NASCAR heads to Mexico City for the first points-paying Cup Series race outside the United States since 1958.
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a 2.42-mile road course with 15 turns, and with two practice sessions in play, there’s a solid set of data to work with to gauge driver speed.
My practice FLAGS metric will be quite useful, especially given that we have it for both sessions, as well as combining the two sessions into one. Using that, I’ve found a driver who made big gains between sessions, and who is somewhat secretly a solid road-course racer.
Let me break it down with my Viva Mexico 250 best bet and prediction.
NASCAR at Mexico City Best Bet
There’s a driver in this race who has finished inside the top 10 in four of his last nine road-course starts, with two 12th- and one 13th-place finish over that span. That means he’s been within three spots of a top-10 finish 77.8% of the time in those nine races, yet is going off at +155 odds to finish inside the top 10.
I’m talking about Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who also has a 2018 road-course win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval on his resume.
Blaney has also been fantastic at what I believe is Mexico City’s best comparable track, and that’s the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, which the Cup Series ran on from 2021-23.
There, Blaney finished second in 2021, and in the two years of the Next Gen car in 2022-23, Blaney had a top-10 average running position between the two races.
Looking at the practice, Blaney experienced significant tire falloff in the first practice session, despite posting fast laps early in the tire life. However, I’m much more interested in what he did in the second practice session.
In that session, from Laps 2 to 11 at-pace laps on his tires (I removed Lap 1 since several drivers ran slow first-out laps), Blaney was extremely fast. In fact, among all drivers that ran at least 11 at-pace laps, Blaney had the fastest speed from at-pace Laps 2-11 among all drivers (16 total).
That ranked Blaney second in FLAGS for the second practice session, behind only Shane van Gisbergen, which is pretty solid company to have.
That big improvement was about to pay off in qualifying, but Blaney made a mistake late in the qualifying run, which relegated him to an 18th-place starting spot.
However, I believe that car has top-10 speed, so I love getting significant plus odds with a +155 line for his top-10 finish at FanDuel. My model gives him a 43.8% chance of a top-10 finish, so this is good to +130.
The Bet: Ryan Blaney Top-10 Finish (+155 at FanDuel) | Bet to +130
Editor’s Note: Projections were recalculated with Ryan Truex replacing Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota this weekend.
With a slew of ovals in the rearview mirror, the next month is set to create some chaos in the NASCAR Cup Series with three road courses (Mexico City, Chicago, Sonoma), a drafting-style track (EchoPark Speedway) and the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway.
If you aren’t one of the nine winners already virtually guaranteed a bid in the 16-driver postseason, it’s going to be an uphill battle to maximize stage points and results over the next five races.
Five of the last 10 road-course races were won by drivers getting their first checkered flag on such tracks, so let’s take a look at who could continue that trend ahead of Sunday’s inaugural Cup event at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
He hasn’t had much good fortune in 2025, but Ty Gibbs immediately jumps out as someone who could flip his third season around and finally get that first Cup win that has evaded him for 102 starts. He owns six top 10s in 15 road-course starts. However, Gibbs has finished 22nd or worse in four of the last five road-course events. Coming off arguably his best run of the year at Michigan, though, could give the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing driver the shot in the arm he needs to finally break through.
It’s rare that a driver can sit 33rd in the playoff standings and be one of the favorites for an upcoming race, but that is the unique situation Shane van Gisbergen finds himself in.
SVG made his talent known immediately in his first Cup start — winning the inaugural event on the Chicago Street Course. It would come as no surprise if the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing driver wins his way into the playoffs Sunday, and despite not grabbing a checkered flag since Chicago two years ago, he hasn’t slowed down on road courses with five top 10s in seven starts and winning the pole for Sunday’s race.
Christopher Bell has recently blossomed into one of the Cup Series’ best on left- and right-turn circuits and is the most recent winner on such tracks, grabbing the win at the Circuit of The Americas in March.
KYLE LARSON: On top of his six Cup road-course wins, Larson is on track for his best season to date. His three wins, nine top fives and 11 top 10s are the most he’s had through 15 races in a season.
CHRIS BUESCHER: The most consistent driver on road courses in the Gen 7 car, Buescher has a ludicrous average finish of 8.72 in 18 events since 2022. He outdueled van Gisbergen on the final lap at Watkins Glen last season and comes off a runner-up result at Michigan.
AJ ALLMENDINGER: A threat to win at any road course on the Cup calendar, the No. 16 Kaulig Racing driver has been fast this season and sits just 18 points below the provisional elimination line. All three of his Cup wins have come on road courses, and he’s finished inside the top 10 in five of the last eight road-course events.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL: Not only does the longtime Cup veteran have a road-course win (Indianapolis, 2023), but he has plenty of experience in Mexico as a winner in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series back in 2005.
RACING INSIGHTS’ PROJECTIONS FOR THE VIVA MEXICO 250
Racing Insights’ advanced statistical formula incorporates current track, track type, recent performance, team data and pit-crew data to predict a projected winner and provide full race results. Updated on race day with practice and qualifying factored in.
MEXICO CITY — Through two stages, Connor Zilisch and Ty Gibbs made strong cases to contend for a cherished victory in Saturday’s return of the NASCAR Xfinity Series to Mexico. That strength fizzled when the final stage went green, opening the door for a spirited victory by the host country’s stock-car star.
Zilisch and Gibbs tangled one last time in the second half of Saturday’s The Chilango 150, spoiling their chances at an international win and providing an avenue for Daniel Suárez to score a popular triumph at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The two young drivers combined to lead 33 of the first 40 laps, but carnage at one of the hardest sections of the 2.42-mile circuit involved both front-runners, wrapping up a total of 13 cars in a full-fledged melee.
Zilisch, an Xfinity Series rookie for JR Motorsports, rallied from significant damage to place fifth, notching his third consecutive top-five result since returning from injury. Gibbs, a Cup Series regular, settled for 14th for Joe Gibbs Racing in his first Xfinity start of the year.
The conflict came in Turn 1, a tight right-hander at the end of the long front straightaway on the 47th of 65 laps, just as Stage 3 set sail. Zilisch’s No. 88 Chevrolet entered the corner on the inside of a three-wide battle with Gibbs and Suárez, and the car bounded into the door of Gibbs’ No. 19 Toyota after ripping over the curbing. William Sawalich’s No. 18 Toyota and others clanged into Zilisch’s car as it traveled through the zig-zag second and third turn.
Gibbs seemed clear of the fray behind him as Suárez scooted away, but he collided with Carson Kvapil’s No. 1 Chevy. That contact clogged up the exit of Turn 3, where Parker Retzlaff and a host of other drivers piled in. That both drivers were able to continue to the checkered flag was a feat in itself, but the outcomes were far from the win that both hoped would materialize.
“I didn’t get a great push down the front straightaway, and Daniel and Ty were able to get alongside me,” said Zilisch, who led the field for the final stage’s start. “Yeah, I just got in a little hot and kind of was bottom three-wide and didn’t have a great angle. I think everyone was kind of pinching down on the inside, and yeah, just hit Ty and ended both of our races. So yeah, it’s frustrating. I mean, I wish that didn’t happen, and if I could have just gotten a better push down the front straight, I think we would have been OK. But yeah, it’s tough being bottom three-wide into that first turn. It’s so tight with such a big brake zone, and you go in a little too hot, it ruins a lot of things.”
Gibbs offered comment to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass as he left pit road, saying: “Well, I didn’t see much besides getting absolutely drilled in the door. I hit the 9 (Suárez). I don’t know how he kept going. I got hit so hard in the door that it knocked the wheel out of my hand, and I hit him and ramped him. So that was wild.”
He was also vocal as he radioed back to his No. 19 crew after the incident. “Did the 88 just bomb it in there or what?” Gibbs asked. When told that his assessment was at least partially correct, Gibbs added: “The guy did it two times before that, wrecked himself and about 25 other people.”
Gibbs led 18 laps — second only to Suárez’s 19 — and became the sixth driver to pilot the JGR No. 19 entry this year. The result was less than what crew chief Seth Chavka had hoped for.
“I actually haven’t watched the replay yet, so I can’t speak on that,” Chavka told NASCAR.com. “I mean, it looked like Zilisch got there a little too hot and kind of jacked everybody up. But I mean, like I said, until I see a replay, it’s kind of hard for me to say anything about it. We’re neck-and-neck with Zilisch. I think we were going to have something for him in Stage 3. I mean, it’s all about just managing the gap on the short run. I think we were definitely the best car in the long run. So I mean, I had high hopes that we’re gonna come out here; show up here with Ty Gibbs, we expect to win. So a little bummed we couldn’t get it done.”
The multicar tangle was the final clash in a series of tense exchanges between the two drivers. On Lap 2, Gibbs shoved Zilisch wide through the Turns 1 through 3 area, costing him three spots, and the two also raced closely together into Turn 1 after leaving pit road alongside each other on Lap 38 before the stage break.
Zilisch said that the contact was less a byproduct of the tight section of corners, but more attributable to Gibbs.
“It’s just Ty,” Zilisch said. “I mean, he was racing me really hard the whole time, and I was easy to him on the first lap. I kind of let him have it in the first few corners and let him get the lead, and then I was a little bit faster than him. So yeah, when I cleared him down into (turn) one, I kind of went in a little bit deep and washed out. And, you know, I don’t think he liked how I did that, and just, yeah, got mad at me and shipped me. So yeah, I don’t think it was just the nature of the corners. I think that was pretty intentional.”
MEXICO CITY — In all his high hopes and hard work over the last year to promote NASCAR’s return to his home country of Mexico, even Daniel Suárez could not have imagined the amazing story of his dramatic win in Saturday’s The Chilango 150 — coming from last place on the grid in a backup car and charging to Victory Lane.
After victory spinouts, the 33-year-old native from Monterrey, Mexico climbed out of his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, stood on the car’s roof, pounded his chest and pointed upward to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez grandstands — shouting to the thrilled crowd in his native Spanish and thanking his loyal fans for their support.
“It’s everything I was looking for, just a special day,” said an emotional Suárez, the 2016 Xfinity Series champion, who led a race-best 19 of the race’s 65 laps and beat Taylor Gray to the checkered flag by .598 seconds in a backup car the team rebuilt after he crashed in the morning qualifying session.
“It’s a very special day, very, very special to be here in front of my people, all these people that have supported me for many, many years and known me since my NASCAR Mexico days, now I’m fighting with the big boys,’’ said Suárez who was forced to use the “international provisional” starting position after his incident in qualifying.
And even after diligently working his way through the entire 39-car field, Suárez had to “earn” this win — by every definition. The Cup Series full-timer went door-to-door with Gray on a restart with four laps remaining, ultimately pulling away — only to have to fend off a fast-approaching Gray again on the final stretch of the very last lap.
Suárez first took the lead Saturday in a similarly dramatic fashion, prevailing on a three-wide restart with 19 laps remaining.
He emerged out front after going door-to-door with the race’s early leaders, rookie Connor Zilisch and fellow Cup Series regular Ty Gibbs. The polesitter Zilisch, who led 17 laps, wheel-hopped taking the opening corner under those crowded circumstances on the restart, spun and then hit his JRM teammate Carson Kvapil as a pile-up behind began.
Gibbs, who led 18 laps, moved forward from the initial contact and then also made contact with Kvapil’s Chevy on the next turn. The ensuing pile-up affected 13 cars in varying degrees.
Suárez drove through the melee, and you could hear the crowd’s massive cheers over the sounds of the roaring stock cars — the Mexican fans stood on their feet, arms raised, Mexican flags in the air.
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill finished third, Kaulig Racing’s Christian Eckes was fourth and Zilisch recovered to finish fifth in another of the day’s more remarkable drives.
After that incident with 17 laps remaining, Zilisch fell back to 28th place with damage to the right side of his Chevy, only to move through the field at an amazing pace, up 14 positions in the three laps after the restart. He was in 10th place with 10 laps to go and then earned that top-five finishing position.
“I’m proud of my team for their effort,’’ said Zilisch, who leaned against his car alone on pit road, obviously disappointed with the outcome after such a strong afternoon.
“Obviously the finish isn’t what we wanted. We probably had a better car than fifth place, but we got caught up in an incident on that last restart. Just proud to be able to come here and get a decent finish.
“Congrats to Daniel [Suárez], it’s awesome to see him win here in his hometown. That’s super big for him. Really proud of JR Motorsports and we’ll get it next week.
As for the incident, Zilisch conceded, “Still don’t know what I really could have done to get to the front quicker, probably could have been a little cleaner on that last restart and gotten by guys quicker … really proud to finish top-five after day like that.’’
William Sawalich, Austin Green, Jeb Burton, Harrison Burton and Sammy Smith rounded out the top 10.
There were seven lead changes among six drivers, with Kvapil winning the first stage and Smith winning stage two.
Xfinity Series championship leader Justin Allgaier had to take his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet behind the wall for repairs before the end of the first stage, ultimately settling for a 34th-place finish — 15 laps down to the winner. Fortunately for the reigning series champion, he held a 92-point advantage over Hill atop the points standings heading into Mexico City. He now leads the championship by 54 points.
The series moves to Pocono Raceway for next Saturday’s Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at 3:30 p.m. ET (The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
NOTE: Xfinity Series post-race inspection in Mexico City is complete, confirming Daniel Suárez as the race winner. The No. 54 Toyota was found with one loose lug nut, which will result in a monetary fine.
Track: Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Location: Mexico City Track length: 2.42 miles When: Sunday, 3 p.m. ET Where to tune in: Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Race purse: $12,561,250 Race distance: 100 laps | 242 miles Stages: 20 | 45 | 100 Defending winner: None; debut event Starting lineup:Shane van Gisbergen lands Mexico pole
The NASCAR Cup Series will experience a succession of firsts this weekend in Mexico City, making its first international foray in decades and reaching new heights at the greatest elevation on the schedule. The challenges of the first trip to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit, however, will be a foremost factor in deciding who takes the top step on the post-race podium Sunday afternoon.
When asked where he needed to perform well on the 2.42-mile course, Ryan Blaney had jokes.
“Yeah, Turn 1 all the way to 15,” Blaney said, touching all of the track’s corners.
Trouble may find the Cup Series field at any point during Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the first points-paying race for NASCAR’s top division since Hall of Famer Lee Petty took checkers in Toronto in 1958. The course that welcomes the Cup campaigners this weekend presents a diverse set of bends to navigate, one of the longest straightaways on the schedule and a final series of twists in a massive stadium section.
“You know, the challenges with the race course and all those things is — road courses for us, everybody’s super aggressive and there’s long straightaways,” said Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell. “You get brake zones. There’s going to be opportunities for chaos, and we usually find a way to create it. So that’s what you get nervous about. That’s the challenges, is that you keep putting together a perfect race, and you’ll be having a great weekend and just, you know, get wiped out. Those are the concerns you have going into it.”
The frontstretch stands out as one of the prime features, measuring 3,937 feet — second only to Talladega’s 4,000-foot backstraight — out of the Turn 15 sweeper toward the snug right-hander of Turn 1. The straightaway’s end has already been prone to calamity this weekend, with Crispa Rodriguez crashing hard there during the NASCAR México Series preliminary. Another long stretch heads to the nearly 180-degree right of Turn 4, which tripped up Anthony Alfredo with heavy contact in Xfinity Series practice.
A series of esses lead to Turn 11, which has proved to be a treacherous right before the Foro Sol stadium area. That curve snared Cup veterans Christopher Bell and Daniel Suárez in Xfinity practice and qualifying, and it’s a crucial set-up spot for the technical portion of the stadium segment. Working through and exiting there cleanly is key for building speed on the home stretch.
“There’s sections, right?” Blaney said. “Like, you have to be good off of (turn) three. Like I always look at, where do I have to be good for passing zones, and that’s your run off of three into four, and it’s different from lap time to race-ability. Like there’s big lap time between five and 10 through the flowing esses. You’re not going to pass anybody through there, but it just sets you up maybe to pass somebody into 11. Or it’s for lap time, like qualifying or running by yourself, so being able to carry good speed off of 9, 10 into the braking zone in 11, you need to be able to brake really well into 12, because I feel like there’s going to be a lot of moves there, shortcut dive bombs. Then obviously you’ve got to get off of 14, 15 good. That’s a weird corner, like you kind of drive up to the wall and you’re in a big radius. Some guys kind of cut it short, and it’s just all about finding grip and traction there to the equivalent of Talladega backstretch.”
At an elevation of 7,315 feet, the track’s location presents its own distinctive wrinkle for drivers, many of whom have undergone special training and have stayed hydrated to adapt to the area. Few drivers reported having much issue with shortness of breath or other fatigue associated with the higher ground after Friday’s two practices, but the effects of being outside of Charlotte (elevation 751 feet) were real.
“I felt it a little bit for sure,” said Daytona 500 winner William Byron, who arrived Wednesday to give himself extra time to adjust. “I think the first session, it was kind of like acclimating, kind of like figuring out how to breathe efficiently and just try to get it all sorted out. But yeah, the second session, I felt fine.”
Besides the course is the magnitude and the potential for pride in becoming the first driver to win a Cup Series points race outside the U.S. in 67 years.
“When you think of NASCAR, right, you think of it being an American thing, and they’ve obviously ventured out to other places, but never for really a points-paying race,” said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe, who’s a long way from his Indiana hometown. “So to be able to be a part of the first time coming here is neat. I feel like even when we go do stuff in the states, anytime you do the inaugural race, just, it’s special, right? And I’m sure (Sunday) will be the same way. So, yeah, it’s neat getting the opportunity. I never in a million years thought I’d be racing in Mexico City or like, never thought I’d be watching the Pacers in the NBA Finals in Mexico City, either. So, yeah, it’s just definitely unique.
“You know, I was telling Christopher (Bell, his teammate) on the way down here, it’s like, if you would have told us 15 years ago when we were racing sprint cars in Indiana that we’d be flying on Coach Gibbs’ plane to Mexico City to go race, would you believe it? So that’s definitely a special opportunity, and glad to be part of it.”
What do crew chiefs have in focus to win Sunday’s race?
Matt Swiderski was at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez the last time a NASCAR national series race was held here, working the Xfinity race in 2008, back when the course was significantly different. “That’s really not helping me a whole lot at this point,” he said Friday after a pair of practices, “so that’s a challenge.”
The No. 99 crew chief for Trackhouse Racing is guiding the hopes for hometown sports hero Daniel Suárez this weekend, but he’s also trying to optimize performance in the thinner air at 7,300-plus feet. Racing-simulator data, he said, only goes so far. Learning from real-world experience just how the elevation has sapped some of the cars’ horsepower and downforce has been at a premium.
“It’s hard to calibrate your sim tools and use the simulator when you don’t have a baseline to compare to,” Swiderski told NASCAR.com. “So everything’s an unknown. The altitude’s played a big factor on trying to guess what cooling we need for the engines, for the brakes, for the transaxles, so trying to figure that all out in two pretty short practices is definitely a big challenge.”
The distance above sea level aside, crew chiefs are also searching for the right balance on a circuit with high-speed stretches and tricky technical sections. Swiderski says “typically at road courses, we fight the rear of the car a lot more, and from everybody I’ve been scanning, it’s harder to wake the front up here, and so that’s probably the one surprise that we’ve got to work through.”
For Chris Gayle, crew chief for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, another curveball is making the adjustment to a substitute driver, with Ryan Truex filling in this weekend for Denny Hamlin while he is on paternity leave. Battling the elevation’s effects and matching up the simulations to actual race-collected data and feedback is the other focus.
“For us, it’s just the unknown is the biggest thing, right?” Gayle told NASCAR.com. “We’ve seen the race course, and we can come up with what we think the race course should be, but you don’t do a good job of even running the simulator with that, because what makes that more accurate is being there once and coming back and re-tuning things to make it more like the reality, right? You don’t get that here. So it’s just the unknown of here. You mention the elevation, the unknown of the elevation: Are we going to need emergency cooling? Are we not? A lot of calculations have been done to try to say what we think is going to happen, but those aren’t solid either till we get some data here. So it’s just, you have to be flexible and fluid, I guess this weekend.”
Expect Chase Elliott to figure in. The last five first-time races at road courses have been won by Chevrolet drivers, and Elliott accounts for three of those, winning in debut Cup visits to Road America, Circuit of The Americas and the Daytona road course. Elliott has yet to finish outside the top 20 this year, and his Hendrick Motorsports team tops the Cup Series in wins, poles, top fives, top 10s and laps led since the Next Gen car’s debut in 2022. A win Sunday would be Elliott’s 20th in Cup.
He may not be the favorite to win, but watch out for …
KYLE BUSCH. Rowdy ranks 15th in the Cup Series points, but some indicators point toward a rewarding road-course result Sunday. Busch led the majority of the laps in NASCAR’s most recent road-circuit event, challenging eventual winner Christopher Bell until slightly fading to a fifth-place outcome. He is also a former Mexico City winner, prevailing here in 2008 in what is now called the Xfinity Series.
Fantasy update
NASCAR Fantasy Live expert Dustin Albino provides insight for your Sunday lineup.
The hype has been real this weekend in Mexico City, and many of the road-course specialists who were expected to run up front have backed it up. Shane van Gisbergen became the third driver in Cup history to score his first two pole awards on road courses (Dan Gurney and Tyler Reddick). Michael McDowell paced opening practice on Friday and followed it up with a fifth-place qualifying effort. Across practice and qualifying, however, it might be Ty Gibbs who has the best overall car, cracking the top three in single-lap speed, plus he was stout over the long haul. He flipped my mind in the featured matchup against Chase Elliott. Sunday is setting up for a prime chance for Gibbs to punch his playoff ticket. Other drivers who impressed: Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, and Ross Chastain.
Lineup: Shane van Gisbergen, Michael McDowell, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, AJ Allmendinger
Our biggest pieces of the week — get covered for race day from all angles. • NASCAR at Mexico City: Key information, links, results through the weekend | Read more
• In-Season Challenge: Seeding format, schedule, additional information | Read more
• Racing Insights: Full finishing order projections for Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 | Read more • Field of 16: Sweet homecoming looming in Mexico City for Daniel Suárez? | Read more
• Turning Point to Mexico: Trackhouse Racing finding rhythm | Read more
• At-track photos: Scenes, sights from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez | View gallery
• NASCAR Classics: Rewind to Xfinity action from Mexico City | Watch races
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh designs ready for international stage | View gallery
• Power Rankings: How the Cup Series field stacks up before Mexico | Read more
MEXICO CITY — As Alex Bowman hobbled out of his race car after two practice sessions at Mexico City, it was visually apparent the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports driver wasn’t 100% yet following his crash at Michigan International Speedway last weekend.
“I was in a lot of pain on Wednesday, but I got a lot of help from people, and got back on my feet pretty quickly after Wednesday morning,” Bowman shared before climbing back into his car for qualifying. “Just thankful that I had as much help and support as I did. But yeah, there were points this week that it was like the most pain that I’ve gone through.”
This isn’t the first time Bowman has experienced hard hits in his career. In 2022 and 2023, he missed time due to a concussion and a broken back, though this time, nothing was broken. But Bowman admitted he never felt this much pain compared to his previous incidents and felt there was a possibility he would miss Sunday’s race.
“I’m glad that nothing’s broken and that I’m as OK as I am,” Bowman said. “I think going to a road course right after probably makes it tougher than an oval would. But, not a big deal.
“I’ve just been the test dummy lately, and everything did its job, right? Like, everything moved a lot and I don’t know if on paper, that’s the biggest one I’ve taken, but it’s the most painful one I’ve ever taken, for sure, even compared to when I broke my back. It’s way more pain than that was.”
Bowman received a lot of physical therapy during the week to get him as close as possible to being ready for 100 laps around an unfamiliar road course. However, when it comes to his comfort behind the wheel, Bowman clarified that the biggest challenge for him since the hit has been sitting down in the car and the way his seat positions him has “hurt quite a bit.”
Still, the eight-time Cup Series winner is focused on Sunday’s race and determined to course correct after seven finishes of 27th or worse in the last nine races.
“I would say for me, my goal is to make all the laps this weekend. That’s kind of first and foremost,” Bowman said. “But we’ll have to wait and see how much better we’ve got our car today versus yesterday and what goes on in the race. I think there are a lot of different elements to this race, with heating and cooling and brakes overheating — stuff like that.
“Our car didn’t have a lot of raw speed, but I think we’re on the good side of some of those other issues that other people had; definitely an opportunity for us to go run well. It’s been a pretty miserable two months, and just trying to kind of get things turned back around and pointed in the right direction.”
After a rain-shortened qualifying session and logging just three laps, Bowman will roll off 29th for the inaugural Viva Mexico 250 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) in his quest for a second consecutive postseason bid.
MEXICO CITY — Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first Busch Light Pole position of the season Saturday afternoon at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and will lead the field to green in the inaugural Viva Mexico 250 Sunday in Mexico City (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The scheduled 45-minute qualifying session was called off 17 minutes early due to light rain, but the 36-year-old former Australian Supercar Series champion was easily the class of the field — his pole-winning lap of 93.904 mph improving notably from his speed in Saturday afternoon’s two practice sessions.
Smiling and referring to road courses as his “natural habitat,” van Gisbergen was quite satisfied with his work in the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet — especially considering the unknown of a first-time race at the venue.
Inaugural races have been a plus on his resume. He made NASCAR history in 2023, famously winning the Chicago Street Race in his very first series start.
“It was a great session for us, we kind of lacked in a lot of areas yesterday [in practice] with our car getting the balance we wanted and went through a lot of challenges last night — a couple I thought were maybe too much — and started my lap and the car felt magic right from the start,” van Gisbergen said.
The pole position and positive start of the weekend could prove especially important as van Gisbergen is ranked 33rd in the championship standings, essentially needing a race victory to earn a position in the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field.
“Certainly, a win fixes our year, gets you locked in,” he said with a smile about the pole helping produce a victory Sunday.
“Win a race and it changes your year, and then we can race with less pressure, and just keep learning, keep being methodical, keep getting better every week and then we can try some stuff,” van Gisbergen continued. “We’re very sort of welded in a box in the moment, just not wanting to get out of our comfort zone.”
Another notable qualifying effort came from RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, who will start second on the front row alongside van Gisbergen. Preece was the second fastest and ran only a single lap in the session.
Van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain was third fastest in the No. 1 Chevrolet, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs, who earned a front-row start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier in the day.
One of NASCAR’s most respected road course drivers, Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell was fifth fastest in qualifying and will start alongside one of the season’s three-race winners, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson on the third row.
Mexico native — and huge crowd favorite — Daniel Suárez was 10th fastest in the No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet.
Hendrick’s William Byron, the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, will start 27th.
MEXICO CITY — As the NASCAR Cup Series gears up for the inaugural Viva Mexico 250 (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio), most of the field will be cutting its teeth on the 2.42-mile, 15-turn road course at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the first time. However, that’s not the case for Michael McDowell and AJ Allmendinger, two of the best at turning left and right.
Both drivers competed in the Champ Car World Series race in Mexico City in 2005. Allmedinger finished second and McDowell was just outside of the top 10 in 11th place. Later that same year, McDowell went on to win the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race. That gives them some familiarity with what to expect in Sunday’s race.
“I’m biased because road racing is kind of my thing and I love it,” McDowell said before Friday’s practice. “We know that those are opportunities for us. But also, too, it’s not as intimidating to me, getting into the rhythm and learning new tracks and things like that. But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.”
Nothing will be easy about navigating a Cup car nearly 20 years later, since both drivers raced south of the border, especially around a slightly different configuration. Additionally, several other road-course aces are vying for Victory Lane and a possible playoff spot, with just 11 races remaining in the regular season.
At 7,315 feet above sea level and more than 5,300 feet higher than any other active NASCAR track, the Mexico City elevation presents an obstacle for drivers and teams to account for. But that’s where McDowell feels like he has an advantage.
“It is a challenge. Honestly, it’s part of the reason why I decided not to run the Xfinity race, was because I felt like this is a really physically demanding weekend, getting acclimated to the altitude and road racing in general,” McDowell added. “Yes, extra laps and extra seat time would be great to be more familiar, but I felt like you’re going to be at your limit on Sunday, and I want to make sure that I have the best possible day of the week.
“I feel like nutrition and sleep and hydration and supplementation is a big part of it, too, and I feel like I have that worked out for me.
“We’ll see Sunday. If you go to interview me after the race and I can’t breathe, you know that I didn’t do a very good job.”
So far, so good for McDowell. He paced the field in the first practice session but had the 25th fastest time in Practice 2.
On the other side of the coin, Allmendinger — who failed to crack the top 20 in both practice sessions — isn’t feeling much of an edge and plans to lean on his road-course prowess to make gains during the race.
“The track’s changed a bit, and obviously, the race car that I’m driving, it’s completely changed. So now it’s kind of interesting,” Allmendinger said before Saturday’s qualifying session. “I have felt like, since I’ve been here, there’s been no advantage, honestly. So no, I mean, everybody, it’s the Cup Series. Everybody’s so good. So they adapt really quick.”
All three of Allmendinger’s Cup wins have been exclusively on road courses, but even with that pedigree, he’s not banking on experience alone to carry him this weekend. Much like McDowell, he’s embracing the challenges that Mexico City’s unique layout brings, though not necessarily all the possible weather conditions.
“I don’t enjoy driving in the rain. I’m OK at it, so if it does, I’m not scared of it,” Allmendinger said. “But no, I mean, I think for the fans and for the industry and everybody, we’d prefer a nice, sunny day.”
Regardless of how Sunday’s debut event unfolds, the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez adds another layer to NASCAR’s continued expansion beyond traditional venues — and an opportunity for drivers like McDowell and Allmendinger to shine in an environment where experience, precision and conditioning all matter.
While the field might be stacked with talent and unfamiliarity, McDowell and Allmendinger remain two of the best bets to master the circuit’s rhythm. And if the weather stays clear and the race comes down to skill and strategy, either driver could be contending when the checkered flag waves.
See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Viva Mexico 250 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
See where your favorite NASCAR Xfinity Series driver will pit for The Chilango 150 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
