Long live NASCAR in Mexico

The Sprint Cup had the week off, allowing NASCAR’s Nationwide Series to take center stage on Sunday afternoon, a day and time usually reserved for NASCAR’s premier events.

With racing fans focused squarely on the Nationwide series, the race could have easily been held in front of 100,000 fans at a track like Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., or at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR, however, chose to put on a race thousands of miles from its Southern roots, at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a 2.7-mile road course in Mexico City.

Why such an unusual location? Well, it certainly had little to do with selling tickets, as just 57,324 spectators filed into the stands to watch the Corona Mexico 200 on Sunday, the lowest total in the four years the series has raced south of the border.

But the fact that NASCAR not only races in Mexico City every year during a weekend when no Cup race is scheduled is significant. The race in Mexico reinforces the sport’s focus on expansion into new markets and reminds us that diversity is just as important in the stands as it is behind the wheel.

“As NASCAR works at broadening their horizons, one of their focuses was South America,” Scott Pruett, who finished third Sunday, said. “I think that all the way around, with a sport that I think was very limited… is now becoming stronger and stronger every year.”

The decision to host international Nationwide races — both in Mexico City and Montreal — may have initially seemed like a novelty, but it has done a remarkable job of giving NASCAR world-wide appeal.

Before the inaugural Mexico City race in 2005, it was almost impossible to find a foreign-born driver in the garage, outside of a few road-course experts who would drive one or two races a year. But in the three years since, international stars like Juan Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Patrick Carpentier and Marcos Ambrose have flooded into NASCAR, and not only do they bring diversity to the track, but they bring new fans into the stands.

“The real fans, they follow it throughout the year,” said Mexican racing legend Adrian Fernandez, who has participated in all four Mexico City events. “But a lot of [international fans], you know, definitely need the identity of someone they can follow.”

Drivers like Montoya and Ambrose can provide that identity for fans around the world, and once they begin to find consistent success on the track, the all-important attention by the media will follow.

“It is a process of education,” Fernandez said. “The fans [here] are a lot more knowledgeable about NASCAR in general, and I think there’s a lot more [room to grow]. To have the media in Mexico cover it race-by-race… it can become a lot stronger than maybe [it is] right now.”

NASCAR likely will face a lot of pressure in the coming years to bring the Nationwide series to newer facilities in the United States. NASCAR can still choose which courses run races anywhere they want, but hopefully, it will continue to find room on the schedule for Mexico City. It’s a venue that gives spectators a chance to watch great racing on a unique track, and it gives fans the chance to realize what the rest of the United State’s all ready knows.

NASCAR racing is the some of the best in the world.

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