The 2005 Telcel Motorola 200 was a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

race held at

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a motorsport race track in Mexico City, Mexico, named after the racing drivers Ricardo Rodríguez (1942–1962) and Pedro Rodríguez (1940–1971). The circuit got its current name in 1979 after Ricardo ...

Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

on March 6, 2005. The race was NASCAR's first ever trip to Mexico City and their first race that is not in the United States since 1999. It was also the 3rd race of the

2005 NASCAR Busch Series file:Justin Labonte 1078124.jpg, Chevrolet won the List of NASCAR Manufacturers' champions#Xfinity Series, Busch series manufacturer's championship. The 2005 NASCAR Busch Series began with the Hershey's Take 5 300 at Daytona International Sp ...

. The race was the NASCAR debut for former

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

driver and the hometown hero

Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Mier (born April 20, 1963) is a Mexican former professional race car driver and co-owner of the Fernandez Racing team. Racing career Early career Fernández was born in Mexico City and began his career in Mexico at the age ...

. One of Mexico's own

Jorge Goeters Jorge Goeters (born June 26, 1970) is a Mexican racecar driver. At the present time, Goeters competes full-time in the NASCAR Mexico Series in Mexico. In the past few years he also competed at the international level on a limited basis, running ...

, who was one of 10 Mexican born drivers attempting to qualify in the race, won the pole but it would be Martin Truex Jr. who would dominate the race, leading the most laps and winning the first ever race in the end.

Background

The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is a

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Mexico, named after the racing drivers Ricardo (1942–1962) and Pedro Rodríguez (1940–1971). The circuit got its name shortly after it opened when Ricardo Rodríguez died in practice for the non-Championship

1962 Mexican Grand Prix The I Gran Premio de Mexico (or 1st Mexican Grand Prix) was held on 4 November 1962 at the Magdalena Mixhuca circuit, Mexico City. The race was a non-championship event run to Formula One rules and attracted a large entry, including many top teams ...

. Ricardo's brother

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meanin ...

was also killed behind the wheel nine years later. Since

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the track has once again hosted the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

Mexican Grand Prix The Mexican Grand Prix (), currently held under the name Mexico City Grand Prix (), is a motor racing event held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. It first appeared as a non-championship event in 1962 before being held as a ...

, an event it previously hosted in two separate periods on a different layout, the last occasion of which was in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

. The circuit is located within the public park of the

Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City The Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City is an Olympic Park which was used during the 1968 Summer Olympics. Found in the area of Mexico City known as the Magdalena Mixhuca, the park continues to serve as a venue for cultural, social, worship and sport e ...

in southeast Mexico City. The circuit is owned by the Government of the city, but is currently operated under concession by Corporación Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE) through OCESA, one of CIE's subsidiaries. CIE also organizes the

and Desafío Corona races in this circuit and rents the circuits to other parties, including race organizers, automobile clubs and track amateurs for fees that are controversial due to their disproportionately high amounts compared to other ex-F1 courses.

Entry list

*(R) denotes rookie driver *(i) denotes ineligible for points

Qualifying

Mexico's own Jorge Goeters won the pole for the race with a time of 1:27.696 and a speed of 103.366 mph.

Starting grid

* – Scott Gaylord originally qualified the car and was to compete but made a last minute change to allow Jimmy Morales to be able to compete in his home Country. ** – Adrián Fernández, Chris Cook, Tim Fedewa, Jimmy Morales, and Robby Gordon all had to start at the rear of the field. Fernández had a backup car, Cook and Gordon had an engine change, Fedewa had a transmission change, and Morales has a driver change.

Race

On lap 1, Martin Truex Jr. attempted to take the lead from pole sitter Jorge Goeters in turn 3 but failed to get in front of him and Goeters led the first lap becoming the first Mexican born driver to lead a Busch Series race. On lap 8, the first caution flew for debris after José Luis Ramírez's right front tire came apart. The race would restart on lap 12. On the restart, Ron Fellows attempted to take the lead from Goeters but failed to get in front of him. On lap 17, Mara Reyes spun in turn 3 and ended up getting stuck on the gravel traps in turns 1 and 2 which would bring out the second caution on lap 18. The race would restart on lap 21. On lap 25, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead after the top 2 in Jorge Goeters and Jamie McMurray both pitted. On lap 27, a couple of incidents would occur. First being when Tyler Walker overshot turn 3 and ended up going through the gravel trap but that did not bring out a caution after Walker got back onto the track without any harm. The third caution flew when Mara Reyes' car stalled in turn 1. During the caution, a wacky and funny moment would occur when a dog ran out onto the track before it found its way out going through a hole in the fence. The race would restart on lap 30. On lap 32, Stanton Barrett spun in turn 3 but no caution flew as Barrett got going again. On lap 33, Mexico City's own Adrián Fernández took the lead from Truex. At the same time, Paul Menard spun in turn 5 but no caution was thrown as he got back going again. On lap 37, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead back from Fernández. On lap 38, the 4th caution would fly when Michel Jourdain Jr. crashed in turn 8.

Final laps

The race would restart with 40 laps to go. At around 37 to go, Ron Hornaday spun in turn 3 after he got turned by Jorge Goeters but no caution flew as Hornaday got back going again. With 36 to go, Ron Fellows spun in almost the same area Hornaday did before after Fellows got turned by Carlos Contreras. No caution flew as he got back going again. With 35 to go, Kevin Harvick took the lead after Martin Truex Jr. went to pit. As soon as Truex entered pit road, the 5th caution flew with 34 to go when Rubén García Novoa crashed in the chicane at around turn 3. Stanton Barrett was the new leader and Barrett led the field to the restart with 30 laps to go. With 28 to go, both Ron Fellows and Denny Hamlin spun in turn 3. No caution was thrown as Hamlin and Fellows got back going again. At the same time, Martin Truex Jr. took the lead from Barrett. With 27 to go, the 6th caution flew for debris. The race would restart with 23 laps to go. With 22 to go, Reed Sorenson spun in turn 4 but no caution threw as he got going again before the 7th caution flew for fluid from Robby Gordon's blown engine. The race would restart with 17 to go. With 16 to go, Tim Fedewa spun in turn 4 but no caution flew as he got back going again. With 15 to go, the 8th and final caution flew when Jorge Goeters' engine blew. The race would restart with 11 laps to go. Multiple incidents occurred during the run with no cautions thrown as the drivers got going. With 10 to go, Shawna Robinson spun in turn 3. With 9 to go, Stanton Barrett spun in turn 5. With 7 to go, Tyler Walker and Jamie McMurray spun in turn 5. With 3 to go, José Luis Ramírez spun in turn 4. While all that was going on, Martin Truex Jr. held onto the lead and Truex would win the first race at Mexico with Truex scoring his first of 6 wins en route to his 2nd Busch Series championship in a row. Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Shane Hmiel, and Boris Said rounded out the top 5 while Rusty Wallace, Clint Bowyer, Kenny Wallace, Ashton Lewis, and Adrián Fernández rounded out the top 10.

Race results

References

{{NASCAR next race, Previous_race= 2005 Stater Brothers 300, Next_race= 2005 Sam's Town 300, Series=NASCAR Busch Series, Monsteryear=2005 NASCAR races at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 2005 in Mexican motorsport