Despite the early-season rumors about a late shift to the Daytona International Speedway road course, the wait is finally over, and the weekend is finally here. For the first time ever, the NASCAR Cup Series is set to run a race in Mexico.
There have been plenty of logistical challenges along the way, and there are still some legitimate concerns leading up to the Viva Mexico 250. But Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is set to host Sunday's historic race.
This race is scheduled to be a 100-lap race around the 15-turn, 2.429-mile (3.909-kilometer) road course in Mexico City, Mexico, and the qualifying session is set to utilize the traditional NASCAR road course qualifying format.
Drivers are split up into two groups, simply to keep the track less busy. The groups are based on the metric score, which is based on the new two-variable formula which replaced the old four-variable formula that had been used from 2020 to 2024.
A full breakdown of the new metric can be found here.
The drivers with higher (worse) metric scores are in the first group, and the drivers with the lower (better) metric scores are in the second group. Drivers are allowed an unlimited number of laps, but the groups are timed.
The results of both groups are simply put together to determine the entire 37-car starting lineup, as there is no longer a second round shootout for the pole position like NASCAR has had in previous years for road course races. There are also no group-based row-by-row designations.
Follow along with our qualifying updates.
NASCAR Cup Series at Mexico: Full starting lineup
1st - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
2nd - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
3rd - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
4th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
5th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
7th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
8th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
9th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
10th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
11th - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
12th - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
13th - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
14th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
15th - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
16th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
17th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
18th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
19th - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
20th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
21st - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
22nd - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
23rd - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
24th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
25th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
26th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
27th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
28th - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
29th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
30th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
31st - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
32nd - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
33rd - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
34th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
35th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
36th - Ryan Truex, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
37th - Katherine Legge, No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet
The Viva Mexico 250 is set to be shown live on Amazon Prime Video from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez starting at 3:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 15. This race is the fourth of five races on Amazon Prime Video's first-ever portion of a NASCAR Cup Series broadcast schedule after taking over from Fox.