Kyle Larson shares international NASCAR vision | Sports News

Kyle Larson has a huge vision for NASCAR following the Viva Mexico 250 in Mexico City, with the Hendrick Motorsports star suggesting the Cup Series ought to develop its horizons within the coming years.

The first points-scoring Cup Series race held on international soil since 1958, the Viva Mexico 250 proved difficult at occasions, with two flights ferrying drivers and crew members grounded attributable to mechanical points, whereas many of the drivers had been sick during the journey.

Despite these velocity humps and the truth that he wound up ending thirty sixth attributable to an early race wreck involving Kyle Busch, Larson seems to be back on the weekend fondly. Unfortunately for Larson, it seems unlikely Mexico City will characteristic on the Cup Series calendar in 2026, in keeping with The Athletic, with a return south of the border doable in 2027.

“I really enjoyed it. And it’s so different,” the 33-year-old defined on Julian Edelman’s Games With Names podcast. “So, like on a typical weekend for us, most all the drivers we have our own motor homes that we keep at the racetrack, and we sleep in whatever we kind of just lock ourselves in. You only come out to do your practice or qualifying race, whatever.

“Whereas going to Mexico City, it was completely different. Teams were chartering big planes and like, I think Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Penske were all in the same plane. So like traveling with other teams would be unique.

“And then for me, like all the drivers were at like a hotel together, sitting there, all hanging out, like sitting at the bar, hanging out, having a good time, going to dinner with each other. So that was unique.

“And then also racing in front of a different fan base was pretty cool. Probably raced in front of a lot of fans that I’ve never raced in front of before in my life. So it was really cool.”

While Larson did later admit that “the traffic sucks in Mexico City,” it appears the general expertise has left him wanting more. The 2021 Cup Series champion instructed a return to Montreal, Canada for NASCAR may “be fun,” noting how “everybody talks about how that was like a blast, like going out in Montreal and the fans there are crazy.”

NASCAR’s prime three sequence have long-standing ties with Canada, with the Cup having first raced north of the border in 1952 at Niagara Falls, adopted by Toronto in 1958, with Montreal becoming a member of the combination in 2007 on a yearly foundation within the Xfinity Series by way of 2012. Bowmanville later held an annual Truck Series race between 2013 and 2019.

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Larson additionally proposed heading to Australia or New Zealand, having competed in filth observe races there earlier in his profession, calling the followers there “incredible.”

“So I’d like to go to like Australia and do it in Cup, but then I think going to a European country would be pretty sweet,” he added. “I just don’t know how well we would be received, you know, American auto racing.”

While New Zealand is but to host a NASCAR race, in 1988, the Cup Series did journey to Australia for the Goodyear NASCAR 500 – a one-off exhibition race. As for Europe, none of the highest sequence has but to make it throughout the pond, though the NASCAR Euro Series has been contested yearly since 2009, with races held in Italy, Czechia, Croatia, England, France, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany.