NASCAR Mexico Series

The Desafío Corona was established in 2004 by NASCAR Mexico, a joint-venture between NASCAR and Mexican entertainment group OCESA, with the idea of developing stock car racing in Mexico, and fueling a transition from the country's historically Open-wheel car racing fan base to stock car racing.[1]

From 2004 to 2006, the Desafío Corona grew considerably in infrastructure, as well as in number of fans, drivers and sponsors.

NASCAR Corona Series logo, 2007–2010

NASCAR Corona Series logo, 2011

NASCAR Toyota Series logo, 2012–2014

NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series logo, 2018–2022

The NASCAR Mexico Corona Series was officially presented at the 2006 Desafío Corona award ceremony.[2] Toyota assumed naming rights in 2012, dubbing it the NASCAR Toyota Series.[3]

The series is one of three NASCAR-sanctioned international series, the others are the NASCAR Pinty's Series and the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Following North American short-track racing trends to cut costs and unify rules among different tours, NASCAR is considering changes to the Canadian Tire and Corona Series where the two series adopt the Busch rules as to allow the competitors to use the same cars in NASCAR Busch Series races.

The winner of the series championship received an invitation to the UNOH Battle at the Beach, formerly the Toyota All-Star Showdown. All other drivers may also attempt to qualify by entering the heat races.

After the end of the 2015 season, the series was suspended supposedly due to the fact that organizers of the series wanted to instead support the Formula One Mexican Grand Prix, which had just been revived for 2015. Several of the teams and drivers that participated in the series moved to the Super Copa Telcel "V8" series.

In October 2016 it was announced that the series would return with new sponsorship from PEAK Antifreeze, with an exhibition race that December to be followed by a full 2017 season.[4]

Also in 2017 two supporter series were created: the NASCAR FedEx Challenge Series and NASCAR Mikel's Truck Series.

The series lost its sponsorship with PEAK Antifreeze in 2023, which was when a playoff system was implemented to the series.

In its 14 seasons, the NASCAR Mexico Series has used 16 tracks in 14 venues (two in Santiago de Querétaro and two in San Luis Potosí). Currently, six oval tracks are used, only Autódromo Monterrey is a road circuit. Three tracks have been used in two configurations. Autódromo Monterrey long and frijol, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in NASCAR Nationwide and oval, Autódromo Miguel E. Abed in a 2.75 km layout and oval.

Autódromo Potosino is the shortest track (0.804 km) and Autódromo Monterrey the longest (3.4 km).

San Luis Potosí is the venue with more races (34, 32 in Autódromo Potosino and 2 in Parque Tangamanga II)

NASCAR Mexico had powered the construction of oval tracks in México, Autódromo Potosino was remodeled in 2001, Aguascalientes,[5] Chiapas,[6] Querétaro[7] had new tracks for NASCAR events. In 2012, a speedway in Chihuahua was scheduled for inauguration.[8]

For 2013, a race in the Southwestern United States was held: a 75-lap, 75-mile (122 km) race at Phoenix International Raceway during the NASCAR Cup Series Subway Fresh Fit 500 weekend.

For 2024, the series will hold an event as part of the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, to be conducted at a temporary 402m (0.25 mile) circuit around the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Mexico Series race will be a support race for the Clash.

Guadalajara

Querétaro

Torreón

México City

Monterrey

San Luis Potosí

Zacatecas

León

Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Chiapas)

Puebla

Aguascalientes

Chihuahua

Phoenix

Pachuca

Nascar Mexico venues in green. In red are former venues.

Corona Series cars

In the first season, only General Motors (through its Pontiac division) and Dodge participated in the series.[9] Ford made its debut in 2005 with its Mustang model,[10] but since 2006, the Fusion is the Ford model entry.[11] In 2009, Toyota started its participation with its Camry. The Mazda 6 was first entered in 2010.[12] As with the other NASCAR divisions in the United States, Dodge subsequently pulled its factory support and no longer participates in the Mexican series.

Along with the other international series, the K&N Pro Series East and West, and the ARCA Menards Series, the Mexico Series has General Tire as an exclusive tire supplier.[13]

Most wins

Rank	Manufacturer	Wins	Races	% Wins
1	Toyota	83	148	56.1%
2	Ford	48	218	22.0%
3	General Motors	41	220	18.6%
4	Dodge	22	208	10.6%
5	Mazda	14	71	19.7%

Germán Quiroga, three-time champion (2009–11)

Six drivers have won the championship. The Telcel team is the most successful with four drivers' championships. Rubén García, Jr. is the youngest champion (20 years old), and Rafael Martínez the eldest. (45 years old).[14] Rubén García Jr. has the most championships to his name with 4.

Rookie of the Year

Season	Driver	Car	Team
2004	Ignacio Alvarado	Pontiac	Alvarado Racing
2005	Patricio Jourdain	Ford	Motorcraft Racing
2006	Antonio Pérez	Pontiac	Escudería Telmex
2007	Mike Sánchez	Chevrolet	MAG Paper
2008	Irwin Vences	Ford	FCV Racing
2009	Alejandro Capín	Chevrolet	MT Sport Marketing
2010	Daniel Suárez	Dodge	SC Racing/Equipo Telcel
2011	Enrique Contreras III	Dodge	Fénix Racing Team
2012	Rubén García, Jr.	Toyota	SC Racing
2013	Santiago Tovar	Toyota Chevrolet
2014	Rodrigo Marban	Toyota	Patricia Marban (owner)
2015	Manolin Gutierrez	Ford	H&H HighSpeed
2017	Enrique Baca	Chevrolet Toyota	Jimmy Morales (owner)
2018	Fabián Welter	Toyota	Jimmy Morales (owner)
2019	Jacobo Cosio	Dodge	Samantha Valadez (owner)
2020	Luis Michael Dorrbecker	Ford	Jimmy Morales (owner)
2021	Max Gutiérrez	Chevrolet	Jimmy Morales (owner)
2023	Andrés Pérez de Lara

*in 2022 there were no rookies in the main category, the best rookie was awarded from the challenge category

Mexico Series champions are invited to the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown (now the University of Northwestern Ohio Battle at the Beach). In 2011 Daniel Suárez, Germán Quiroga and Rubén Rovelo took part. They finished in 11th, 12th and 30th, respectly.[15]

The 2012 Series champion, along with international counterparts in Canada and Europe, will be invited to participate with an automatically exempt entry in any of the three divisions (Late Model, K&N Pro, Whelen Modified) in the Battle at the Beach, which will be held a week and a half before the series race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Year	Race	Venue	Driver	Start	Finish
2007	Toyota All-Star Showdown	Irwindale	Rubén Pardo	29	21
2008	Toyota All-Star Showdown		Rogelio López	16	13
			Antonio Pérez	40	31
2009	Toyota All-Star Showdown		Antonio Pérez	8	18
2010	Last Chance		Rubén Rovelo	1	9
2011	Toyota All-Star Showdown		Daniel Suárez	12	11
			German Quiroga	25	12
			Rubén Rovelo	19	30
2013	UNOH Battle At The Beach	Daytona	Jorge Goeters	26	13

To date, three women have started a NASCAR Mexico Series race, three started a Trucks Mexico Series race and one started a NASCAR Challenge race. Mara Reyes scored a pole position in her first race.

Regina sirvent was the first woman to win a Trucks Mexico Series race.

Driver	Season	Entries	Starts	Wins	Top 10
Mara Reyes	2004–2005	28	28	0	20
Leslie González	2005	1	1	0	0
Estefania Reyes	2007, 2010–2011	21	17	0	0
Regina Sirvent*	2022-	30?*	?	2**	?
Valeria aranda**	2019-	40?	?	?	?
Andrea Lozano**	2022-	20	19	0	9

*In Challenge Series (run in the same races at the same time with NASCAR Mexico Series)

**In Trucks Mexico Series

Scott Riggs

Some drivers of NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series have taken part in Xfinity Series and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series action, but only Jorge Goeters and Daniel Suárez have both raced in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series. Scott Riggs, Cody Ware, Kevin O'Connell all of them only made one start in PEAK Mexico Series but also had run in both series. Rubén Pardo, Rogelio López and Rubén García Jr. have won in the K&N Pro Series East; while Daniel Suárez have won in the K&N Pro Series East, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016, Suárez won the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. In 2017 and 2018, he moved to the NASCAR Cup Series driving No. 19 for Joe Gibbs Racing. In 2019, he moved to the No. 41 driving for Stewart-Haas Racing before moving to the No. 96 driving for Gaunt Brothers Racing, then moved to the No. 99 for Trackhouse Racing Team. On June 12, 2022, Suárez won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway.

NASCAR Cup Series drivers

Five drivers have raced both the NASCAR PEAK Mexico and NASCAR Cup Series.

Driver	Seasons	Cup Starts	Mexico Series Starts	Wins	Top 5	Top 10
Jorge Goeters	2004–Present	1	150	13	60	98
Daniel Suárez	2009–2014	195	76	10	26	39
Scott Riggs	2010	208	1	0	0	0
Cody Ware	2014	71	1	0	0	0
Kevin O'Connell	2015	1	1	0	0	0

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NASCAR México.

• Official website