What are the track limit rules for NASCAR’s Mexico City race?

NASCAR's Mexico City race comes with strict track limit rules designed for the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit's new road course configuration. Officials have laid out clear guidelines that hand out stop-and-go penalties for drivers 'shortcutting' the course.

Sunday's Viva Mexico 250 tackles a 14-turn track layout over the usual 17-turn F1 Grand Prix setup. Having said that, drivers are new to the 100-lap affair and have been instructed to keep all four wheels inside the red and white rumble strips. Any detraction from these boundaries will be considered as cutting a corner, and will warrant a stop-and-go penalty on the inside of turn eight.

If a driver were to miss out on serving the penalty, a pit-lane pass through penalty will be enforced as an alternative. Additionally, if the violation occurs during the end of a stage or the checkered flag, and the driver doesn't serve the penalty in time, a 30-second time penalty will be added to their final result.

FOX analyst Bob Pockrass shared a video explaining the regulations on his X handle.

NASCAR's track limit violations have become a point of contention of late. Earlier this season at the Circuit of The Americas, the governing body enforced aggressive track limit rules that disallowed over 40 laps in practice and qualifying. Moreover, six drivers received stop-and-go penalties, an increase of two from last year's tally. In comparison, only seven course cutting penalties were handed out across five road courses during the entire 2024 season.

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NASCAR makes exemptions for teams late to arrive at Mexico City

On Thursday, June 12, most drivers and teams were supposed to arrive at Mexico City for NASCAR's inaugural Cup race outside the U.S. However, mechanical issues plagued the teams' departure from Charlotte, North Carolina, resulting in delayed arrivals for some, while others awaited replacement aircraft. Hometown favorite Daniel Suárez was an unfortunate victim of the disruptions, as only five crew members from his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing team managed to arrive on Friday.

AP Sports' Jenna Fryer took to X and shared an update on the issue, writing,

"The comms director for Trackhouse Racing is on his way to help unload the car because several teams were stranded in CLT ystdy and aren’t here yet. Asked NASCAR how many teams were affected and got the transparent answer of 'a select few'."

Jenna Fryer

@JennaFryer

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"The comms director for Trackhouse Racing is on his way to help unload the car because several teams were stranded in CLT ystdy and aren’t here yet. Asked NASCAR how many teams were affected and got the transparent answer of 'a select few'."

The travel snag forced NASCAR to change it's schedule for the weekend.

"Hearing NASCAR may be moving both practices to Saturday due to the logistical hurdles," Matt Weaver wrote.

Matt Weaver

@MattWeaverRA

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Hearing NASCAR may be moving both practices to Saturday due to the logistical hurdles

The new schedule saw the Xfinity Series' practice session shifted to Saturday with a single 50-minute drive, while the Cup Series sessions were moved up to 4:05 ET and 5:30 ET, with Qualifying set for 2:05 ET. Sunday's race remains unaffected, with Prime Video scheduled to air the Viva Mexico 250 on 3 PM ET.