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NASCAR will take its Elite Cup Series to the international festival in June for the first points-paying race outside the United States, stopping in Mexico City.

The Cup Series will be held at the prestigious Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, where NASCAR and track officials will hold a news conference Tuesday morning to announce the June 15 race, track officials told The Associated Press.

The second-tier Xfinity Series and the NASCAR Mexico Series will be part of the weekend.

The Xfinity Series was held in Mexico City from 2005 to 2008, and current Cup Series stars Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were winners in those four years.

But the Cup Series has never been contested internationally in the modern era, aside from exhibition races. The Cup Series held exhibition races in Japan between 1996 and 1998 and once in Australia in 1988.

The only Cup races that previously offered international points were held in Canada. The first was held in 1952 at Stamford Park in Ontario, Canada, and the second in 1958 at the Canadian Exposition Center in Toronto.

Now NASCAR will send its stars – including Mexican driver Daniel Suarez – to the same track that Formula 1 fans love. The Mexico City Grand Prix was voted the best event on the F1 calendar until fan voting ended during the pandemic.

The 17-turn circuit is 2.674 miles long and sits at an elevation of 7,342 feet. The track was built in 1959 and named after racing brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez. Since a remodel in 2015, the track has hosted eight F1 races.

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AP Auto Racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing