Crossing Borders - Labonte Discusses if NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Should Travel Outside the USA Huntersville, N.C. (April 15, 2008) – This weekend, the NASCAR Nationwide Series will head south of the boarder to Mexico City for its fourth installment at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The event consistently draws one of the largest crowds on the Nationwide Series tour. Last season the Nationwide Series raced at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. It was the first time since 1958, when the Sprint Cup Series raced in Toronto, that NASCAR traveled to Canada. The success of the event has the Nationwide Series returning this August. The most recent foreign venture for the Sprint Cup Series was in 1998, when it traveled to the Suzuka Circuit in Japan for an exhibition race. With NASCAR’s popularity hitting all-time highs, should its flagship series cross the borders again? NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte discusses the pros and cons of sending the Sprint Cup Series into another country. Bobby Labonte, Sprint Cup and Nationwide Veteran: “I’m sure it’s something that NASCAR has and continues to take a look at. I’m sure it can be great for the sport, but all the parts and pieces have to fit just right. It’s not an easy task for these teams to travel like that and get back to race the following week. We’re a weekly series, and we don’t have much room in our schedule right now. Logistically, it’s tough. But, eventually, you have to think for our sport to continue to grow that we’ll have to take the Sprint Cup Series outside the United States. I’m not sure overseas is the first place to start, but Canada and Mexico have proved worthy for the Nationwide Series. They have had good attendance and it has brought more attention to our sport. That has been good.”