Putting together a race is more hectic and tedious than most would imagine. With hundreds of moving parts dependent on each other, it is pivotal that everything is synchronous.
Plus, if it is one of the biggest motorsports events in the world, the pressure is simply immense. While NASCAR has many decades of experience organizing races week after week in different parts of the country, hosting a race overseas is a whole other game.
After several decades, NASCAR is going outside the U.S. for a points race in its latest trip to Mexico. However, one of the biggest challenges in pulling it off was logistics.
While NASCAR and several associated with it have shed light on the behind-the-scenes of the Mexico City race, an insider recently explained the hauler logistics in detail.
Inside NASCAR’s Operation Mexico City
NASCAR began planning the race about a year ago and has since implemented its various stages. Just a week before the event, the Michigan contest was a big concern.
The looming threat of bad weather in the region looked fully capable of hindering NASCAR’s schedule. Although NASCAR had tied up with one of the best logistics companies, Rock-It Cargo, in case things went south, it would have been quite difficult for them to alter the schedule.
Thankfully, the Michigan race got wrapped up in time for the first lot to depart for the 40-hour journey to Mexico City.
NASCAR journalist Jordan Bianchi detailed the entire process of organizing the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, while shedding light on the logistics aspects of the race as well.
As soon as NASCAR signed the papers for its Mexico City adventure, Tom Bryant, the sport’s VP of Racing Operations, became one of the most critical personalities to run the whole operation successfully. Bryant spoke about the many uncertainties during the organizational stage.
“Just in general, you have to be comfortable when you approach something like this knowing that you don’t know everything you need to know. You have to be comfortable with ambiguity.”
He further discussed the paperwork associated with the haulers, saying, “Every single thing in those haulers crossing the border has to be accounted for and listed on the manifest. All that information has to be submitted to customs authorities for both governments, U.S. and Mexico.”
The Breakdown of Haulers Traveling to Mexico City
When Bianchi shared a post on his official X handle discussing how NASCAR got 132 haulers to Mexico City for the first international Cup Series points race, a fan raised an interesting question about the haulers’ headcount.
“How can it possibly take 132 tractor-trailers to put on a race. 2 series with 40 teams each is only 80.”
Bianchi, who had done his homework, did not hesitate to answer the question and gave a detailed breakdown. Out of the 132 haulers, 79 were just for the Cup Series and Xfinity events, while the rest were for other related equipment. For instance, Goodyear tires took 10 haulers to transport all the tires; broadcasting tools took nine; Stepps Towing trucks and other associated things took three, and so on.
Here’s the breakdown of why 132 haulers are here in Mexico City:
NASCAR: 9 haulersXfinity Series teams: 33 haulersCup Series teams: 37 haulersGoodyear: 10 haulersChampion: 27 haulersStepps Towing: 3 haulersBroadcast: 9 haulersSunoco: 3 haulersFeatherlite: 1 hauler
— Jordan Bianchi (@Jordan_Bianchi) June 12, 2025
Bianchi also recorded the statements of several other NASCAR officials and reported the latest updates in the operation of transporting 132 haulers to the destination.
As for race day, it remains to be seen if the prediction of unsuitable weather in Mexico City will hinder the contest that NASCAR has been organizing for almost a year.
