MEXICO CITY — In some ways, the timing for NASCAR’s first Cup Series race in Mexico could not have been worse.

It came under the shadow of fierce immigration protests and unrest in Los Angeles, and a portion of NASCAR’s fan base had already been skeptical about the series going international.

But none of that was apparent at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack. The beautiful melting pot of a thoroughly American sport and a highly enthusiastic Mexican fan base caught many in the garage by surprise.

Relatively unknown drivers like Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland, who have a combined two career victories between them, were mobbed like rock stars while walking in public areas of the track. Fans gave NASCAR the Formula One treatment by making homemade apparel and traveling long distances from around Mexico (90 percent of the ticket buyers were from the country, but only 44 percent from Mexico City itself). They were emotional over seeing the Cup cars in person for the first time and begged for NASCAR to announce it would return again next season.

Long after the race, they were lined up outside the garage area to cheer and give high-fives to crew members from every team who were headed toward the exit gates. In example after example, there was a level of excitement for NASCAR that is sometimes not apparent even at the biggest American races.

While NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy wasn’t ready to proclaim the series would indeed come back in 2026, he was clearly moved by how his sport created a bond between people.

Seeing Mexican police hold the flags of both countries as a children’s chorus sweetly sang the anthems of each country before the race, Kennedy said, gave him chills and goosebumps.

By that point, the weekend was already a success regardless of what happened in the race itself.

“No matter what’s going on outside of this racetrack, even outside of this country, sports can be great unifiers,” he said.

“That’s what we saw this weekend. People from all walks of life came together and watched an amazing race with some of the best drivers in the world. That’s what I’m most proud of.”

SVGeez!

It was a bit humorous to see Shane van Gisbergen’s victory compared to Harrison Burton’s Daytona triumph last fall, with some fans lumping the two together as an indictment of NASCAR’s win-and-in playoff system.

In reality, they were not very similar. While Burton earned his stirring victory at Daytona to snatch a playoff spot, that was a superspeedway race where timing and luck can often play a factor in the outcome.

But in Mexico City, van Gisbergen’s win was pure dominance from one of the greatest road racing drivers on the planet. There was simply no one in his class on Sunday, and he won by 16.5 seconds — the largest margin in a NASCAR Cup Series race since Nov. 2009.

This was an entirely predictable outcome from the day it became clear the New Zealand native would be a rookie in the Cup Series for NASCAR’s Mexico race (despite a track record of horrible predictions, even I got this one right).

It’s also exactly why Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks hired him in the first place. Under the current playoff system, everyone knows just one victory not only essentially locks a driver into the playoffs but also increases the season payout dramatically. The No. 88 car’s charter value and its weighted three-year average will now be no lower than 16th for 2025 thanks to van Gisbergen’s triumph, which more than justifies the gamble Marks took on him.

So yes, while fans might think it’s unreasonable for the 33rd-place driver to launch himself into the playoffs with a single win — much as Burton did while sitting 34th in the standings last year — it’s also a major reason why van Gisbergen is in the car at all.

There’s nothing fluky about a road course ace winning on the type of circuit that makes up nearly a fifth of the regular-season schedule; ultimately, van Gisbergen did exactly what he was expected to do all along.

Suárez’s homecoming

Maybe it will get lost in the annals of NASCAR history because it was an Xfinity Series race and not a Cup race, but Daniel Suárez’s win on Saturday was one of the sport’s most storybook moments in recent memory.

NASCAR hasn’t had too many high-profile, sentimental moments of late, which is one reason why the same ones continue to be shown and discussed time and again (the 2001 Pepsi 400, for example, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the first race at Daytona International Speedway after the death of his father in that year’s Daytona 500).

But we shouldn’t let this weekend pass without looking back on what Suárez accomplished. After all, just getting to this point — with NASCAR traveling to his home country — was made much easier by his presence.

Suárez entered both the Cup race and Xfinity race and gave his countrymen a reason to be excited. He tirelessly promoted the race and took on the pressure of being the face of the event — all while playing host to his American NASCAR family (he even sent media members a list of his favorite Mexico City restaurants to ensure they had a positive experience).

But then in an unforced error in Xfinity Series qualifying on Saturday, he crashed his JR Motorsports car into a barrier and destroyed it. Suárez had to start in last place, in a backup car with no laps on it, and his chances of even a top 10 finish seemed unlikely on a road course.

Except Suárez steadily made his way through the field and his team made the right strategy calls, suddenly putting him in position for an incredible victory. As he held off Taylor Gray in the final laps, the noise of the crowd could be heard over the engines — a rare occurrence in the world of throaty stock car racing.

Suárez triumphantly climbed atop his car in the middle of a converted baseball stadium, turning to all three sides of the grandstands to salute the frenzied crowd. It was the sort of moment that NASCAR needs every now and again to remind people of racing’s magic.

Carson, again

Another week, another Carson Hocevar controversy. Or three.

The most notable this week was another run-in with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in which Hocevar accidentally took out Stenhouse while running one lap down; in-car camera audio then captured a confrontation after the race in which Stenhouse vowed to beat up Hocevar when they returned to the United States — lest he risk ending up in a Mexican jail with an assault charge.

Of all people Hocevar could have made contact with, Stenhouse was the least ideal. Their run-in two weeks ago at Nashville seemed somewhat forgiven as long as Hocevar didn’t do it again, and Stenhouse said last week at Michigan he was willing to focus on racing instead of getting into a tit-for-tat while both drivers attempted to make the playoffs.

Then Hocevar ran into him again, and Stenhouse — who has already shown a proclivity to defend himself — is unlikely to let it go this time.

Meanwhile, Hocevar also caused a race-altering caution flag when he spun and was apparently unable to re-fire his car. After the No. 77 sat there stalled for what seemed like an eternity, NASCAR finally called a caution with the leaders approaching at speed — despite it being in the middle of a green-flag pit cycle.

That ruined the races of drivers like Ty Gibbs, who later said he was 10 seconds away from pitting and was seemingly the only driver who could hang with van Gisbergen. Gibbs felt he could have won the race if not for that caution but finished 11th instead.

NASCAR did not view Hocevar’s caution as intentional, but some in the garage did; he has a track record of trying to bring out the yellow flag, and thus is viewed with skepticism.

Finally, Hocevar made closed-minded comments about Mexico City during a Twitch stream at the start of the weekend — including calling the city a “s—hole.” He later regretted it, issuing an apology on social media after the race.

“Maybe a kid that had never been out of the country until Thursday should ever give an opinion about what any place is like other than Portage, Michigan,” Hocevar wrote. “When I answered that question on a stream, I was skeptical about the trip so far and believed everything I read or heard about Mexico City from people who more than likely also had never been here.

“Now that I’ve actually left my hotel a couple times and raced here in front of some of the most passionate fans I’ve ever seen, my opinion has changed. I am embarrassed by my comments, by the race I ran, and I may have to move here to hide out from Ricky anyway.”

He concluded: “Count this as another lesson for me in a season I’ve learned so much. Don’t believe everything you hear without seeing it yourself. If anyone should give anyone or any place the benefit of the doubt it’s me. I’m sorry Mexico City. Consider me an ally going forward and an example of getting off Twitch and seeing things with my own two eyes.”

A taste of culture

Of all the various cultural observations I heard this weekend, Bubba Wallace’s thoughts on hot sauce resonated the most with my experience.

Wallace noted that in Mexico City, similar to some restaurants in the United States, a waiter will bring a few sauces with the meal and describe their degree of heat. One end will be the hottest, the other end will be the mildest.

Except in Mexico, the “hot” was really not that hot compared to what we have in America. They were much tastier than the burn-your-face-off, five-alarm fire heat that results in immediately chugging water.

“When you get home, ours is stupid hot — no flavor, nothing at all,” Wallace said. “Their hottest one has a decent kick to it, but it has a tremendous amount of flavor to go with it. They are doing it right down here. I think we are just looking for who can be in the most pain in the States.”