By David Newton, NASCAR.COM
March 4, 2006
08:26 PM EST

MEXICO CITY -- Imagine more than a hundred thousand people crammed into a half-mile or three-quarter mile facility that looks more like a football stadium than a racetrack.

Bristol Motor Speedway, right?

Team owner Felix Sabates predicts that such a track will be built in Mexico over the next five years to attract the Nextel Cup Series the way the Autrodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course has attracted the Busch Series to Mexico City.

"There's some areas in Mexico, very wealthy areas in Mexico, with a huge population around it,'' Sabates said Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's Busch race. "I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see something there in the next four or five years.''

NASCAR chairman Brian France said last week at California that the Cup Series isn't looking at Mexico City for the near future. Sabates agrees as long as the only option is a road course, because the series doesn't want to add a third road course with Watkins Glen (N.Y.) and Infineon (Calif.) already on the schedule.

But the series does want to tap into the Hispanic market that represents more than 12.6 percent of the United States population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"We have to go international,'' Sabates said. "If we don't go international we're going to die. I shouldn't say die, but we're not going to grow. I beg to say that it may not be in my lifetime, but in a lot of young people like [driver] Reed Sorenson's lifetime, we'll be running in Europe.''

Sabates said it makes more marketing sense for NASCAR to expand to Mexico than New York City, where plans are ongoing to build a track.

"You have the sponsors paying gazillions of dollars to run these venues,'' he said. "To put a track in New York is not going to generate anymore than it's already doing because the national television exposure will count anyway.

"If you put a track in New York City, it may improve your attendance a little bit, but it's not going to be like if you put a track in England or Germany. A lot of these companies want to be involved with the international crowd.''

Companies such as Home Depot and Wal-Mart already have a huge presence in Mexico City.

Sabates reminded that NASCAR is spending a "fortune'' in Mexico developing a 14-race series run by Chad Little.

"They don't make any money here,'' Sabates said. "But they're making investments.''

Little said Mexican people are passionate about motorsports, which NASCAR discovered last year when more than 100,000 people showed for the Busch race.

"That lends itself to a lot of opportunities,'' he said.

Mexican driver Michel Jourdain Jr. said a Bristol-like track might be the answer for getting Cup into Mexico. He reminded that his father, a race promoter, built a half-mile track 150 miles north of Mexico City in San Luis Potosi.

Jourdain also hasn't ruled out Cup coming to the road course, which is Mexico's version of Daytona International Speedway.

"If this race was successful in the next two or three years and people keep coming, you never know,'' he said. "NASCAR is a business. If they are going to make money with people coming here, they would add another road course.''

Or take one away.

"All the drivers say this is the best road course that we run,'' Sabates said.

But realistically, Sabates said an oval track is the solution. He's thought it out far enough to suggest giving Mexico one of the two dates at Martinsville Speedway.

"You will see a track here some day,'' he said.

Sabates said the support of Mexico millionaire Carlos Slim and his family is the X-factor, noting they helped get Sunday's purse to a Busch Series record $2.4 million.

"They're not in it for the money,'' Sabates said. "They want to do something for the country. They're very, very sincere. They don't make any money on this. They pour all the money back into this thing.

"They would have a bigger purse here if NASCAR would have let them.''

With that kind of financial support, Sabates said Nextel Cup can't help but come to Mexico.

"They're looking at it,'' he said. "Somewhere between the States and Mexico.''