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.”
Truex gets a shot
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."
Elevation training
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
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
