Kevin Harvick presses on "need to be cautious" for NASCAR ahead of Mexico outing

Kevin Harvick recently shared his blunt take on NASCAR's potentially seeking more international stops. The Cup Series is all set to cross the US borders for the first time since 1998 with the upcoming weekend in Mexico City.

This was a subject of discussion during a recent episode of the Happy Hour podcast. The show's co-host Mamba Smith mentioned that NASCAR should explore a stop in Australia or in Brazil now that they're going forward with Mexico.

However, Kevin Harvick was of the opinion that NASCAR shouldn't take major leaps in this regard. Instead, he believed that the sport should focus on the markets closer to the US.

"I think we need to be cautious about getting too far away before taking care of our own. Let's just stay in North America for now," Harvick said. [31:05]

He admitted that NASCAR needs an international flare, adding that they should race in Canada. Harvick wondered why racing in Canada and sending trucks and haulers across the North border is tough.

Further in their conversation, Kevin Harvick spoke about the pressure that would be on the home star, Daniel Suarez this weekend. The Trackhouse Racing driver, who is originally from Mexico, would be racing as a Cup driver for the first time in front of his home fans.

"When I went there and Adrien Fernandez was there I mean it was a whole country whistling screaming and he was this just rockstar that that was there racing. I would assume that's maybe, not to that level for Suarez, but probably pretty high level of popularity in the city this week," Harvick said. [31:30]

He added that Suarez would have a lot of pressure to go out there and perform.

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Kevin Harvick recalls the time he had to pay a bribe in Mexico to get his haulers across

During his podcast, Kevin Harvick recalled the time he went racing in Mexico and had to bribe people to get his haulers across.

The former Stewart Haas Racing driver said he went to Mexico in 2024 with KHI and found themselves in a situation where their haulers weren't allowed to cross the border.

"We couldn't get it across the Mexican border. So we had to bribe the UPS. We had to bribe UPS to get our truck back across the border because they were going to keep it. We had to pay them cash, the Mexican side of the UPS. They wouldn't let the truck cross the border until a certain amount of money was handed," Harvick recalled. [28:40]

With that said, it'll be interesting to see how NASCAR's outing in Mexico ends up faring for the sport and whether it could open up more international doors for the series in future.