NASCAR teams make Michigan to Texas to Mexico logistic plans
Today at 01:51 PM
NASCAR Cup Series teams will be traveling from Michigan to Mexico City in June. It is one part of a logistics puzzle the industry will work through as NASCAR contests an international Cup Series point race for the first time in over 60 years.
Michigan will run on June 8, and the Mexico City event will take place the following week, June 15. And the week after Mexico, the series heads to the northeast and Pocono Raceway.
Mexico’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is a 17-turn road course. It is 2.674 miles long.
"I think the biggest challenge for us is thinking about logistically, how we get from location to location," said NASCAR senior vp of racing development and strategy Ben Kennedy. "So, how do we get from Michigan down to Laredo, Texas, and make sure everyone can convert their inventory over to be able to go down to Mexico City? And then get back to Charlotte (North Carolina) afterward. It's been a lot of logistical planning, certainly with Rodrigo and the OCESA team, but then a lot of our internal folks to make sure for both our Xfinity Series and Cup Series, we're getting from the location before down to Laredo, Texas, and begin that convoy.
"I'd say the planning has been really good so far. I think the good news is we have a little bit of a playbook from when we brought the Xfinity Series there about 15 years ago. So, we have some things we can look at, and then (they) have the playbook with Formula 1, too."
There will be a predetermined location in Texas for teams to use to park and swap out inventory. Kennedy predicts the Xfinity Series haulers will likely need to be there Monday and the Cup Series haulers Tuesday to begin the process. Friday is the unloading day at the track in Mexico.
Mexico City will host both the Xfinity Series and Cup Series in June. The last time the Xfinity Series raced in Mexico was in 2008.
Formula 1 makes an annual trip to Mexico. Sanchez, the director of marketing, media, and PR at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, said hosting F1 and NASCAR are comparable in size and magnitude.
"We've been working closely, our operations team and the race operations team, to obviously get down there safely and in time and then back out for the next event," Sanchez said. "That alone is a big, big piece."
Rock-It-Cargo will help transport equipment. The company has handled logistics for some of the most significant events around the world, such as Taylor Swift's tours, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) ‘s visit to Saudi Arabia, and multiple Olympic games. It also works with F1 for its international races.
"We've been using them for the last 10 years," Sanchez said. "They're very experienced in logistics, security, and all that stuff. So, we don't foresee any issues, and I think obviously they have all the experience and contacts in the world. For F1, we do it similarly. F1, the essential cargo comes by air, which is eight planes, but we have to move 200 sea containers from basically Veracruz to Mexico City. So, that part is comparable to what we're doing with NASCAR."
The circuit held a media event today to coincide with tickets going on sale. Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez attended. The expectation is that it will be close to a sellout event. There were over 40,000 fans who pre-registered for tickets.
"The interest, just in the U.S., has been off the charts," Sanchez said. "I would know exactly until we go on sale, but I think it's going to have a big national demand."
