Brad Keselowski is two people in one. There’s Brad the racer, who usually casts all concern to the wind if it means he can pull out a win. And then there’s Brad the NASCAR Cup team owner, who is more cautious, pragmatic and contemplative about things in the sport and how they impact his team, its drivers and its personnel.
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Now, one week after the inaugural NASCAR Cup race in Mexico City, Keselowski the team owner is still expressing concern about whether the series should return for an encore performance south of the border next year.
While most reports about the whole Mexico City experience have been positive, Keselowski doesn’t appear too eager for a return. He wrote on X after Sunday’s race at Pocono that even a week later, some individuals — most notably drivers — had still not recovered from any illness they may have suffered from traveling to and from Mexico City.
“Observation from driver intros- Most all of the drivers are still sick and dehydrated from last week. I’ve never seen so many sick drivers before the start of the race,” his post read.
This was in direct response to what Motorsports Today reporter Colin Ward had to say about Mexico City on X. Ward wrote, “Ryan Blaney fell to his knees multiple times after the race, and stayed down for a while, clearly exhausted. He got up briefly to do a TV interview and went back down.
“He stayed down, waiting for the AMR Safety team, and road off to the care center on a golf cart. Looked like his legs were cramping — more than likely dehydration.”
Despite teams being cautioned about avoiding certain local foods and drinking only bottled water, several still reported illness, including winner Shane van Gisbergen. There also were issues with crime. One report has trickled out that at least one team member may have been the victim of a crime, although the details remain cryptic.
Tab Boyd, who worked as spotter for Ricky Stenhouse Jr., took to social media on Saturday, June 14, and hinted that he may have been a crime victim. He wrote, “I’m ready to go home, screw this place, people can talk it up all they want…can’t even walk out the front door of the hotel without getting hustled and money snatched…..in less than 5 minutes. Good area my a—…”
Boyd’s online post — he apparently has deleted his X account since then — led to his being fired by team owner Hyak Motorsports, which was confirmed on @SiriusXMNASCAR radio by driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who called it an “unfortunate deal. The team let Tab Boyd go this week.”
So, will NASCAR return to Mexico, or will it be a one-and-done?
Will NASCAR return to Mexico City next year? From an attendance and global reach perspective, the event was a success. NASCAR likely gained thousands of new fans in Mexico.
But with the 2026 Cup schedule not likely to be released for at least another month or two, will some team owners, drivers, crew chiefs and team members give their viewpoints to NASCAR to see if risk versus reward is worth another trip south of the border?
To its credit, NASCAR did a great job keeping most everyone in its proverbial “bubble” of hotels and restaurants, as well as organizing escorted sightseeing trips to safe locations such as museums, which helped assure everyone’s health and safety.
But just like in the Olympics, there almost always are going to be at least a few risk-taking individuals who will want to go native for a few hours and explore a new country, new culture, new food, etc., even at the cost of their safety or health.
It’s hard to keep adults locked down for several days in one location, needing escorts — oftentimes armed — to go with them both to and from the racetrack, the airport, their hotel, etc.
While Boyd’s criticism is somewhat understandable if he indeed was robbed, if he or anyone else failed to heed NASCAR’s warnings and ventured out alone or without a proper escort, how can they blame NASCAR?
If anything, perhaps NASCAR needs to make the “bubble” even tighter if it returns to Mexico next year, and also be prepared to issue harsh financial penalties to those who go against the sanctioning body’s rules.
Just like non-disclosure agreements, NASCAR can legally demand that any and all team members sign a binding agreement that they will adhere to NASCAR’s rules before they even leave the U.S.
Moreover, if anyone balks at signing such an agreement, well, guess what, they won’t be going to Mexico and NASCAR can likely enlist Mexican authorities to deny entry into the country if team members don’t sign a document of abidance.
For those team members who ventured outside the bubble and came away unscathed, they were lucky. It doesn’t mean if NASCAR returns to Mexico, that if they again violate rules, they’ll be lucky yet again.
Finally, to those who ignored the rules, as the locals might say: ‘Estúpido’ — and that one doesn’t need any translation.
