NASCAR Busch Series returns to Mexico
by Mark Rothstein
Slowly expanding
The good old hombres are heading south of the border this weekend.
The NASCAR Busch Series will be returning to Mexico City for the second annual Telcel Motorola Mexico 200 on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, FOX), while the premier Nextel Cup series takes the week off.
The race will take place at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a 2.52-mile road course with roots in Formula One.
The track was created in the early 1960s and named after young Mexican-born F1 driver Ricardo Rodriguez. The track hosted F1 races through much of the 60s and from the mid-80s to the early 90s. It was rebuilt a few years ago with the help of the open-wheel CART series, and NASCAR hosted its first race there last year.
By all accounts, the race was a success with nearly 100,000 spectators taking in the event. The winner of the race was Martin Truex Jr., last year’s Busch Series champion.
The win in Mexico was one of six checkered flags for Truex Jr., who has elevated to the Nextel Cup series. The runner-up in the race was Nextel Cup regular Kevin Harvick with Carl Edwards coming in third.
To the delight of the hometown fans, Mexico’s Jorge Goeters won the pole for the race. In what was his first NASCAR event, Goeters led for the first 24 laps but finished 38th due to engine problems.
Goeters will be looking to qualify for the race again this year and will be racing for Brewco Motor Sports. Goeters is the current champion of Mexico's premier stock car series.
Among the other seven Mexican drivers hoping to make the 43-car field will be Adrian Fernandez. A successful driver in CART and IRL, Fernandez finished 10th in last year’s race. Fernandez will be joined by 2003 CART series champion Paul Tracy, who will be looking to compete in his second Busch race of the year - the Canadian finished 24th in the season opening Hershey’s Kissables 300 at Daytona.
Others in the field include 29 Busch Series regulars as well as nine Nextel Cup Series drivers. Seven of those nine drivers are running full-time in both the Busch and Nextel Cup circuits this season.
Through three races, the leader of the Busch Series is Harvick followed by J.J. Yeley and Clint Bowyer. All three are regulars in the Nextel Cup series.
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