SportsLine's Steven Taranto reveals his picks and NASCAR props for the 2025 Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City race, where Shane van Gisbergen, Christopher Bell, William Byron,

Alex Bowman wasn’t sure he was going to make the trip to Mexico City because of lower back pain suffered in the hardest hit of his career at Michigan last week.

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series will hold consecutive qualifying sessions Saturday at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which then will play host to back-to-back races on its 15-turn, 2.42-mile layout. The NASCAR Mexico Series will hold a 40-lap race (with a 70-minute time limit), followed by a 65-lap race for the Xfinity Series.

SportsLine simulated the 2025 Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez 10,000 times. Use its projected leaderboard for NASCAR prop picks at sites like PrizePicks, DraftKings and FanDuel.

We’re making history together, not just NASCAR and me, but the entire country of Mexico. So, this is something very special, and it’s a very good example that when these two countries work together, the sky is the limit.

NASCAR ran into problems in attempts to cross the border into Mexico for this weekend's race at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

Denny Hamlin will continue to chase for a NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2025 after he was granted a Playoff Waiver by NASCAR on Friday. Hamlin will not compete in this weekend's Viva Mexico 250 following the birth of his third child on Wednesday.

The throaty roar of NASCAR Cup Series engines will reverberate through the Valley of Mexico this weekend, marking a bold international gambit for America's beloved motorsport as it races beyond its traditional borders.