As the NASCAR Cup Series prepares to race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, there are a lot of unknowns that face drivers and teams.
Zane Smith, who finished seventh last week at Michigan Int’l Speedway, talked about the pending trip to Mexico and his expectations for the race and the event in general during a Wednesday conference call.
One of the topic discussions leading into the week has been the high altitude in Mexico City and how racers will adapt.
“My honest answer is I haven’t done anything to prepare for that. I have spent time down in Mexico. I’ve been down there and I don’t think it’s going to be a huge deal,” Smith said. “I could be completely proven wrong, but just prepared as normal as I would for the other 37 weekends. I feel like I kind of get myself, I don’t want to say spun out, but sometimes when it’s a new race weekend like this I feel like a lot of people try to not overprepare, but do things differently and it just has never worked for me. So, I’m approaching it as if it’s any other race weekend.
“It’s an awesome road course and we’re just outside of the country. There are still points that are gonna be given and it’s still gonna be road racing and it’s still a Cup race, so a big effort going at it.”
Smith says he’s preparing a little differently in the way he studies the course.
“It’s been a little different from a film standpoint of not really knowing what to watch,” Smith explained. “An F-1 car, watching that doesn’t really do it for me (laughing), but I’ve watched old highlights where Denny or someone won the race, and then obviously I’ve done numerous laps on our Ford sim, so that’s probably been the most helpful thing. It’s just gonna be attacking the race weekend.
“I fortunately have a good amount of road course experience and showing up to new race tracks was something that I just grew up doing, so I’m excited for it. I love the Cup car on a road course and I know how electric the fanbase is gonna be down in Mexico City, so I’m really looking forward to that.”
Smith says a lot of the apprehension show by drivers and crew members regarding the trip to Mexico is unwarranted.
“My honest answer is there’s a lot of overreaction from a majority of the industry, and it’s frustrating to hear and deal with,” Smith said. “I have spent a good amount of time down in Mexico. I know I have vacationed in a different spot with a group of friends in Cabo for the past few years, but there’s a lot of people that are overreacting.
“It somewhat reminds me of Chicago. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is gonna be a train wreck.’ And then we go to Chicago and they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is like the most fun weekend ever.’ You just have to know what to expect a little bit in Mexico City and Mexico in general,” Smith added. “There are good and bad areas, just like there is everywhere. You definitely do have to watch what you eat and drink. From my standpoint, I know what I’ll be eating and drinking because I’ve been on the good and bad side of that, but it’s just common sense and being smart. I feel like the saying better safe than sorry is definitely true this weekend.”
Smith ranks 22nd in the Cup Series standings after 15 races in what marks his return to Front Row Motorsports, where he won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in 2022.
“My cars have a lot of speed, a lot of fast Fords week in and week out. If we are a little off, I feel like my team and I are doing an incredible job of getting to where we need to be come Sunday,” Smith said. “That’s super important and then at the beginning of the year, I don’t want to say we lacked any, but keeping up with the racetrack is a bigger challenge when you start going Cup racing, so I feel that was maybe a challenge last year. You just see these brutal rookie seasons for guys in Cup.
“I don’t remember anyone that just had a rookie season where someone dominated and won all these races, so you pretty much try to survive through that first year and learn as much as you can and take all the smack talking you can get it seems like week in and week out. There are just so many things. It just feels like a bad luck year your rookie year. I don’t really know why.
“It’s still fun because you’re Cup racing and you’re getting experience racing on Sunday and racing every weekend. I think that’s really cool, but your second year around you know what to expect. By then you’ve experienced a lot of highs and lows and you’re still gonna experience highs and lows in your second year, but I feel like you know how to react to them a little bit better.”
