Groovy Hollow Recap
NASCAR headed down to Mexico City this past weekend for the first international points-paying Cup Series race since 1958. This weekend saw emotional moments, lots of hype, and a handful of storylines. So, who are the biggest losers from NASCAR’s weekend at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez?
We start with anyone questioning the validity of Daniel Suarez’s spectacular drive from Saturday afternoon. After crashing out of practice, not qualifying, and starting via provisional in a backup car, Suarez went from worst to first and drove away to his first Xfinity Series win since 2016.
Unfortunately, with a Mexican driver winning in NASCAR’s return to Mexico, a small crowd claimed that the race was rigged for Suarez to walk away with the win. Of course, this is not the case whatsoever. If anything assisted Suarez to his win Saturday, it was the ever-growing chaos of the Xfinity Series, which created a game-changing 13-car crash on lap 47.
Ty Gibbs has not found victory lane since his 2023 win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Since then, the 22-year-old continues to fall short of the lofty expectations set by his short-time racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2021 and 2022. But this past weekend, the young driver had a chance to sweep the weekend.
Gibbs qualified second for the Xfinity Series race and started fourth for the Cup Series race. He led 18 laps in the Xfinity Series race and 27 in the Cup Series race but walked away with nothing to show for it. Though he is racing better than he was at the start of the season, Gibbs is still 0 for 103 in the Cup Series. As the heir to Kyle Busch, the pressure has always been applied to Gibbs, but every week he does not win a race, this pressure only continues to mount.
We move from one Monster Energy driver to another. Riley Herbst finally scored his promotion to the NASCAR Cup Series this offseason. After years of medaling in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Herbst moved to the Cup Series as part of an expansion effort for 23XI Racing. Though most expected Herbst to struggle in the Cup Series, no one could have predicted his results so far this year. After everything 23XI went through to get Herbst his charter, this season has been an absolute failure.
As the two Rookie of the Year candidates, Herbst and Shane van Gisbergen, have flopped around the bottom of the standings for the majority of the season. Now, Herbst stands alone after SVG’s win pushes him into the playoffs and perhaps closer to Rookie of the Year honors. Now, only one driver remains behind Herbst in full-time standings, Cody Ware, who is hands down the least qualified and accomplished driver in the Cup Series.
Noah’s addition to our list is not his fault; rather, it’s a combination of issues the 26-year-old dealt with throughout the weekend. After crashing on Friday, Noah and his Front Row Motorsports team worked late into the evening to get the No. 4 ready for the main event on Sunday. The team started yesterday’s race a season-worst 35th and would only bring the car home five spots better in 30th.
Yet, the car was just one issue that Gragson dealt with this weekend. Sunday morning, like other drivers such as Shane van Gisbergen, Gragson woke up feeling under the weather. He posted on his Instagram story, “Don’t drink the tap water.” To add insult to injury, he revealed he was also wearing a white driver’s suit. The only question that remains is whether he helped the team clean the car after the race, much like he helped them fix it after his crash on Friday.
Out of all the whining and complaining we saw online this weekend about NASCAR taking a race to another country, by far, the worst group of fans were those upset that we weren’t at Richmond. Alongside declining attendance, the quality of racing at Richmond has declined in the Gen Seven era. NASCAR took one of Richmond’s longstanding dates away for the race in Mexico City, and some fans were unhappy about this change in tradition.
While it is a shame that a track like Richmond has had such a tremendous fall in spectacle, quality of racing, and overall excitement, NASCAR made the right move. The race was about as exciting as a Next Gen race at Richmond, but the fan engagement was there. This weekend, NASCAR drivers were superstars again, and some fans got to see their favorite drivers for the first time. If gaining this exposure means Richmond loses a race date, NASCAR would likely make that trade again.
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