It remains a significant logistics challenge for numerous NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series teams aiming to make their way to Mexico City for the first-ever racing doubleheader at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez this weekend.
To start with, NASCAR advised against teams using their personal jets when traveling to Mexico this week. It has been mentioned that some teams felt compelled to use charter flights organized exclusively by the sanctioning body for reasons related to safety and logistics.
Several Xfinity Series teams, such as the smaller operation of Young’s Motorsports, arranged their own commercial travel and successfully reached Mexico without any issues.
Earlier this week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. mentioned that the aircraft he had been scheduled to fly on was grounded in Singapore, a common location for jet maintenance and repairs. However, both he and numerous others from his field ultimately managed to make their journey on Thursday afternoon.
Next up were distinct concerns raised for another aircraft on Thursday afternoon involving teams such as the Haas Factory Team, Trackhouse Racing, Sam Hunt Racing, and DGM Racing. As this particular plane began accelerating along the runway, many travelers informed The Sporting News about hearing a ‘loud bang’ or an ‘explosion.’
The captain contacted the passengers via the radio and informed them that engine number two had experienced a malfunction, potentially because of a collision with a bird. As a result, the aircraft turned around shortly after starting its journey and headed back to the terminal. The flight was still very close to the ground when this happened and had not yet lifted off completely.
All the passengers, who were part of the racing crew, were asked to leave the aircraft. Their luggage was handed back to them, and NASCAR instructed them to go back either to their homes or to their team workshops.
The Haas Racing Team group, featuring drivers Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, along with all three crew chiefs and two car chiefs opted to head south towards Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport instead.
They opted for commercial airline tickets to reach Mexico City instead.
Although the Haas Factory Team staff will reach Mexico City on Friday, they won’t get there before 7:40 a.m., local time.
The rest of them are awaiting a flight that won’t take off until later on Friday afternoon and isn’t scheduled to land before 12:30-12:45 local time. Additionally, another aircraft chartered by NASCAR for the teams wasn’t cleared to cross the border, leading to further issues.
On Friday, the schedule calls for Cup practice at 11:00 AM local time, followed by Xfinity Series practice at noon. Later, there will be another Cup practice session at 1 PM and an additional Xfinity practice at 1:30 PM.
Since all teams were not anticipated to arrive in town until a suitable hour, both NASCAR and the teams have modified the weekend schedule for the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
Teams in the Xfinity Series will now skip their Friday practice session and instead conduct a 50-minute session on Saturday morning. The practice sessions for the Cup Series have been rescheduled to take place on Friday afternoon.
The comprehensive detailed schedule can be viewed here.
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