In a way, NASCAR’s foray into Mexico City this weekend has been like a school field trip, according to Hendrick Motorsports’ Cup Series driver Kyle Larson.
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The drivers are without the creature comforts of their motorhomes, forced to stay together in the same hotel and travel to the racetrack in shuttles or be escorted to off-track events like wrestling matches or go-kart racing.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a school field trip, but it does feel like that,” Larson said with a laugh during a media session Saturday.
He especially liked one of the “field trips” away from the racetrack and hotel, attending a unique event on Friday: “The wrestling (Lucha Libre) thing yesterday was pretty cool,” Larson said with another laugh.
Larson is definitely enjoying the unique culture south of the border. However, he is still unsure what to expect in Sunday’s race around the 2.42-mile, twisting Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez road course. But like everything else he has gone through since arriving, the 32-year-old is excited.
“Mexico’s been fun,” Larson said. “It’s a different-feeling weekend for us here. We don’t have our motorcoaches and all that. We’re all put up in the same place and we have to ride together and ride in shuttles together.”
“It’s honestly really fun and enjoyable to be around your competitors and get to know each other a bit better. Because on a typical weekend, we just kind of lock ourselves in wherever we’re at, we don’t talk to anybody or anything. So it’s nice that you’re almost forced to hang out with each other and to get to know them,” he added.
The No. 5 driver will roll off from sixth on the grid as the lead HMS Chevy for Sunday’s Viva México 250. He would surely love to cap off his “field trip” by becoming the first-ever Cup Series winner in Mexico City.
