Why Did Dale Earnhardt Jr. Take Away Shane van Gisbergen’s Xfinity Ride at Mexico?

NASCAR’s highly anticipated races across international borders, the Viva Mexico 250 and the Chilango 150, will be milestones for stock car racing as the sport heads outside the country for its first-ever points-paying events.

With both the Cup and Xfinity fields set to race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, it is only fair that Daniel Suarez, the sole Mexican on the field, gets as much time out on track in front of his home crowd.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has allowed the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing driver to do the same at the expense of fellow teammate and Cup Series full-timer Shane van Gisbergen.

The Kiwi driver was initially slated to run both the Xfinity and Cup Series races at the track, given his proficiency on road courses, hailing from a background in Australian V8 Supercars. However, given the home connection and sponsor backing, SVG’s fellow Trackhouse teammate, Suarez, has been brought into the picture.

SVG was initially slated to drive the No. 9 JR Motorsports entry, which will now see Suarez at the wheel, backed by motor oil manufacturer Quaker State. “I have dreamed about racing in my home country every day since I left Mexico to chase my NASCAR dream in 2011,” elaborated Suarez on the opportunity.

“I think everyone is going to be amazed by the reception in Mexico. We want to make this weekend permanent on the NASCAR calendar for many years,” he added, highly anticipating NASCAR’s reception in his home country.

SVG is eagerly looking forward to the Mexico weekend

Despite being out of contention for the race on Saturday in Mexico, the 4-time Supercars champion is anticipating NASCAR going road racing once again after a stretch of oval races. Gisbergen’s results on oval tracks have not been the best since he decided to participate full-time in NASCAR.

While the New Zealand native is trying to adapt to what is a completely different style of driving, with results coming in slowly and steadily, he is also raring to go and compete at the front of the field at a place like Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, turning left and right in the process.

“I’m looking forward to some right-handers, that’s for sure,” he said with a laugh. “(We’ve) got some good tracks coming up, tracks I know, but obviously Mexico City is a fresh one for everyone. These ovals have been a big learning process the last couple of months, so it will be nice to have a break and turn right,” he concluded.

It now remains to be seen if SVG can recapture the initial buzz that surrounded him when he came blazing onto the NASCAR scene, complete with a debut victory at another unfamiliar track for the whole field at the time, the Chicago Street Course. Will he be able to do the same in Mexico this weekend? Only time will tell.