The brief historical past of NASCAR Cup racing exterior america

The choice so as to add a Mexico Metropolis Cup race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for 2025 season is an enormous step in NASCAR’s plans for worldwide enlargement. It is also fairly the endeavor, particularly with roughly 80 haulers driving over 2,000 miles instantly from Michigan Worldwide Speedway to Mexico Metropolis.

Apart from, the Cup Sequence hasn’t raced exterior of america in over 25 years, and the class hasn’t held a points-paying championship occasion exterior the U.S. since 1958. 

Previous to the Mexico Metropolis announcement, the collection had additionally been contemplating a date at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada and showcased ambitions for increasing into Brazil. 

Daniel Suarez is NASCAR’s prime worldwide driver because the 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Sequence champion with race wins throughout all three nationwide divisions. However there are solely a handful of worldwide drivers who’ve gained on the prime degree of the game, and the listing of worldwide races is even shorter. Listed here are the few tracks exterior the U.S. the place NASCAR has managed to get its passport stamped:

1952 Unnamed 100-mile occasion – Stamford Park – Niagara Falls, Canada

The primary Cup race exterior of america came about on July 1st, 1952. The Ontario half-mile filth monitor had been round since 1923, however closed one yr after the Cup Sequence visited. Often known as a ‘automobile killer,’ it lived as much as its title in opposition to the early pioneers of NASCAR. Paying an admission of 1 greenback for adults and 50 cents for youngsters, spectators watched on as solely three of the 17 starters made it to the end line within the 200-lap race. Buddy Sherman made his ’52 Hudson final, averaging a velocity of 45.610mph and profitable by two laps over NASCAR Corridor of Famer Herb Thomas. It was Sherman’s solely victory within the Cup Sequence.

1958 Jim Mideon 500 – Exhibition Stadium – Toronto, Canada

Race winner Lee Petty

Photograph by: NASCAR Media

On July 18th, 1958, NASCAR returned to Canada to race contained in the now-demolished Canadian Nationwide Exhibition Stadium, competing on a 0.333-mile asphalt oval that had a putting resemblance to Bowman Grey Stadium. Lee Petty would take victory, main 29 of 100 laps in a race that solely lasted 46 minutes. 

Nevertheless, crucial story of this race is probably not who gained, however who made their debut. The 21-year-old son of Lee Petty — Richard Petty — made his first of 1,184 begins in NASCAR’s final points-paying Cup race exterior of america. The longer term ‘King’ of NASCAR was wrecked out of the occasion when he acquired in the best way of the quickest man within the discipline — his father. 

1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500 – Calder Park Thunderdome – Melbourne, Australia

Marcos Ambrose, the one Australian driver to win on the Cup degree

Photograph by: Chris Graythen – Getty Photographs

30 years after the final Cup race on worldwide soil, the game made the daring step to host a non-points race on the opposite facet of the planet. On February twenty eighth, 1988, NASCAR ventured far past the continent of North America to race in Australia. The 280-lap race came about on the oval at Calder Park Raceway with 24-degree banked corners. 

The 32 starters featured a number of stars from the Australia/New Zealand motorsport world, together with Bathurst 1000 champions Dick Johnson, Jim Richards, and Allan Grice. But it surely was the NASCAR regulars who dominated the occasion with Neil Bonnett capturing the checkered flag simply forward of  Bobby Allison in a 1-2 end for the Alabama Gang. The occasion led to the creation of a NASCAR Australia racing division, which operated from 1989 to 2002.

In trendy NASCAR, a number of drivers from ‘down below’ have made the trek throughout the ocean to race in NASCAR, exhibiting how the bond stays robust between the 2. Australian Marcos Ambrose and New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, each champions of the Supercars division, have gone on to change into winners on the prime degree of NASCAR.

1996 & 1997 NASCAR Thunder Particular – Suzuka Circuit – Suzuka, Japan

NASCAR Suzuka race

Photograph by: Yukio Yoshimi

Within the subsequent decade, NASCAR shifted focus to Japan as its subsequent vacation spot for an exhibition race. Following the completion of the 1996 season, the game sanctioned a race on the East Course structure of the Suzuka Circuit on November twenty fourth.

The curiosity across the occasion was electrical. It attracted Japanese racing stars resembling ‘Drift King’ Keiichi Tsuchiya, in addition to Hideo Fukuyama, Akihiko Nakaya, and Kazuteru Wakida. Rusty Wallace beat Dale Earnhardt by simply over a second, main 84 of 100 laps en path to the victory.

As a result of success of the race, NASCAR returned one yr later to do all of it once more. Nevertheless, rain grew to become a difficulty for the sequel. The sanctioning physique broke out the wet-weather tires for the particular occasion, and a lot of the NASCAR drivers within the discipline have been about to get their first expertise racing within the rain. Mike Skinner gained the day, beating Mark Martin by 3.7s.

These races served as inspiration for future F1 driver and Le Mans 24 champion Kamui Kobayashi, who was a spectator there. In 2023, he fulfilled a lifelong dream when he lastly made his NASCAR Cup debut.

1998 Coca-Cola 500 – Twin Ring Motegi – Motegi, Japan

Motegi circuit emblem

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs

For the third consecutive yr, NASCAR returned to Japan on November twenty second, however this time, they went oval racing. After two years at Suzuka, the race moved to the oval monitor at Twin Ring Motegi for a 201-lap occasion.

31 drivers began the race in a discipline that noticed Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Earnhardt Jr. compete in opposition to one another in Cup automobiles for the very first time. The race got here all the way down to a showdown between Jeff Gordon and Mike Skinner. Gordon was contemporary off his third Cup title and ran Skinner down within the closing laps. He acquired all the best way to the right-rear of his fellow Chevrolet driver, however couldn’t fairly get alongside because the checkered flag flew.

After Japan

NASCAR’s three-year experiment in Japan was over and whereas many thought it was the start of one thing, it turned out to be the top. Cup automobiles haven’t raced exterior of the US since that day in November, virtually 27 years in the past.

Within the years that adopted, the Xfinity Sequence raced in Mexico Metropolis and Montreal. The Truck Sequence additionally journeyed north for an occasion at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. NASCAR has since fashioned worldwide inventory automobile racings divisions in Mexico, Brazil, and even Europe. In 2016, the game had its first foreign-born driver win a national-level title when Suarez grew to become champion of the Xfinity Sequence. New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen made historical past as the primary driver in 60+ years to win on debut when he gained the 2023 Cup race on the Chicago Road Course. And at Watkins Glen in 2022, the collection set a document for international locations represented in a single Cup race with seven whole.

NASCAR has been edging nearer to a world race in recent times and the powers that be have proven renewed curiosity in international enlargement. When the Cup Sequence races in Mexico later this week, they may make historical past and hopefully, mark the beginning of a brand new period of NASCAR racing within the nation.