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NASCAR goes south of the border to grow fan base with its 1st Cup Series race in Mexico City

FILE - Cars drive past the flag of Mexico placed at the fence during the NASCAR Busch series auto race at the Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday, March 5, 2006.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)
FILE - Cars drive past the flag of Mexico placed at the fence during the NASCAR Busch series auto race at the Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday, March 5, 2006.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file) FILE - Cars drive past the flag of Mexico placed at the fence during the NASCAR Busch series auto race at the Hermanos Rodriguez racetrack in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday, March 5, 2006.(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)

By JENNA FRYER / AP Auto Racing Writer 5 min read

NASCAR’s first international Cup Series race of the modern era is all about the eyeballs, specifically new fans in the Mexico City market.

NASCAR will be on the track Friday for the first of three days of racing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, one of the most popular stops on the Formula 1 calendar and Ben Kennedy’s newest project.

The great-grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., Kennedy has taken the family business beyond its comfortable confines before.

Kennedy in 2022 moved the preseason exhibition Clash from its longtime home at Daytona International Speedway in Florida to a temporary track built inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Kennedy this year moved the Clash to The Madhouse — the historic Bowman Gray Stadium, which had last hosted a Cup race in 1971, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

NASCAR under Kennedy also returned to North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina for the first time since 1977 when the All-Star race was moved there three years ago. He allowed dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway, a hybrid road course and oval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, alongside his biggest undertaking: NASCAR’s first street race, held in downtown Chicago.