MEXICO CITY – Great food, a warm welcome and a lot of curious diehard racing fans greeted NASCAR teams and personnel arriving in Mexico City this week for Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 NASCAR Cup Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (3 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, a Mexican native, gave media members a list of his go-to restaurants. And race team members were commonplace strolling around the Angel of Independence monument on a downtown circle checking out local restaurants.
The NASCAR drivers all seemed eager about the sport’s first international points-paying race in half a century.
“So my favorite thing about Mexico — it’s been 20 years since I’ve raced here, but it’s the fans,’’ said Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, who competed at the Mexico City venue four previous times while sports car racing. “I just know how Sunday is going to be. It’s incredible energy and incredible atmosphere.
“It feels like a festival and a concert and a race all happening at one time. Like I said, it was 20 years ago when I was here. But at the time, Luis Diaz and Mario Dominguez were racing, and those guys were heroes. Like every time they went into a corner, you heard the crowd cheer. And wherever they walked, the crowd went nuts.
“And I’m just like, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like for Daniel (Suarez) on Sunday … I really can’t. It’s going to be wild. But just the energy that the fans have here is electric.”
Friday marked opening practice for the NASCAR Cup Series – a 50-minute and 25-minute session – the first led none too surprisingly by McDowell and the second with Front Row Motorsports’ David Gilliand on top of the chart.
Gilliland’s speed of 93.18 mph in the No. 34 FRM Ford was fastest on the day, followed by Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain (93.041 mph) in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs was third fastest in both practices with a quick lap of 92.864 in the second session. Tyler Reddick turned the most laps (35) in the combined practices.
The series will hold Busch Light Pole Qualifying Saturday at 2:05 p.m. ET (Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
-NASCAR Wire
