
#34 – Todd Gilliland
#16 – A.J. Allmendinger
#22 – Joey Logano
#99 – Daniel Suarez
#8 – Kyle Busch
#9 – Chase Elliott
#21 – Josh Berry
#43 – Erik Jones
#35 – Riley Herbst (R)
#17 – Chris Buescher
#51 – Justin Haley
#12 – Ryan Blaney
#19 – Chase Briscoe
#2 – Austin Cindric
#3 – Austin Dillon
#45 – Tyler Reddick
#77 – Carson Hocevar
#38 – Zane Smith
#23 – Bubba Wallace
#41 – Cole Custer
#24 – William Byron
#10 – Ty Dillon
#48 – Alex Bowman
#6 – Brad Keselowski
#20 – Christopher Bell
#42 – John Hunter Nemechek
#47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
#51 – Cody Ware
#4 – Noah Gragson
#11 – Ryan Truex
#78 – Katherine Legge
Storyline to watch
The unfamiliar settings and language barrier of Mexico City (Daniel Suarez not included) aren’t the only adjustments needed this week. There is also the matter of Mexico City’s elevation, as Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez sits at an elevation of nearly 7,500 feet above sea level. That’s over three times the elevation of the next-highest Cup Series track above sea level, which is the Las Vegas Motor Speedway at a meager 2,000 feet.
Higher elevation, of course, means less oxygen, which puts a premium on the strength and conditioning of each Cup driver as well as the steps they’ve taken to prepare for Mexico City’s environment. But just as the drivers are affected physically by the higher altitude, so too are the machines they drive.
The thinner air at higher elevation will also affect the engines of each Cup car, with Roush Yates Engines CEO Doug Yates telling reporters this week that Mexico City’s air could reduce horsepower by as much as 20%, with cooling the engine being a major challenge at low speeds under caution. In advance of this, NASCAR will allow each manufacturer to use two different sets of hood louvers during practice to see which one best cools the engine, which will then be used for the rest of the race weekend.
Engine failures were a constant during NASCAR’s first stint racing in Mexico City when the Xfinity Series visited Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the 2000s, as there was an average nearly seven engine failures a weekend between 2005 and 2007. However, there were no engine failures in 2008, the last race at Mexico City before being taken off the schedule.
NASCAR news of the week
This weekend’s race in Mexico City will take place without Michigan winner Denny Hamlin, who announced Thursday that he would not travel to Mexico while he attends to his fiancee after the birth of their new son. NASCAR has granted Hamlin a waiver to maintain his playoff eligibility despite missing a race, while Ryan Truex will drive the No. 11 in Hamlin’s place.
Following a vicious head-on impact with the Turn 2 wall at Michigan, Hendrick Motorsports shared Thursday that Alex Bowman was evaluated for back pain and that Xfinity Series driver Anthony Alfredo will be on standby should Bowman need a relief driver in Mexico City. Earlier this week, Jeff Gordon told SiriusXM that Bowman was “very sore” but OK after this accident.
Prior to last Sunday’s race in Michigan, Ram Trucks officially announced they will re-enter the Craftsman Truck Series in 2026, bringing a new manufacturer to NASCAR and marking the return of a Dodge brand for the first time since they left the sport following the 2012 season. In addition to Ram, NASCAR senior vice president and chief racing development officer John Probst shared the sanctioning body is “very close” to a deal with another manufacturer to join the sport.
Travis Carter, a longtime fixture in the NASCAR garage as a championship-winning crew chief and later a car owner, died Tuesday following a short stay in hospice at the age of 75. As a rookie crew chief in 1973, Carter led Hall of Famer Benny Parsons to his first and only Winston Cup championship, kicking off a career that saw him win the 1975 Daytona 500 with Parsons and also lead Harry Gant to great success throughout the 1980s. Carter later became the owner of Travis Carter Enterprises, which fielded cars throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s for Jimmy Spencer as well as others like Darrell Waltrip, Todd Bodine and Joe Nemechek.
Pick to win
Shane van Gisbergen (+330) — There was some talk after Circuit of the Americas earlier this year that van Gisbergen may have lost his advantage as a road course racer or that the rest of the Cup field has caught on to the technique that he brought with him from V8 Supercars to win in his debut at Chicago in 2023. Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen, and it wasn’t as though SVG was an also-ran at the first road race of the season at Circuit of the Americas.
Van Gisbergen led 23 laps on his way to finishing sixth at COTA in March, a clear message he’s still got the right stuff on road courses. Not only that, but SVG has started coming into his own as a whole, as he’s finished inside the top 20 in three of his last four starts. Suggesting that the No. 88 team now has a higher baseline for pace beyond road racing.
What to watch for in today’s NASCAR Cup race in Mexico City
MEXICO CITY — With a forecast that could include rain during Sunday’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the challenge for drivers will increase. “I absolutely hate racing in the rain, but I’m good at it,” said Shane van Gisbergen, who starts on the pole for the first Cup race held outside the continental United States […]
MEXICO CITY — With a forecast that could include rain during Sunday’s race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the challenge for drivers will increase.
“I absolutely hate racing in the rain, but I’m good at it,” said Shane van Gisbergen, who starts on the pole for the first Cup race held outside the continental United States since 1958. “I’d rather it didn’t rain, but if it happens, we put the wets on and go.”
How can van Gisbergen dislike something he’s so good at?
“I just don’t enjoy it,” he said. “It’s just never fun. You’re always sliding around, and it just turns stuff into chaos. It’s fun to watch, but I don’t really enjoy driving.”
Alex Bowman has finished 27th or worse in seven of the last nine races.
Michael McDowell, who starts fifth can relate.
“I like what SVG said because I feel the same way,” McDowell told NBC Sports. “I’m good in the rain. I have a lot of experience in the rain, but I’m never super pumped for the rain because it’s hard. It creates variables that are tough to overcome.”
One of the challenges in wet conditions is the water spray that cars in front create. The Weather Underground forecast calls for a 14% chance of rain near the start of the race, increasing to about 45% by the end of the event.
Should the track be wet at the beginning of the race (3 p.m. ET on Prime), it will make a front starting spot even more important. That makes his third starting spot even more valuable to Ross Chastain.
“You’ll just get gapped out just from the spray being part throttle on the straightway, not being able to have any vision if you’re back in the field,” Chastain told NBC Sports. “I’ve been there and it’s terrifying when you can’t see. It’s like driving blindfolded.”
Wet conditions at the start also present opportunities.
“You want to be aggressive, honestly, in the beginning if it is raining to get up front, be the first one or two cars so that you have the best vision you can,” McDowell said.
The right (pit) decision?
Trent Owens, crew chief for AJ Allmendinger had an interesting choice to make when it was time for him to pick his pit stall Saturday.
Pit stalls are selected in order of how a team qualifies, so the pole-sitter gets the first pick and on down. Allmendinger qualified eighth, giving him the eighth pick of stalls.
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez’s pit road is limited to 40 stalls. There will be 37 cars in the race. That leaves only three openings (and a small opening across the start/finish line).
RFK Racing placed three cars in the top 10 last week at Michigan for the first time since 2016, but Brad Keselowski is looking for win.
Teams prefer to have an opening either in front of their stall (for easy access out) or an opening before their stall (for easy access into their box).
When it came time for Owens to pick his pits, he had two viable options. He could pick the second pit stall — near pit exit. That would put Allmendinger in the box behind Shane van Gisbergen and in front of Kyle Larson.
Or Owens could have picked pit stall 13, which was further away from pit exit but had an opening before it for easy access into the box.
Jose Blasco-Figueroa grew up in Mexico City and his mother’s home is 25 kilometers from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Owens chose pit stall 2, meaning the first three pit stalls — van Gisbergen, Allmendinger and Larson — could have three of the top cars in the race. That could mean they could be pitting together. Add to it that the pit boxes are 26.5 feet long — the shortest in the series — and it could get tight.
“Our biggest reason is (van Gisbergen) is in stall 1 and we feel like he’s the dominant car,” Owens told NBC Sports for his reasoning in picking stall 2. “So we feel like when we pit we’re not going to get blocked in.
“We could have chose (stall) 13, which has a small opening in, but it’s also a narrow pit road, short pit boxes. We just feel like pit stall 2 can potentially limit our errors because (Larson), which is behind us, has a full pit stall opening behind him, so if (Larson’s crew chief Cliff Daniels) plays nice, he’ll stop back at his stall and give us enough room.”
That is likely to happen because that would allow Larson to exit his stall without being blocked in by Allmendinger.
Much goes into winning a race, but could Owens’ decision to pick pit stall 2 help Allmendinger get to victory lane?
Too fast on pit road?
Another key area to watch with pit road is toward pit exit.
There are 11 timing loops on pit road used to determine pit road speeding. Pit road speed is 40 mph and with the 5 mph allowance, drivers can go 45 mph before they are penalized.
Seven of the zones are either 147-feet-7 inches long or 157-6. But the last two are significantly shorter.
The next-to-last timing zone — encompassing pit stalls 1-3 near pit exit — is 73-feet-2 inches. The last timing line, which goes to pit exit — is 46-feet-7 inches.
NASCAR’s pit road speeding is determined based on time over distance. So if a driver enters a zone too fast, he can slow before the end of it and still make speed. With two shorter zones at the end of pit road, drivers won’t have as much a a chance to do so.
Get caught speeding on pit road in those two sections — or any for that matter — and the pass-through penalty will cost a driver positions on the track.
“You just can’t afford to speed,” Ryan Preece, who starts second today, told NBC Sports. “Track position is obviously a huge thing no matter where it is. For me, you want to push those lights, you don’t want to give up one position, but if you overdo it, you’re going to give up 36, so it’s kind of a risk vs. reward type of situation.”
Daniel Suarez wins Xfinity race at Mexico City but can he delight fans in Cup?
Bob Pockrass FOX Motorsports Insider MEXICO CITY — Daniel Suarez stood outside the infield medical center Saturday morning and declared: “I’m going to put on a show for you guys.” Daniel Suarez and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series The Chilango 150 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez He sure did. And […]
MEXICO CITY — Daniel Suarez stood outside the infield medical center Saturday morning and declared: “I’m going to put on a show for you guys.”
Daniel Suarez and crew celebrate in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series The Chilango 150 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
He sure did. And he hopes to put on one more Sunday afternoon to delight the fans of his home country even more than he did Saturday, if that is even possible.
Suarez, the only Mexican driver to win a Cup Series race, rallied from the rear of the field by winning the Xfinity Series event in a backup car at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
The Mexican fans waved flags. They chanted Suarez’s name. They held signs that said “Vamos Suarez.”
“I have never experienced what I experienced today,” said Suarez, the 2016 champion of the series, NASCAR’s version of a triple-A baseball. “When I took the lead, I was able to hear people like they were right next to me. … It was unbelievable.
“I got goosebumps. I felt so blessed. I never had that feeling in my life. And then I had to tell myself, ‘Daniel, don’t get distracted.’”
The 33-year-old Suarez won’t get much time to celebrate. He starts 10th in the NASCAR Cup Series event Sunday, the first Cup points race outside the United States in 67 years.
Starting 10th in the Cup race for Trackhouse Racing will be much better than what Suarez had to face on Saturday, after he wrecked in Xfinity qualifying, which required JR Motorsports to pull out a backup car.
“Right now, I feel like this gives me a lot of confidence,” Suarez said. “When I crashed in Xfinity qualifying, I went into Cup qualifying a little bit down.
“I was good, but I was not 100 percent because I just crashed. … But the feeling I had in my [Cup] car in qualifying, I was very happy with it. I think my car was capable of winning the pole position.”
FINAL LAPS: Daniel Suárez wins The Chilango 150 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
When watching the team prepare the Xfinity backup, Suarez appeared confident and relaxed, taking selfies with fans as he walked to driver introductions and addressing the crowd.
It has already been a busy five days for Suarez, who made several appearances in the city promoting the race with a trail of media and a documentary crew following just about every move.
All for a driver who is on a 49-race winless streak in Cup. His last win came in the second race of the 2024 season at Atlanta. And he sits 28th in the standings.
“I’ll go out there tomorrow and have fun and enjoy it,” Suarez said. “That’s what I did today. Today, I just enjoyed the moment.
“My goal wasn’t to win the race. My goal was to maximize the potential of the race car.”
Trying to maximize the potential hasn’t been easy on the Cup side this week.
His race team had travel issues Thursday and he operated with a skeleton crew for practice Friday as NASCAR put Cup cars on the 2.42-mile 15-turn road course for the first time. The rest of his crew made it on Saturday, with his engineers just about a half-hour before qualifying.
“I love adversity,” Suarez said Friday. “I love it. You put me against the wall, I’m going to come at you swinging. And our team is the same way. … This is just going to be a better story when we win on Sunday.”
Suarez faces incredible pressure in Mexico City, as he is fighting to keep his ride at Trackhouse Racing with up-and-comer Connor Zilisch running well enough in Xfinity to potentially be elevated to Cup.
Zilisch, also driving for JR Motorsports, dominated the race until a restart with 19 laps remaining when he entered the first turn on the inside of a three-wide situation with Ty Gibbs in the middle and Suarez trying to make a move on the outside.
Zilisch slammed into Gibbs, who hit Suarez, but Suarez was able to survive and take the lead, never relinquishing it the rest of the way. Zilisch took the blame for the accident.
It wasn’t totally easy the rest of the way for Suarez. On the final lap, Taylor Gray, battling Suarez for the lead, forced him off the course. Gray checked up to allow Suarez to gather his car and Suarez retained the lead. Gray gave him another tap late in the final lap and Suarez crossed the finish line to huge cheers.
He will get more cheers on Sunday.
“This race was very special,” Suarez said. “I know it’s Xfinity. The big one is tomorrow. But it is a very special race for me.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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