NASCAR’s 2025 Viva Mexico 250 at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez has been widely seen as a success — but Jeff Gordon has a reality check for fans hoping for another international race soon.
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Given the success of the league in terms of new experiments, such as heading to Mexico or hosting a race inside the LA Memorial Coliseum or racing on a temporary dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway, the governing body has showcased a willingness to try on new things in pursuit for a new fanbase, aiming to expand the sport.
Building on the same sentiment after the Mexico weekend, however, the Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman urged everyone not to get carried away with the same. Gordon reminded everyone of the 38-race-long schedule that NASCAR goes through every year and how the same could be the reason the sport cannot head to another international venue.
“I want to go everywhere in the world that I think that NASCAR can make an impact, whether be England, Germany, South America, Australia — you name the list… But we have to figure out the schedule before we do too much of this. Right now, a 38-race schedule, this year we’ve had one weekend off for the entire year, we can’t do this,” opined Gordon.
“If we’re talking about really, truly going overseas, that’s a whole another discussion. When we went to Japan, that was in December. You’re not going to get a lot of popular votes of a long season of 38 races and then go into our off-season on top of that,” he added.
Jeff Gordon’s concerns with NASCAR truly crossing oceans to head to a venue such as Brazil or Australia, for example, do seem to make sense with the already hectic schedule.
One particular way of going about this could be limiting the number of tracks in America that the sport visits more than once. However, the same might not resonate with the die-hard fans of the sport. Given how NASCAR has always tried to strike a chord with the new and the old-school fan base, it could turn out to be a risky affair.
With hometown hero Daniel Suarez’s fairy tale victory on Saturday during the Xfinity race at the track, to Shane van Gisbergen’s masterclass on Sunday, NASCAR somewhat proved it has a diverse enough lineup of drivers and racing to offer for different markets outside the United States of America.
It now remains to be seen if another international race is on the cards. If the Mexico City weekend and the planning behind the same is anything to go by, it could be years before NASCAR takes the plunge on another international venue.
