NASCAR's first Cup Series race outside US hits travel snags to Mexico City

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NASCAR's first Cup Series race outside US hits travel snags to Mexico City

2025-06-14 05:50 Last Updated At：06:01

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Shane Van Gisbergen was buckled into his seat ready to head to Mexico City for NASCAR's first international Cup Series race of the modern era when a loud “BOOM!” suddenly forced the pilot to abort takeoff.

There was an engine issue with the chartered flight in North Carolina and Van Gisbergen and most of Trackhouse Racing suddenly found themselves stranded. In fact, two NASCAR charters had issues Thursday that delayed the arrivals of crew members and drivers for at least five teams.

They all arrived safely Friday morning — some teams drove to Atlanta to catch commercial flights — while others awaited a new morning charter.

“Yeah, it wasn’t real fun. Yesterday was a long day," Van Gisbergen said once in Mexico City. "Pretty scary when the plane launched itself on take-off. They stopped and were trying to just get another plane. And then it was first thing this morning, so early start this morning. I think we got up at 3:30 a.m. at home and got on an early flight down here.”

It was a bumpy start to the first points-paying Cup Series race outside the United States as the entire Friday schedule had to be revamped to accommodate the stranded teams. And, with team personnel missing for some organizations, reinforcements were called in to help: the communications director for Trackhouse had to help unload the team cars off the haulers.

The trucks came directly from last Sunday’s race in Michigan and arrived at the Mexico City track on Thursday.

“Due to two aircraft issues that grounded multiple race teams in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, NASCAR has adjusted the on-track schedule for this weekend’s activities at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,” NASCAR said in a statement.

NASCAR delayed Friday’s originally planned Cup Series practice to later in the afternoon. NASCAR also pushed all Xfinity Series practice sessions from Friday to Saturday. And, the first of two NASCAR Mexico Series races were moved to early Friday instead of their late Friday schedule.

The Xfinity Series will lose some practice time, with just one 50-minute session on Saturday morning, right before qualifying. There are other slight adjustments as well, but Cup teams will not lose any practice.

Van Gisbergen was rolling with the delay.

“You can’t predict that kind of stuff happening. There’s so many moving parts,” he said. "Everyone’s down here now. I think it’s all the important people, I guess, needed for (Friday) , so I think they’ve done a good job salvaging it.

“I guess it’s a big deal when you think about it, but I’m not really too fussed about it,” he continued. "I’m already focused on (racing). Obviously not ideal, but it happened and we fixed it.”

It's been 11 years since Ryan Truex raced in the Cup Series but he gets another start Sunday as the replacement for Denny Hamlin in Mexico City.

Truex is a reserve driver for Joe Gibbs Racing and has been in a holding pattern the last three weeks as Hamlin awaited the birth of his son. Hamlin didn't have to get out of the car at Nashville or Michigan, but the baby finally arrived Wednesday and Hamlin opted to skip this weekend to care for his family of five.

Truex got the call the same evening to wheel the high-profile No. 11 Toyota. The younger brother of former Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. has 26 career Cup starts, but none since 2014.

Martin Truex won an Xfinity Series race in 2005 in Mexico City, something he reminded his younger brother of when he told him he got the call.

“I texted him this week when I found out, and he said, ‘You know, the Truexes are 1-for-1 in Mexico,’ so no pressure,” Ryan Truex said Friday. “I’m glad he could throw that at me.”

Hamlin, a three-time winner this year, requested and was granted a waiver by NASCAR officials to retain his eligibility for the Cup Series Playoffs.

Truex does have recent seat time as the 33-year-old was a fill-in option in practice for Tyler Reddick of fellow Toyota team 23XI Racing during Coca-Cola 600 practice. Still, the waiting game to see if he was needed and getting ready for an international trip has been a whirlwind.

“It‘s been a crazy few weeks — especially since Charlotte, I‘ve been on standby,” he said. “I‘m glad it is at a track where I can practice and have time and know what to do to. It has been kind of chaotic getting here and putting all of that together, but I‘m just grateful for the experience and grateful to be here.

"I don‘t really have any set goals or expectations — I just want to enjoy the weekend. I‘m driving a Cup car for Joe Gibbs at an international race — this is not something I ever dreamed of doing, so I just want to take it all in and have a good time.”

Truex said that every time he received a text from Hamlin crew chief Chris Gayle the last month, his heart began to race as he wondered if this was the call.

He's thankful for his time in a reserve role with Gibbs after a miserable time in Cup a decade ago. Truex is hoping to use Sunday as a springboard to regular racing.

“My last time in Cup was not a fun experience. It didn‘t go well for me. I didn‘t enjoy it,” Truex said. “That was probably not the right move for me, career-wise, and I‘ve kind of been fighting back since then. I enjoy everything I do at JGR. I‘ve been able to race part-time the last couple of years, and do all of this stuff away from the track."

NASCAR drivers will face one of the biggest challenges of their career racing at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which sits at an elevation of nearly 7,500 feet. The next highest track on the Cup circuit in terms of elevation is Las Vegas Motor Speedway at about 2,000 feet above sea level.

To prepare its drivers for the altitude, Toyota launched a comprehensive training program months ago that had its drivers wearing a mask that simulates less oxygen while training and even sleeping in a hypoxic tent.

Reddick was among those who slept in a tent to adjust to the higher altitude and mitigate potential symptoms of altitude sickness.

“One side effect of it is my wife hasn’t been super happy about me sleeping in a hypoxic environment especially at the later stages of her pregnancy,” said Reddick, whose wife delivered the couple’s second child May 25.

The tent idea was devised after JGR driver Christopher Bell asked Toyota what would be done to help maintain maximum performance in the high altitude.

“We started that early in the season just talking and getting a plan together, making sure we’re prepared for it,” Bell said. “I’m proud of everyone at Toyota, the Toyota Performance Center. Caitlin Quinn has really headed up the department of physical fitness and made sure we’re ready for this challenge. Hopefully, the Toyota drivers are the ones that are succeeding.”

The program was devised by Caitlin Quinn, director of performance for the Toyota Performance Center in Mooresville, North Carolina. She was a strength coach at Florida State University before joining Toyota Performance Center.

Quinn helped drivers learn to perform in a lower oxygen environment when they’re resting, as well as exercise in an environment with less oxygen. Toyota enclosed a space in its center with a bicycle inside it for drivers to ride in a lower oxygen setting.

Quinn said Toyota starting implementing those programs about eight weeks ago for drivers.

“It is different sleeping in a hypoxic environment,” Reddick said. “I’ve noted the changes so far, and I’m excited to see what it’s going to be like."

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Trump announces 30% tariffs against EU, Mexico to begin Aug. 1, rattling major US trading partners

2025-07-13 05:13 Last Updated At：05:20

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he's levying tariffs of 30% against the European Union and Mexico starting Aug. 1, a move that could cause massive upheaval between the United States and two of its biggest trade partners.

Trump detailed the planned tariffs in letters posted to his social media account. They are part of an announcement blitz by Trump of new tariffs aimed at allies and foes alike, a bedrock of his 2024 campaign that he said would set the foundation for reviving a U.S. economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades.

In his letter to Mexico's leader, President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States. But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said the U.S. trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”

The letters come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade. Trump in April imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals. As the three-month grace period ended this week, Trump began sending his tariff letters to leaders but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.

If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded by noting the bloc's “commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.”

“At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required,” von der Leyen said in a statement.

Von der Leyen added that the EU remains committed to continuing negotiations with the U.S. and coming to an agreement before Aug. 1. Trade ministers from EU countries are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss trade relations with the U.S., as well as with China.

European leaders joined von der Leyen in urging Trump to give negotiations more time and warnings of possible new tariffs on Washington.

“With European unity, it is more than ever up to the Commission to assert the Union’s determination to resolutely defend European interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement posted on X.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said "it would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic."

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR that Trump was taking a “pointless and a very shortsighted approach." Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned in an interview with SVT that “everyone loses out from an escalated trade conflict, and it will be U.S. consumers who pay the highest price.”

Trump, as he has in previous letters, warned that his administration would further raise tariffs if the EU attempts to hike its own tariffs on the United States.

The Mexican government said it was informed during high-level talks with U.S. State Department officials Friday that the Trump letter was coming. The delegation told Trump officials at the meeting it disagreed with the decision and considered it “unfair treatment,” according to a Mexican government statement.

Sheinbaum, who has sought to avoid directly criticizing Trump in the early going of her presidency, expressed a measure of confidence during a public appearance on Saturday that the U.S. and Mexico will reach “better terms.”

“I’ve always said that in these cases, you need a cool head to face any problem,” Sheinbaum said.

With the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round. Countries could set their own tariffs, but under the “most favored nation’’ approach, they couldn’t charge one country more than they charged another.

The Mexico tariff, if it goes into effect, could replace the 25% tariffs on Mexican goods that do not comply with the existing U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

Trump’s letter did not address if USMCA-compliant goods would still be exempt from the Mexico tariffs after Aug. 1, as the White House said would be the case with Canada. Trump sent a letter to Canada earlier this week threatening a 35% tariff hike.

With Saturday's letters, Trump has now issued tariff conditions on 24 countries and the 27-member European Union.

So far, the tally of trade deals struck by Trump stands at two — one with the United Kingdom and one with Vietnam. Trump has also announced the framework for a deal with China, the details of which remain fuzzy.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Saturday said the U.K. “smartly” acted early.

“Let this be a lesson to other countries - earnest, good faith negotiations can produce powerful results that benefit both sides of the table, while correcting the imbalances that plague global trade,” Bessent said in a posting on X.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum, said the letters were evidence that serious trade talks were not taking place over the past three months. He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimize their own exposure to the U.S. economy and Trump.

“They’re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like, and we’re left out,” Holtz-Eakin said.

If the tariffs do indeed take effect, the potential impact on Europe could be vast.

The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in 2024, or an average of 4.6 billion euros a day, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Europe’s biggest exports to the U.S. were pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments and wine and spirits.

Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of the Union of Italian Wines trade association, said Trump's move could lead to “a virtual embargo” of his country's wine.

“A single letter was enough to write the darkest chapter in relations between two historic Western allies,” Frescobaldi said.

Trump has complained about the EU’s 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more goods from European businesses than the other way around.

However, American companies fill some of the gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services.

The U.S. services surplus took the nation’s trade deficit with the EU down to 50 billion euros ($59 billion), which represents less than 3% of overall U.S.-EU trade.

Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Washington, Angela Charlton in Paris, Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin, Dave McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany, and Giada Zampano in Rome contributed to this report.