NASCAR announced on Tuesday that Mexico City will have a date on the 2025 Cup and Xfinity Series schedules. This move comes at the expense of a track with long-running ties to stock car racing.
"So Richmond will shift down to one date next year and be the donor venue for this," Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovation officer, said during a media session.
"We're still committed to Richmond, and it's an important track, important market, certainly as we think about where our NASCAR fans are today.
"You know, we've seen some exciting storylines certainly coming out of that track over the past few years, and excited to continue to be there next year to put on a great event for our fans, and put a lot of energy and kind of resources into that event."
The inaugural Cup race at Richmond was in 1953. Lee Petty won. The track was off the 1954 schedule but it returned in 1955. Richmond began hosting two races each season starting in 1959. The lone exception was in 2020 when Covid disrupted the NASCAR schedule.
Cup teams have competed at "The Action Track" 136 times since Petty's win, but they will only do so once next season with the addition of Mexico City.
Scaling Richmond back to only one date may not be a one-off move for 2025. According to Kennedy, this deal to race in Mexico City is for multiple years.
Regardless of length, this is a move that doesn't particularly surprise one Cup Series driver, someone who has won five times at the Virginia short track.
As Denny Hamlin explained, the in-person support just hasn't been enough in recent seasons to justify taking the series to Richmond twice each year. The track doesn't sell out on its two dates.
"I kind of understand NASCAR's decision because if the fans turned out here and we sold out every race, then there would be two races," Hamlin said on Aug. 10. "They're going to do things that the fans want to participate in.
"What's just crazy is that it's always one of our top five markets that watch us on TV, but (they) don't actually come to the racetrack itself. There are plenty of racing fans around here, but getting to the racetrack has been challenging in the past."