Busch Series returns to Mexico

MEXICO CITY -- This time around, the cry "Caballeros arranquen sus motores," Spanish for "Gentlemen start your engines," might not sound so foreign.

A year after it held the first NASCAR race in Mexico, the Busch Series is south of the border again, preparing for Sunday's second installment of the Telcel-Motorola 200 without many of the concerns about security and logistics some teams raised before taking on the 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course here in 2005.

"We put a system in place for operations and logistics last year, when the task was on us to prove that this could work," said Robbie Weiss, NASCAR's managing director for international affairs. "Going into the second year, it's always easier after you've had a dry run and people have been through the race once."

Last year's winner in Mexico City, Martin Truex Jr., isn't coming back, but 29 Busch Series regulars are expected to run, as are nine Mexican drivers, all of whom are familiar with Hermanos Rodriguez.

Also hoping they will have an edge on the track are open-wheel veterans such as Paul Tracy -- who raced here with Champ Car -- and road course specialists including Boris Said, who finished fifth in last year's race.