March 2

The call to start the race may be in a different language, but the goal – to win – is universal.

Instead of “Drivers, start your engines,” the starting field in Sunday’s NASCAR Busch Series Telcel MOTOROLA Mexico 200 presented by Banamex will hear “Pilotos, enciendan sus motores,” signaling the start of the first points race held outside the United States for the series.

Fast facts What: Telcel MOTOROLA Mexico 200 presented by Banamex (Race No. 3 of 35 in the NASCAR Busch Series). Where: Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico. When: 3:10 p.m. ET, Sunday, March 6. Track Layout: 2.518-mile road course. Race Length: 201.44 miles/80 laps. Posted Awards: $2,308,347 TV: FOX, 3 p.m., ET. Radio: MRN, XM Satellite.

Drivers will be vying for a purse in excess of $2.3 million, second only to the awards at Daytona International Speedway.

The event has grown from its initial announcement last August 5 to an entry list of 50 drivers – 10 from Mexico, including open-wheel star Adrian Fernandez.

Included in the group from Mexico is Mara Reyes, who will drive the No. 49 Advil Ford. Reyes will be one of three females in the field, joining Shawna Robinson and Kim Crosby.

Robinson has experience here, she raced Semi Trucks in the Great American Truck Racing Series at AHR in 1987. She finished third in the event, and pioneered a series rule change as her crew made special modifications to her truck including a different transmission for the road course and cutting the third axle off the rear of the truck to improve handling. The axle change was later adopted into the series rules.

“It was an incredible experience,” Robinson said of her previous trip to Mexico City. “We did a ton of appearances all around the city and the fans were great. Everyone down there was so into racing. We really got the royal treatment and everything was done in a completely professional manner. From driver appearances to working at the track, you couldn’t have asked for a better venue. I can only imagine what it will be like now to be coming in as part of NASCAR. It will be totally unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before and I can’t wait to get there.”

Drivers, teams, owners, sponsors, media and NASCAR officials and administrators numbering over 1,300 will be making the trip to Mexico City for the event. Following the California race last week, more than 80 team and officials haulers staged in Laredo, Texas, and formed a convoy to Mexico City.

The excitement surrounding the race is evident in one of the world’s largest cities where motorsports is a passion among a population that exceeds 20 million.

“Mexico has a long tradition in motorsports, and we are thrilled that NASCAR is now a part of it,” NASCAR Chairman/CEO Brian France said. “This event provides our NASCAR Busch Series teams the opportunity to perform on an international stage. We look forward to providing this event for our growing Mexican fan base.”

In addition to Fernandez and Michel Jourdain, Jr., the former Champ Car star who is now running the full NASCAR Busch Series season with ppc Racing, five fulltime NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers and two road course specialists with NASCAR Nextel Cup experience – Boris Said and Ron Fellows are also in the field to challenge the talented NASCAR Busch Series driver lineup.

“I really don't have much road course experience, but I think it is great that NASCAR put a road course race on the schedule,” said reigning NASCAR Busch Series champion Martin Truex Jr. “Everyone is going into this race a little on the blind side; none of the drivers have ever driven a stock car on this track, so it will be a level playing field. It is going to be a lot of fun."

Among those tackling the 80-lap, 201-mile challenge on the Autodromo's 2.5-mile course will be Robby Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Jamie McMurray , Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Elliott Sadler.

Gordon said Tuesday he has primary sponsorships for his own Robby Gordon Motorsports team for all 36 Nextel Cup races, and he'll announce a sponsor in Mexico for the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Gordon is especially excited about the Mexico event because he won two Nextel Cup road races two seasons ago for Richard Childress Racing; and he's also had several successes in off-road events on Mexico's Baja Peninsula.

"I'm pretty excited about it (because) I think it's a good marketplace for us," Gordon said. "From what I've heard from my friends that have raced there with open wheel cars, the fans there are pretty cool.

"From what I've been hearing from friends down there, the buzz is obviously the NASCAR Busch race down there this weekend."

Gordon did say he would park his Busch car after Mexico to concentrate on his Cup deal.

"I'm pretty happy about my Busch program," Gordon said. "We were fifth at Daytona (and) I think we'll be good when we go down to Mexico City.

"We're not going to bring the Busch car back out for a while. Our efforts have been focused strictly on getting the Nextel Cup team competitive (and) doing whatever that takes to make that happen."

McMurray said that sports car champion Scott Pruett tested his car last week and McMurray has his Nextel Cup crew, led by crew chief Donnie Wingo, providing service.

"I'm pretty sure all of them are going down," McMurray said. "They went in and told the guys they didn't have to go, but they gave my team first choice (and) I think every single one of them signed up to go."

Despite scheduling the race, NASCAR officials have gone out of their way to caution competitors and media about straying away from "the group" while in Mexico. The sanctioning body has also organized group hotels, secured mass transit with armed guards and a hauler convoy to get the teams' equipment to Mexico City en masse.

Despite the careful preparations, McMurray has no qualms about the trip.

"It's going to be a lot of fun for us," said McMurray. "(The Busch race) won't be as stressful as a typical race weekend and it's going to be fun."

McMurray's situation is a little different than a lot of competitors are going to face. He's flying to Mexico on a Bombardier jet with Rusty Wallace, whose sponsor for the race -- Bell Helicopter -- is providing chopper transport "anywhere we need to go" while in Mexico City.

McMurray did say he was going to stick with the assigned protocol, however.

"I don't really know if it's dangerous or it's not (but) I'm really not worried about it," McMurray said. "I've been told to use some common sense. I'm going to stick with the crowd.

"I'm not 100 percent sure on this, but I believe NASCAR has got some security for us while we're there (but) I'm just going to hang out with the group of guys I'm going with and not venture out on my own -- I'm really not all that worried about sight-seeing."

McMurray said that aspect was no different from racing in the United States.

"Obviously when we go to the races we go to race," McMurray said. "We don't go sight-seeing when we go anywhere else, so I don't see that being something we're going to do."

Gordon said anyone going to the Mexico City race might be short changing themselves if they take that tack. However, Gordon admitted he has been racing in Mexico for nearly 20 years and therefore might have an edge in local knowledge.

"I just hope they get the opportunity to enjoy it," Gordon said. "I've really, really enjoyed myself every time I've been down there (but) the key is to keep it all in perspective -- the key is to know where you're at and what your consequences may be.

"Obviously, I've had friends of mine that have got in trouble in Mexico before (and) you don't want to get in trouble down there. The rules are still the rules -- they still have speed limits.

"When you have a language barrier like we have, being a U.S. citizen, going to Mexico, not speaking fluent Spanish -- that can be a big issue (but) I must say, for 20 years I've never had one issue down in Mexico."

Unlike McMurray, Gordon can compare the Mexico experience to racing in Japan, which NASCAR did for four years at the end of the 1990s, -- three times with Cup exhibition races and once with a Winston West points race.

"I think this experience down in Mexico City will be a lot easier than the experience of going to Japan where we're shipping cars and stuff like that," Gordon said. "We'll still have our transporters to work out of (in Mexico).

"Organization and preparation are going to be key for this event. I don't know if there's going to be a Hutch truck (Hutcherson-Pagan, a race team supplier that has a parts truck at every domestic Cup, Busch and Truck Series event) or a parts truck there that you can just go grab parts off of.

"We also have the luxury of either UPS or FedEx to have parts shipped in if you happen to forget something at home."

Over 60,000 fans are expected to be in the grandstands for the 80-lap event that will cover just over 200 miles on the reconfigured 2.518-mile course – the first road-course event for the NASCAR Busch Series since Watkins Glen in 2001. The series will return to The Glen once again in August.

New Stars on Rise South of Border
by Beth Tuschak
Cup Scene Daily, March 2

When Rusty Wallace, Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon are introduced Sunday in Mexico City, they’ll no doubt be met with the applause their racing status and name recognition duly merits.

When Michel Jourdain Jr., Adrian Fernandez, Carlos Contreras and Jorge Goeters take the stage, however, the vocal fireworks for these native sons are likely to ricochet from Chicago to Daytona Beach.

Adrian Fernandez was on the pole in the CART Grand Prix Americas race at Miami in 2003 (Chuck Fadely/Miami Herald)

With star status in Mexico for their open-wheel exploits, the return of Jourdain and Fernandez to their home country has been eagerly awaited since NASCAR first announced the series’ inaugural south of the border event.

“It’s going to be huge. NASCAR is so big in the (U.S.), and the press has been following it in Mexico the last couple of years more and more,” says Jourdain, who enters the event off a pair of 25th-place finishes at Daytona and California. “It’s going to be one of the biggest races of the year for the Series and for the track. And it’s going to be the biggest race of the year in Mexico.”

Even without turning a lap, 1994 Busch Series champion David Green -- who earlier this year accompanied Jourdain on a goodwill tour of the track -- said the response to the duo’s appearance was beyond expectations.

“The excitement level was out of the roof,” said Green, 10th in the Busch point standings entering the Series’ third event. “I can only compare it to what we see at the (season-opener) at Daytona.”

While the 2.786-mile road course with its eight turns is the first permanent track in Mexico to stage a Busch Series race, this isn’t the first time a group of NASCAR regulars have traveled south for competition. In 1950, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. teamed with Curtis Turner to drive in the first Mexican-American road race, a 2,178-mile showdown from El Paso, Texas and across Mexico to Guatemala. Also participating: Bob Flock, Raymond Parks and Red Byron.

For Green, traveling to Mexico City to compete is beyond anything he envisioned when he began his racing career on tracks in South Boston, Va., and Hickory, N.C. With the Autodromo and the city having done everything possible to ensure the drivers are oriented are comfortable, Green says he expects some Busch Series regulars are in for a surprise when it comes to spectator reaction.

“These fans don’t categorize the drivers like in the United States,” offers Green.

“At Daytona, most of the (Busch) regulars walk through the garage unnoticed, but any (Cup) drivers come through and the world stops. I say that positively, but (in Mexico) I think it’s going to be an even slate. Obviously Adrian, Michel and all the Mexican drivers will get a certain amount, but as far as the (Cup) drivers participating, it’s going to be even. Expect us Busch guys to flex our muscles a little bit.”

As popular as he will be with the home crowd, Jourdain predicts it will be Fernandez who will garner the lion’s share of attention.

“Adrian has been on the top of the motorsports world for almost 15 years; he’s been on the covers (of magazines) and in the news all the time,” said Jourdain. “It’s (usually) a soccer player and a couple of boxers that have had that kind of coverage. Adrian is huge, and compared with a lot of the other big names in sports in the history of Mexico, he’s tried to be closer to the people and has kept himself in a good position. Now, everybody will see how good he is.”

While the trip from California to Mexico City and then on to Las Vegas is sure to be exhausting, Green sees NASCAR’s foray into the Hispanic-based territory as a win-win proposition.

“When NASCAR added Mexico City to the schedule, it caught the attention of some drivers who hadn’t thought about racing in the Busch Series,” says Green. “What’s happening is that by coming someplace like this, guys like Michel and Adrian and my teammate (Goeters) are getting the opportunity that we got years ago at places like the Nashville Fairgrounds.

“For me, I see it as an excellent opportunity to race with some of the best drivers in the world we would never have had a chance to see in a great new atmosphere with 25 million people. It’s going to be very exciting.”