Jeff Gordon explains why NASCAR’s schedule involving the Mexico City race ‘can’t happen’ again

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon is all for NASCAR hosting races outside of the US. However, Mexico might not return to the sport’s 2026 schedule.

The former series champion explained the reason during a recent interview at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, a 2.674-mile racetrack in Mexico City that hosted Sunday’s Cup race. He thinks flying from Michigan the week before to Mexico City and then to Pocono the following week isn’t quite feasible for the series as well as the drivers.

“Listen, I wanna go everywhere in the world that I think NASCAR could make an impact, whether be England , Germany, South America, Australia; you name it, we can go through the list,” Gordon explained (4:50 onwards). “Obviously, the next thing on everybody's mind seems to be stay somewhere close to the US, which means Canada, I think that makes sense. But we have to figure out the schedule before we do too much of this.”

“We can't do this...Michigan, Mexico City... back to Pocono can't happen. We're doing it and we're excited to take on the challenge as a team, but it's gonna wear. I don't think we can do it back-to-back,” he added.

It was the first Cup race held outside of the US since 1958. Former Australian Supercars driver Shane van Gisbergen was crowned the winner, marking his second career win in the NASCAR Cup Series. He is now in the playoffs alongside his teammate Ross Chastain.

All eyes are now on Pocono Raceway, also known as the Tricky Triangle by the NASCAR aficionados. Named The Great American Getaway 400, the 160-lap event is scheduled for this coming Sunday, June 22. Fans can watch the race from 2 pm ET onwards on Prime Video or listen to its live radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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Jeff Gordon weighs in on NASCAR’s popular horsepower debate

There have been demands from several drivers and teams to increase the horsepower on the NextGen car in the past. It could allow passing more often, and help with the overall balance of the cars. But Jeff Gordon sees things differently.

Recently, on the Barstool Sports podcast, the HMS executive addressed the matter, saying,

“If we thought as a team adding horsepower, adding softer tires, was going to be the fix-all ... it's not. Adding horsepower I think, at certain tracks like the mile tracks and half-mile tracks, I like -- I think we’re too glued to the race track right now.”

"Adding as much power as I think maybe it takes would do two things: number one, cost, I hate bringing up cost but we’re talking about components that won’t last. Not just in the engine. So that’s one,” Jeff Gordon explained.

Cranking up the power could make the cars harder to drive, Jeff Gordon further added. Some drivers might want to face more challenges that way, but it would not necessarily guarantee a better race overall.