Short history of NASCAR Cup racing outside the United States

Decision to add Mexico City Cup race Autodromeo Harmanos Rodriguez for 2025 season NASCAR has a major step in plans for international expansion. It is also quite an undertaking, especially with about 80 hawkers at a distance of more than 2,000 miles from Michigan International Speedway to Mexico City.

In addition, the CUP series has not been outside the United States in 25 years, and this category has not held a point-paying championship program outside the US since 1958.

Prior to the announcement of Mexico City, the series was also considering a date at the Circuit Gills Villainuway in Montreal, Canada and in. The ambitions were shown to expand in Brazil.

Daniel Suarez is the top international driver of NASCAR, who win the race in the three national divisions as the 2016 NASCAR XFINITY Series Champion. But there are only a handful of international drivers who live at the top level of the game, and the list of international races is even less. There are some tracks outside the US where NASCAR has approved its passport:

1952 Unnamed 100 -Mile Event – Stamford Park – Niagra Falls, Canada

The first cup race outside the United States took place on 1 July 1952. Ontario half mile dirt track was almost since 1923, but closed a year after the tour of the cup series. Known as a ‘car killer’, he lived in his name against the earliest forearm of NASCAR. Paying an entry of one dollar for adults and 50 cents for children, the audience saw only three out of 17 beginnings, made it for the finish line in the 200-lap race. Buddy Sharman finalized his ’52 Hudson, which was an average of 45.610mph speed and won two laps over NASCAR Hall of Famer Herb Thomas. It was Sharman’s only win in the cup series.

1958 Jim Midon 500 – Exhibition Stadium – Toronto, Canada

On July 18, 1958, NASCAR returned to Canada to run inside the Demold Canadian National Exhibition Stadium in Canada, competing at 0.333-Meal Asphalt Oval, with a striking equality for Boman Gray Stadium. Lee Peti won, in one race of 29 of 100 laps which lasted for only 46 minutes.

However, the most important story of this race cannot be that won, but who made his debut. Lee Peti’s 21-year-old son-Richard Petty-Ne made his first 1,184, which begins in NASCAR’s final digit-paying cup race outside the United States. NASCAR’s future ‘King’ was out of the incident when he met the fastest man in the field – his father.

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

30 years after the last cup race on international earth, the game took bold steps to host a non-binds race on the other side of the planet. On February 28, 1988, NASCAR ventured beyond the continent of North America for the race in Australia. The 280-Lap race took place on the oval in Calleder Park Raceway with a 24-degree bank corners.

32 starters were several stars in Australia/New Zealand Motorsport World, including Bathst 1000 champions Dick Johnson, Jim Richards and Alan Gris. But this NASCAR was regular, dominating the phenomenon with Neel Bonton, which was occupying the flag just ahead of Bobby Elisen in 1-2 finish for the Alabama gang. The event built the NASCAR Australia Racing Division, which operated from 1989 to 2002.

In modern NASCAR, many drivers of ‘Down Under’ have made trek throughout the sea for the race in NASCAR, showing how the bond between the two remains strong. Both the Champions of the Supercarcs Division, Australian Marcos Ambrose and New Zosender Shane Van Gisbergen have become the winners at the top level of NASCAR.

1996 and 1997 NASCAR Thunder Special – Suzuka Circuit – Sujuka, Japan

In the next decade, NASCAR focused in Japan as its next destination for an exhibition race. After the completion of the 1996 season, the game approved a race on the East course layout of Suzuka Circuit on 24 November.

The interest around the incident was electric. This attracted Japanese racing stars such as ‘Drift King’ Keichi Tsuchia, as well as Hideo Fukuyama, Akihiko Nakaya, and Kazutearu Wakida. Rusty Wallace defeated Dale Arnhard for just one second, extending 84 out of 100 laps N routes to win.

Due to the success of the race, NASCAR returned to do all this again after a year. However, the rain became an issue for the sequel. The approved body broke the wet tire for a special event, and most of the NASCAR drivers of the field were about to get their first experience in the rain. Mike Skinner won the day, defeated Mark Martin by 3.7S.

These races served as an inspiration for future F1 driver and Le Mans 24 Champion Kamui Kobayashi, who were an audience there. In 2023, he fulfilled a lifetime dream when he finally started the NASCAR Cup.

1998 Coca -Cola 500 – Twin Ring Motge – Micken, Japan

For the third consecutive year, NASCAR returned to Japan on 22 November, but this time, he went to Oval Racing. Two years later in Suzuka, the race went on the Oval track in the twin ring motif for the 201-lap event.

31 drivers started a race in an area in which Dell Arnhard Senior and Dale Arnhard Jr. were seen competing against each other in cup cars for the first time. The race came down to a performance between Jeff Gordon and Mike Skinner. Gordon was fresh with his third cup title and ran the skinner down in the closing laps. He met all the way for his fellow Chevrolet driver’s right-rear, but did not meet the checker flag as well.

After japan

NASCAR’s three -year use in Japan was over and while many people thought that it was something, it came to an end. Cup cars have not raced outside the US since that day in November, about 27 years ago.

In the following years, the Xfinity series ran in Mexico City and Montreal. The truck chain traveled to the north for a program at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. NASCAR has since formed the International Stock Car Racing Divisions in Mexico, Brazil and even Europe. In 2016, the first foreign-birth driver of the game won a national level title when Suarez became the champion of the Xfinity series. New Zosender Shane Van Gisbergen made history as the first driver in 60+ years when he won the 2023 cup race in the Chicago Street Course. And in Watkins Glenn in 2022, the series set a record for countries represented in the single cup race with seven total seven.

NASCAR is getting closer to an international race in recent years and the powers that have shown renewed interested in global expansion. When the cup chain runs in Mexico at the end of this week, they will make history and hopefully mark the beginning of a new era of nascar racing in the country.