NASCAR has officially announced its groundbreaking decision to host the first international points race of the 2025 season in Mexico City.

The race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 15, 2025, at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. It follows a NASCAR Xfinity Series support race scheduled for June 14 and will be broadcast live on Prime Video, while the Xfinity event will air on The CW.

Ben Kennedy, Executive Vice President of NASCAR, commented on the new addition to the calendar, according to NASCAR.com:

“This has been on our radar for a long time. We’ve talked about continually adjusting our schedule, right? You can go back a few years and enter new markets like Nashville and Austin, Texas.

“We were at the Coliseum for the Clash. … We were at our first street race in downtown Chicago, and this will be another first for us in many ways. This will certainly be a monumental event for us, the first time we’re racing south of the border.”

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is no newcomer to NASCAR or global motorsports. Between 2005 and 2008, it hosted Formula 1 and four races in the Xfinity Series – events that have now featured well-known drivers such as Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch.

Mexican-born Cup Series driver Daniel Suárez shared his excitement, describing the event as “a dream come true.”

“This is like a dream for me. This is truly a dream come true. Exactly 10 years ago, I raced here in NASCAR Mexico in 2014 and won a race here before I left NASCAR México and moved to the NASCAR Xfinity Series full-time in 2015. I knew that the NASCAR Xfinity Series had an opportunity to come to Mexico for a couple of years a few years before I did, and I remember thinking what a dream it would be for me to one day race in the NASCAR Cup Series in my country. I remember thinking that, and now nine years later, here we are in Mexico City.”

The race will be held in partnership with OCESA, a main organizer of the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. Alejandro Soberón, CEO of OCESA, also commented on the news.

“At OCESA we are committed to entertaining people and this has made us the most powerful live events platform in Mexico and Latin America and also one of the most important worldwide.

“The arrival of the NASCAR Cup Series in our country reflects the significant growth that motorsport has experienced in Mexico, a success in which Escudería Telmex has played an important role by promoting the NASCAR Mexico Series and supporting drivers such as Daniel Suárez.”

Kennedy’s comments on NASCAR’s international ambitions were not limited to Mexico.

“It’s huge. When we as a leadership team talk about where we see the biggest growth opportunities in the sport, internationality is always one of the first topics that comes up.

“We’ve brought the Craftsman Truck Series to Canada for several years, we’ve had the Xfinity Series in Mexico. This is a monumental moment for our sport in the sense that this is our first step in making the Cup Series truly international and I think it could set us up for the future in potential new markets.

“I think we’ve been honest about our interest in taking our Cup Series overseas, whether it’s north or south of the border. And when we talk about some of our other races, there are opportunities for us to expand the Cup Series even further.

“So it’s going to be a big project for us. We have a lot of questions. I’m sure the industry will have some questions as well, but I’m excited to get this underway and go into one of the biggest markets – not just in the country but in the world – that’s going to be huge for our sport.”

He added:

“We’re still committed to Richmond. It’s an important race track, certainly an important market when we think about where our NASCAR fans are today. We’ve seen some exciting stories around this track over the last few years and we’re looking forward to being there again next year, giving our fans a great event and putting a lot of energy and resources into this event.”