NASCAR News: Van Gisbergen takes Cup field to school in Mexico City

Shane van Gisbergen, a road racer by trade, took the entire NASCAR Cup field to school Sunday to capture the NASCAR Cup Series victory at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

Van Gisbergen — who wheeled his No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet to the Mexico City pole and battled sickness during Sunday’s race — tallied his first win of the 2025 Cup Series campaign and second in his career.

The Auckland, New Zealand, native won the inaugural contest on the Chicago Street Course in 2023 in what was his debut race in NASCAR.

Christopher Bell finished runner-up. Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five. John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, William Byron and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Ty Gibbs, who led the second-most laps in the race (27) behind van Gisbergen’s 60, finished 11th.

Kyle Busch, who was involved in a multicar incident on Lap 7, finished 37th. Three-time 2025 winner Kyle Larson, additionally involved in the wreck, scored a 36th-place finish and compiled the Xfinity Fastest Lap.

Shane Van Gisbergen

Welcome to the playoffs, Shane Van Gisbergen! You told me yesterday a win fixes our year, but you’ve faced so much adversity this entire weekend when you think about it, the travel issues, not feeling well before the race, and then the rain today. What was the biggest challenge?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: You listed them all, man. What a week. I’ve really enjoyed myself here. I felt pretty rubbish today leaking out both holes. That wasn’t fun. Thank you to SafetyCulture, Trackhouse, Chevy, and ECR engines. Our car was amazing. I think the 54 was close, but that last stint, man, what a pleasure just ripping lap after lap and watching them get smaller in the mirror. Unreal.

I’ve never heard a driver stop telling me to slow down. Was this the best race car you’ve ever sat in?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: It’s certainly up there. I’ve been privileged to have some great ones in my time, but when I go slow I just lose concentration, so I was trying to stay in a rhythm and a routine, and Josh and Stephen are doing such a great job keeping me calm and focused, and man, that was epic.

We were hanging out this morning and you were texting your good friend Max Verstappen. Your talent was clear today, but did he give you any tips that wound up helping?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, a little bit in the wet. Just what lines to take and how to approach it. Yeah, what a guy. I don’t know how he went today, but hopefully he went well, and hopefully I get this thing over the fence.

Mexico City Race Results

Fin	Str	No.	Driver	Team	Laps Led	Laps	Status
1	1	88	Shane Van Gisbergen #	Safety Culture Chevrolet	60	100	Running
2	31	20	Christopher Bell	Mobil 1 Toyota	4	100	Running
3	12	9	Chase Elliott	LLumar Chevrolet	0	100	Running
4	29	48	Alex Bowman	Ally Chevrolet	0	100	Running
5	5	71	Michael McDowell	B’laster Chevrolet	2	100	Running
6	32	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota	0	100	Running
7	19	19	Chase Briscoe	Bass Pro Shops Toyota	0	100	Running
8	26	41	Cole Custer	HaasTooling.com Ford	0	100	Running
9	27	24	William Byron	Valvoline Chevrolet	1	100	Running
10	16	17	Chris Buescher	Body Guard Ford	1	100	Running
11	4	54	Ty Gibbs	Monster Energy Toyota	27	100	Running
12	25	23	Bubba Wallace	Chumba Casino Toyota	0	100	Running
13	8	16	AJ Allmendinger	LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet	0	100	Running
14	18	12	Ryan Blaney	Wurth Ford	0	100	Running
15	2	60	Ryan Preece	Kroger/Colgate Ford	4	100	Running
16	3	1	Ross Chastain	Wendy’s Frosty Swirls Chevrolet	0	100	Running
17	14	43	Erik Jones	Family Dollar Toyota	0	100	Running
18	20	2	Austin Cindric	Menards/Quaker State Ford	1	100	Running
19	10	99	Daniel Suarez	Telcel Chevrolet	0	100	Running
20	22	45	Tyler Reddick	Xfinity Mobile Toyota	0	100	Running
21	9	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	0	100	Running
22	7	34	Todd Gilliland	Long John Silver’s Ford	0	100	Running
23	36	11	Ryan Truex(i)	Yahoo! Toyota	0	100	Running
24	17	7	Justin Haley	Gainbridge Chevrolet	0	100	Running
25	30	6	Brad Keselowski	Castrol Ford	0	100	Running
26	13	21	Josh Berry	DEX Imaging Ford	0	100	Running
27	33	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fun Pops Chevrolet	0	100	Running
28	21	3	Austin Dillon	Boot Barn Chevrolet	0	100	Running
29	15	35	Riley Herbst #	Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota	0	100	Running
30	35	4	Noah Gragson	Long John Silver’s Ford	0	100	Running
31	34	51	Cody Ware	Arrowhead Brass Ford	0	100	Running
32	37	78	* Katherine Legge	e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet	0	99	Running
33	28	10	Ty Dillon	Ohio Logistics Chevrolet	0	99	Running
34	23	77	Carson Hocevar	Totalplay Chevrolet	0	99	Running
35	24	38	Zane Smith	Benebone Ford	0	76	Drivetrain
36	6	5	Kyle Larson	Valvoline Chevrolet	0	58	Running
37	11	8	Kyle Busch	Lucas Oil Chevrolet	0	6	Accident