Denny Hamlin Exposes Why NASCAR Isn’t Going Back to Mexico in 2026

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran Denny Hamlin has shared his thoughts on why NASCAR has decided not to return to Mexico City.

Denny Hamlin Exposes Why NASCAR Isn’t Going Back to Mexico in 2026

Denny Hamlin is disappointed with Mexico City drop (Via IMAGO and @NASCAR_Xfinity/X)

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Mexico City hosted its maiden NASCAR Cup Series race, marked the sports return to the international market, this season. In terms of entrainment race product and fan engagement, the event was a major success. But they sport decided to not host a race at the venue in 2025 and JGR veteran Denny Hamlin knows exactly why the decision was made.

In the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin declared that NASCAR decided to not go to Mexico due to the financial factor. He asserted that the series owners might have not got the bids they expected for the event and hence made the call to switch the event to a different venue for another season.

No tacos for me, bummer. Usually this stuff all comes down to money, let’s be honest. Maybe someone’s bid isn’t what it needed to be or they didn’t sell as many tickets and so the return from that wasn’t enough. It’s always money…It (attendane) certainly sounded like it wasn’t what they expected…Decisions are always made by money and more than likely this is a money thing.

Denny Hamlin said via Actions Detrimental podcast.

It’s really disappointing that the NASCAR garage is going to miss the chance to race in front of one of the most passionate racing fans in the world again, due to financial reason. But at the same time, if there is no financial upside, the leadership shouldn’t be wasting its resources on international races as there are other venues they could explore in the USA or in international market.

In the same conversation, Hamlin explained how challenging the whole international trip was for everyone involved in the sport. He pointed out the whole logistics of the event was a tough task to manage and there were other major challenges as well. Many drivers and crew members got sick during and after the trip, affecting their chances in the race.

I can tell you from the team standpoint, we are like wiping our forehead. Mexico was very, very challenging logistically. Very, very tough on our race teams to repair cars a week to 10 days in advance. Just a tremendous task. Not only the task of that, but the task it had on everyone’s stomach when they got back home. There were a lot of sick people, lots.

Denny Hamlin added.

Denny Hamlin slams NASCAR over Iowa repave  

In the same podcast, Denny Hamlin had another criticism of NASCAR, this time regarding the Cup Series race last Sunday at Iowa. He was one of the many drivers that was disappointed with the repaving of the track. The repave was done for a narrow part of the track, this limited racing to few lanes, they should have repaved the whole track or kept the old pavement.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin (Via newsminimalist.com)

The way they paved the track, it just makes it so fricking narrow compared to the Iowa that we used to know. I think that they ought to look into paving the whole track to widen it out, because even in the Next Gen, it was just so fricking narrow. Couldn’t pass. It’s just so narrow that it’s hard to get out of the wake of the car in front of you.

Denny Hamlin said.

The racing was too narrow and with the Next-Gen car being poorly designed for running in traffic, the veteran driver has all the right to call out NASCAR. His teammate Chase Briscoe also made the same demand regarding pavement to the media in his post-race press conference after finishing P2. It will be intrusting to see how the sanctioning body is going respond to the drama.

Also Read: Denny Hamlin Blames Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott for Iowa Wreckfest