In June, NASCAR flew to the south of the border. For the first time since 1958, the Cup Series raced at an international venue, flagging off a race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez track in Mexico City. Daniel Suárez dominated Xfinity, and Shane van Gisbergen unleashed fire in Cup – both drawing the cheers of a packed, energized crowd. However, instead of cheering for high-octane V8 engines, that crowd of fans will cheer for strapping footballers locked in intense matches next year.

Yes, NASCAR will not be returning to the Land of the Sun next year. This comes alongside NASCAR not renewing its contract for another road course, the Chicago Street Course. But while the latter involved glaring logistical and administrative issues, Mexico City’s dilemma lay elsewhere.

A clash of sports is keeping NASCAR away

NASCAR’s premier level may have visited Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez for the first time, but it is a popular track in global motorsports. Since its inception in 1959, the 2.674-mile road course has hosted major disciplines like F1 and CART. In 2026, however, the Mexican venue will have a new guest. The FIFA Men’s World Cup soccer tournament will hold five matches, scheduled from June 11 to July 5. NASCAR tried to look at a spring date — likely around the traditional Easter off weekend to give teams additional time to manage the travel. It even considered a possible NASCAR-IndyCar doubleheader – IndyCar president Doug Boles has hinted that “hopefully we get our event announced here soon.” However, 2026 will simply not be NASCAR’s year in Mexico.

Initially, fans and drivers speculated about the grounded reasons. For instance, the logistical problems associated with flying teams, race cars, and equipment into Mexico elicited complaints. Then, the high-altitude nature of the track (2,285 meters) also posed problems for racers. However, on a recent Sirius XM NASCAR episode, Executive Vice President of NASCAR Ben Kennedy brushed aside all those reasons. Instead, the sport does not want to clash with football: “They’re gonna have a very busy summer in Mexico next year with the World Cup. Then the facility that we competed at this year, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, they only have a handful of weekends that work for them. A majority of those events ended up being in conflict with the World Cup.”

Despite stepping away from the 2026 schedule, NASCAR is not negating Mexico City entirely. After all, this year’s footfall and viewership were a massive success, as Ben Kennedy continued, “An incredible race that we had in June of this year, to be able to pull off an event like that, first time that we’ve gone south of the border, first time that we’ve been to Mexico City. Incredibly proud of our industry for being able to pull that off. Amazing to see the amount of fans that came to see the event as well…A lot of the people had watched NASCAR on TV for years, but never had the opportunity to come out to the event.” Kennedy added optimistically, “We’ve decided to take a pause for ’26 but leave the door open to return in the future.”

For now, Mexico City is off the charts for a collaboration with NASCAR next year. However, another sport will join hands with the sport this weekend.

Inviting a basketball player to the racetrack

Up next is the Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona! In line with a wild race, we are also expecting a wild start to the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a special guest. NASCAR has collaborated with women’s basketball before – in 2022, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley drove the pace car at Darlington. In 2025, Alex Bowman had the logo of Unrivaled plastered across the door at Homestead-Miami. Then, Ryan Preece’s car featured the likeness of Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas in Indianapolis. Now, ahead of the Cup Series’ second visit to Daytona, we will have the live presence of an American college basketball player and rapper, Flau’Jae Johnson.

The 5-foot-10 All-American guard is currently heading into her senior year at Louisiana State University. She was one of only two players at the Power 4 level last season to average at least 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds. 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Additionally, Flau’Jae Johnson is also a rapper, signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. This weekend, she will harness her energy to wave the green flag as the Coke Zero Sugar 400’s honorary starter. Johnson expressed her enthusiasm: “Getting to wave the green flag at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is such an honor. I’m hyped to be part of something this legendary and bring my energy to the track. This is going to be a moment to remember.”

With NASCAR joining hands with multiple disciplines and racetracks, the future of the sport looks bright. Let us see what unfolds in the final race of the 2025 Cup Series regular season.