NASCAR insiders make case for Xfinity, Cup Series return to Mexico City in 2026

NASCAR had Xfinity and Cup Series races at Mexico City this past weekend, and two insiders believe it should return next year. On The Teardown podcast, Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck of The Athletic explained why Mexico City should host NASCAR Xfinity and Cup Series races in 2026.

“You look at the enthusiasm, and while there are things that need to be tightened up on some levels, and there are certainly some first-year kinks that went wrong, there is every reason to continue this and to think that this is going to come back for another year as it should,” Bianchi said. “This was a popular event. The crowd here was strong.

Can NASCAR build off of a successful Mexico City race weekend?

“There’s an opportunity to build off of this. The expectation going in here was we’re going to have to basically treat this as in 101 and introducing this sport to a population that maybe isn’t as exposed to this as we wanted them to be. And then, they’re going to get excited about it. Then they’re going to tell their friends, and then Year 2 is really where you’re going to see the impact of that. It would be silly not to think that it’s not going to come back next year.”

Gluck talked about how fans in Mexico enjoyed seeing native Daniel Suarez winning the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. He mentioned that news outlets in the country that don’t cover sports regularly talked about Suarez’s victory.

“It was a big deal here in the country,” Gluck said. “They were saying that’s the kind of things that can only generate more next time NASCAR comes back.”

Gluck added some racing fans in Mexico City don’t like NASCAR because they grew up watching IndyCar and/or Formula One. The insider also said that he was a little disappointed with the attendance as he thought it was going to be full. He said that the ticket prices may have prevented more fans from attending the race as the cheapest ticket was $60.

“It’s something to build on and something to grow on,” Gluck said. “It’s a huge F1 track. I wasn’t expecting an F1 crowd, but I was expecting more than we saw today. But again, this is first step and NASCAR has left this market since 2008. …It’s such a long game.”

The Mexico City race on Sunday was the first NASCAR Cup Series points race held outside the United States since 1958. Before Saturday, the Xfinity Series held races in Mexico City from 2005 to 2008.