Shane van Gisbergen soars to NASCAR Cup Series Pole in Mexico City
Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images
MEXICO CITY, Mexico—Shane van Gisbergen claimed his first Busch Light Pole position of the season Saturday afternoon at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and will lead the field to green in the inaugural Viva Mexico 250 Sunday in Mexico City (3 p.m. ET, Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The scheduled 45-minute qualifying session was called off 17 minutes early due to light rain, but the 36-year-old former Australian Supercar Series champion was easily the class of the field — his pole-winning lap of 93.904 mph improving notably from his speed in Saturday afternoon’s two practice sessions.
Smiling and referring to road courses as his “natural habitat,” van Gisbergen was quite satisfied with his work in the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet — especially considering the unknown of a first-time race at the venue.
“It was a great session for us, we kind of lacked in a lot of areas yesterday [in practice] with our car getting the balance we wanted and went through a lot of challenges last night — a couple I thought were maybe too much — and started my lap and the car felt magic right from the start,” van Gisbergen said.
The pole position and positive start of the weekend could prove especially important as van Gisbergen is ranked 33rd in the championship standings, essentially needing a race victory to earn a position in the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field.
“Certainly, a win fixes our year, gets you locked in,” he said with a smile about the pole helping produce a victory Sunday.
“Win a race and it changes your year, and then we can race with less pressure, and just keep learning, keep being methodical, keep getting better every week and then we can try some stuff,” van Gisbergen continued. “We’re very sort of welded in a box in the moment, just not wanting to get out of our comfort zone.”
Another notable qualifying effort came from RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, who will start second on the front row alongside van Gisbergen. Preece was the second fastest and ran only a single lap in the session.
Van Gisbergen’s Trackhouse teammate Ross Chastain was third fastest in the No. 1 Chevrolet, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs, who earned a front-row start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier in the day.
One of NASCAR’s most respected road course drivers, Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell was fifth fastest in qualifying and will start alongside one of the season’s three-race winners, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson on the third row.
Mexico native — and huge crowd favorite — Daniel Suárez was 10th fastest in the No. 99 Trackhouse Chevrolet.
Hendrick’s William Byron, the current NASCAR Cup Series championship leader, will start 27th.
NASCAR Cup Series
Starting Line Up by Row
Aut?dromo Hermanos Rodr?guez
Viva Mexico 250
Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Saturday, 6/14/2025 @ 02:48 PM Eastern
Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: 01/01/01 0
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 92.776 93.904
2 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Colgate Ford 92.840 93.839
Row 2: 3 1 Ross Chastain Wendy's Frosty Swirls Chevrolet 92.849 93.830
4 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 92.921 93.757
Row 3: 5 71 Michael McDowell B'laster Chevrolet 92.974 93.704
6 5 Kyle Larson Valvoline Chevrolet 92.984 93.694
Row 4: 7 34 Todd Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 93.020 93.657
8 16 AJ Allmendinger LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 93.022 93.655
Row 5: 9 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 93.049 93.628
10 99 Daniel Suarez Telcel Chevrolet 93.061 93.616
Row 6: 11 8 Kyle Busch Lucas Oil Chevrolet 93.084 93.593
12 9 Chase Elliott LLumar Chevrolet 93.108 93.569
Row 7: 13 21 Josh Berry DEX Imaging Ford 93.158 93.519
14 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 93.194 93.482
Row 8: 15 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 93.201 93.475
16 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 93.206 93.470
Row 9: 17 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 93.234 93.442
18 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 93.247 93.429
Row 10: 19 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 93.257 93.419
20 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Quaker State Ford 93.319 93.357
Row 11: 21 3 Austin Dillon Boot Barn Chevrolet 93.342 93.334
22 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 93.345 93.331
Row 12: 23 77 Carson Hocevar Totalplay Chevrolet 93.351 93.325
24 38 Zane Smith Benebone Ford 93.365 93.311
Row 13: 25 23 Bubba Wallace Chumba Casino Toyota 93.426 93.250
26 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 93.428 93.248
Row 14: 27 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 93.458 93.218
28 10 Ty Dillon Ohio Logistics Chevrolet 93.595 93.082
Row 15: 29 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 93.604 93.073
30 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 93.707 92.971
Row 16: 31 20 Christopher Bell Mobil 1 Toyota 93.720 92.958
32 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 94.058 92.624
Row 17: 33 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fun Pops Chevrolet 94.152 92.531
34 51 Cody Ware Arrowhead Brass Ford 94.213 92.471
Row 18: 35 4 Noah Gragson Long John Silver's Ford 94.416 92.272
36 11 Ryan Truex(i) Yahoo! Toyota 94.624 92.070
Row 19: 37 78 Katherine Legge e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet 95.468 91.256
Did Not Qualify: None.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 12 0
Toyota 9 0
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
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