The NASCAR Cup Series consisting of Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in the 2025 season schedule is an amazing relocation for the sport, which has actually been promoting a worldwide Cup race for a long time. Cup automobiles have not raced beyond the United States in over 25 years, and not in a points-paying champion occasion given that 1958.
Prior to the Mexico City choice and statement, the series had actually likewise been thinking about a date at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada and showcased aspirations for broadening into Brazil. And it appears other areas and nations are revealing interest in hosting, or have a worldwide series of their own. We reported just recently that the city of Sao Paulo has an interest in hosting the 2026 Clash, and Daniel Suarez himself simply raced (and won) in a NASCAR Brazil Series occasion at Interlagos.
Suarez is however one example of the couple of global motorists who have actually won on top level of the sport– and the list of worldwide races is even much shorter. Here are the couple of locations NASCAR's handled to get its passport marked and go racing.
1952 Unnamed 100-mile occasion – Stamford Park – Niagara Falls, Canada
The very first Cup race beyond the United States happened on July 1st, 1952. The Ontario half-mile dirt track had actually been around because 1923, however closed one year after the Cup Series checked out. Referred to as a ‘automobile killer,' it measured up to its name versus the early leaders of NASCAR. Paying an admission of one dollar for grownups and 50 cents for kids, viewers seen on as just 3 of the 17 beginners made it to the goal in the 200-lap race. Pal Sherman made his '52 Hudson last, balancing a speed of 45.610 miles per hour and winning by 2 laps over NASCAR Hall of Famer Herb Thomas. It was Sherman's only success in the Cup Series.
Image by: FIA World Rallycross
1958 Jim Mideon 500 – Exhibition Stadium – Toronto, Canada
On July 18th, 1958, NASCAR went back to Canada to race inside the now destroyed Canadian National Exhibition Stadium, contending on a 0.333-mile asphalt oval that had a striking similarity to Bowman Gray Stadium. Lee Petty would take triumph, leading 29 of 100 laps in a race that just lasted 46 minutes.
The most crucial story of this race might not be who won, however who made their launching. The 21-year-old boy of Lee Petty made his very first of 1,184 starts in NASCAR's last points-paying Cup race beyond the United States. The future ‘King' of NASCAR was trashed out of the occasion when he obstructed of the fastest male in the field– his daddy.
Race winner Lee Petty
Image by: NASCAR Media
1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500 – Calder Park Thunderdome – Melbourne, Australia
Thirty years after the last Cup race on worldwide soil, the sport made the vibrant action to host a non-points race on the other side of the world.
