June 15, 2025 | By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Shane Van Gisbergen dominates at Mexico City

MEXICO CITY, Mexico—An overcast ski and early afternoon drizzle could not dampen the enthusiasm or energy of the huge crowd at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez Sunday for the first points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race outside the United States in half a century.

And they were not disappointed.

As he did at another NASCAR’s “inaugural race” – on the streets of Chicago two years ago in his series debut – New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen, 36, prevailed again. This time, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, he claimed a huge 16.567-second victory over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in the Viva Mexico 250 – the largest margin of victory of the season.

The three-time Australian Supercars champion Van Gisbergen – in his first fulltime season at the NASCAR Cup Series level – won pole position and led 60 of the race’s 100 laps, including the final 32, easily pulling away from the field to claim his first ever berth in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with the win. He extended his margin of victory by nearly a second in each of the final five laps.

“What a week, I’ve really enjoyed myself here, but felt like rubbish this morning,’’ said Van Gisbergen, who’s victory was only his second top-10 finish of the season.

“Our car was amazing,’’ he added. “The 54 [Ty Gibbs] was close but that last stint, what a pleasure, just ripping lap after lap and watching them get smaller in the mirror.’’

As thrilled as the crowd may have been to watch Van Gisbergen’s masterwork, there was no doubt they were there to cheer on his Trackhouse teammate, Mexico-native Daniel Suárez, who was celebrated as a hero after his win in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

The grandstands chanted “Dan-iel Dan-iel” and held up signs of support. And Suárez was emotional standing by his car on the starting grid as a local children’s choir sang the Mexican National Anthem before the race. Ultimately, he ended up 19th – leading briefly early and finishing with a pass on the final lap.

On the race’s cool-down lap, Suárez pulled his car alongside Van Gisbergen’s parked car to offer congratulations on the big win.

“I feel like today, I gave my best, but it just wasn’t good enough,’’ Suárez said. “I wish I was in the mix a little more fighting up front, but it just wasn’t in the cards today. I’m happy with the performance, I don’t feel like I left anything on the table, just wasn’t meant to be.”

As for the event in Mexico City – something Suárez has worked so hard to promote, he was ecstatic calling the whole experience.

“It couldn’t have been any better,’’ a proud Suárez said. “I’ve been here since Tuesday just working, doing promotion for sponsors, for the race itself, for fans. Every single thing that we did exceeded my expectations. The fans were amazing. Yesterday you could hear them for their passions. It is an experience I for sure won’t forget for a very very long time.’’

In the end, it was the New Zealand national anthem played on the stadium speaker as NASCAR did a unique post-race celebration having the top-three finishing drivers – Van Gisbergen, Bell and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott – stand on  podiums and hoist trophies.

The victory was particularly rewarding for Van Gisbergen, considering the amount of adversity he faced this week in Mexico. He was sick to his stomach Sunday morning and his crew showed up a day later than the other teams after some travel challenges.

In the end, however, Van Gisbergen had to tell his crew chief to stop telling him to “slow down” in those closing laps. “I was just trying to stay in a rhythm,’’ he said.

Van Gisbergen said he texted with his friend and fellow Red Bull-sponsored racer, reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen, a five-time Mexico City F1 race winner, who gave him a few tips on the braking zones and racing lines.

And the Kiwi did all that, capping off the day with his unique victory celebration – punting a rugby ball into the cheering grandstand crowd that certainly got their money’s worth.

Not only did Van Gisbergen prevail in some tough circumstances, Bell’s work was also impressive, considering he finished runner-up after starting 31st. Elliott rolled into the top-five with about 25 laps remaining and steadily moved forward. Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman finished fourth and Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell was fifth.

John Hunter Nemechek, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer, championship points leader William Byron and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-five.

Also notable on Sunday, there was a brief post-race confrontation on pit road stemming from an incident two weeks ago at Nashville between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carson Hocevar.

The former Daytona 500 winner Stenhouse leaned into Hocevar’s car and had words with the 22-year old, ultimately telling reporters that he promised to settle the score in the near future. It was unclear what happened Sunday to precipitate the confrontation. Stenhouse finished 27th and Hocevar was 34th.

Championship front-runner Kyle Larson was collected in an eight-car accident only seven laps into the race and finished 36th – 38 laps down. That cost him dearly in the regular season standings and now he trails his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron by 67 points with 10 races remaining to settle the Playoff field of 16.

The series returns stateside for next Sunday’s The Great American Getaway 400 (2 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Ryan Blaney is the defending race winner.


NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 16
Race Results for the Viva Mexico 250 - Sunday, June 15, 2025
Aut?dromo Hermanos Rodr?guez - Mexico City, MX - 2.42 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 100 Laps - 242. Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/15/2025 @ 06:59 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 1 88 Shane Van Gisbergen # Safety Culture Chevrolet 100  1 50 Running 5 60 6
2 31 20 Christopher Bell Mobil 1 Toyota 100  2 44 Running 2 4
3 12 9 Chase Elliott LLumar Chevrolet 100 9  36 Running  
4 29 48 Alex Bowman Ally Chevrolet 100  3 41 Running  
5 5 71 Michael McDowell B'laster Chevrolet 100 4 5 45 Running 1 2
6 32 42 John Hunter Nemechek Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota 100   31 Running  
7 19 19 Chase Briscoe Bass Pro Shops Toyota 100   30 Running  
8 26 41 Cole Custer HaasTooling.com Ford 100   29 Running  
9 27 24 William Byron Valvoline Chevrolet 100   28 Running 1 1
10 16 17 Chris Buescher Body Guard Ford 100  7 31 Running 1 1
11 4 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy Toyota 100   26 Running 3 27
12 25 23 Bubba Wallace Chumba Casino Toyota 100 8  28 Running  
13 8 16 AJ Allmendinger LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 100   24 Running  
14 18 12 Ryan Blaney Wurth Ford 100 2 4 39 Running  
15 2 60 Ryan Preece Kroger/Colgate Ford 100 1  32 Running 1 4 1
16 3 1 Ross Chastain Wendy's Frosty Swirls Chevrolet 100 3  29 Running  
17 14 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 100 6  25 Running  
18 20 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Quaker State Ford 100   19 Running 1 1
19 10 99 Daniel Suarez Telcel Chevrolet 100 10 10 20 Running  
20 22 45 Tyler Reddick Xfinity Mobile Toyota 100   17 Running  
21 9 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 100   16 Running  
22 7 34 Todd Gilliland Long John Silver's Ford 100 5  21 Running  
23 36 11 Ryan Truex(i) Yahoo! Toyota 100   0 Running  
24 17 7 Justin Haley Gainbridge Chevrolet 100   13 Running  
25 30 6 Brad Keselowski Castrol Ford 100   12 Running  
26 13 21 Josh Berry DEX Imaging Ford 100   11 Running  
27 33 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fun Pops Chevrolet 100   10 Running  
28 21 3 Austin Dillon Boot Barn Chevrolet 100  6 14 Running  
29 15 35 Riley Herbst # Monster Energy Zero Sugar Toyota 100  8 11 Running  
30 35 4 Noah Gragson Long John Silver's Ford 100   7 Running  
31 34 51 Cody Ware Arrowhead Brass Ford 100   6 Running  
32 37 78 * Katherine Legge e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet 99   5 Running  
33 28 10 Ty Dillon Ohio Logistics Chevrolet 99   4 Running  
34 23 77 Carson Hocevar Totalplay Chevrolet 99 7 9 9 Running  
35 24 38 Zane Smith Benebone Ford 76   2 Drivetrain  
36 6 5 Kyle Larson Valvoline Chevrolet 58   2 Running  
37 11 8 Kyle Busch Lucas Oil Chevrolet 6   1 Accident  

Fastest Lap Bonus:  # lap 34 / 93.782
5                                                                    

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 14 Mins, 4 Secs. Average Speed: 74.82 MPH Margin of Victory: 16.567 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 60, 12, 1, 71, 34, 43, 77, 23, 9, 99
Stage 2 Top 10: 88, 20, 48, 12, 71, 3, 17, 35, 77, 99

Race Comments: Shane Van Gisbergen won the Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, his second NASCAR Cup Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following car dropped to the rear for the reason indicated: No. 4 (backup car).

Failed to Qualify: None.

Caution Flags: 6 for 16 laps; Laps: 2-4 (Precipitation [None]); 8-9 (#7, 19, 38, 9, 8, 5, 16, 34 incident turn 1 [None]); 22-24 (Stage 1 Conclusion [19]); 33-34 (#11 incident turn 10 [19]); 47-49 (Stage 2 Conclusion [7]); 66-68 (#77 stalled on track [38]).

Lead Changes: 14 among 8 drivers; S. Van Gisbergen # 1-2; C. Buescher 3; A. Cindric 4; T. Gibbs 5-9; S. Van Gisbergen # 10-18; R. Preece 19-22; M. McDowell 23-24; T. Gibbs 25-42; S. Van Gisbergen # 43-48; C. Bell 49-51; S. Van Gisbergen # 52-62; T. Gibbs 63-66; W. Byron 67; C. Bell 68; S. Van Gisbergen # 69-100.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 22, 2025 - Pocono Raceway

NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications @ P.O. Box 2875, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-2875



NASCAR Cup Series Points Report
Aut?dromo Hermanos Rodr?guez
Viva Mexico 250

UNOFFICIAL Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 6/15/2025 @ 08:13 PM Eastern UNOFFICIAL

Rank Driver Car Starts GL Points Ldr Nxt Race Wins Stage Wins Playoff Pts
1. William Byron 24 16 0 604 0 0 1 7 12
2. Kyle Larson 5 16 0 537 -67 67 3 8 23
3. Christopher Bell 20 16 -1 524 -80 13 3 1 16
4. Chase Elliott 9 16 -1 500 -104 24 0 0 0
5. Denny Hamlin  15 2 494 -110 6 3 3 18
6. Tyler Reddick 45 16 0 477 -127 17 0 0 0
7. Ryan Blaney 12 16 0 466 -138 11 1 3 8
8. Ross Chastain 1 16 0 443 -161 23 1 0 5
9. Joey Logano 22 16 0 411 -193 32 1 2 7
10. Bubba Wallace 23 16 0 411 -193 0 0 2 2
11. Chase Briscoe 19 16 0 393 -211 18 0 0 0
12. Alex Bowman 48 16 -1 376 -228 17 0 0 0
13. Chris Buescher 17 16 1 373 -231 3 0 1 -4
14. Ryan Preece 60 16 0 354 -250 19 0 2 2
15. Austin Cindric 2 16 -1 337 -267 17 1 2 7
16. Michael McDowell 71 16 -7 330 -274 7 0 0 0
17. AJ Allmendinger 16 16 -2 328 -276 2 0 0 0
18. Kyle Busch 8 16 3 323 -281 5 0 0 0
19. Josh Berry 21 16 2 320 -284 3 1 1 6
20. Carson Hocevar 77 16 2 313 -291 7 0 0 0
21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 47 16 1 312 -292 1 0 0 0
22. Erik Jones 43 16 1 311 -293 1 0 0 0
23. John Hunter Nemechek 42 16 -2 301 -303 10 0 0 0
24. Ty Gibbs 54 16 0 296 -308 5 0 0 0
25. Zane Smith 38 16 3 287 -317 9 0 0 0
26. Todd Gilliland 34 16 -1 286 -318 1 0 0 0
27. Austin Dillon 3 16 1 284 -320 2 0 0 0
28. Daniel Suarez 99 16 0 274 -330 10 0 0 0
29. Justin Haley 7 16 0 247 -357 27 0 0 0
30. Shane Van Gisbergen # 88 16 -3 242 -362 5 1 1 6
31. Ty Dillon 10 16 1 236 -368 6 0 0 0
32. Brad Keselowski 6 16 0 233 -371 3 0 0 0
33. Noah Gragson 4 16 2 231 -373 2 0 0 0
34. Cole Custer 41 16 -1 204 -400 27 0 0 0
35. Riley Herbst # 35 16 1 196 -408 8 0 0 0
36. Cody Ware 51 16 0 101 -503 95 0 0 0
37. Jimmie Johnson  2 0 35 -569 66 0 0 0
38. * Katherine Legge 78 2 0 12 -592 23 0 0 0
39. Derek Kraus  1 0 5 -599 7 0 0 0
40. Chad Finchum  2 0 3 -601 2 0 0 0
41. Casey Mears  1 0 2 -602 1 0 0 0
42. Burt Myers  1 0 1 -603 1 0 0 0
43. Martin Truex, Jr.  1 0 1 -603 0 0 0 0
44. Justin Allgaier(i)  1 1 0 -604 1 0 0 0
45. Corey Heim(i)  2 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
46. Bj Mcleod(i)  2 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
47. Corey Lajoie(i)  3 7 0 -604 0 0 0 0
48. Connor Zilisch(i)  2 -1 0 -604 0 0 0 0
49. Ryan Truex(i) 11 1 47 0 -604 0 0 0 0
50. Jesse Love(i)  3 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
51. Anthony Alfredo(i)  1 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
52. Austin Hill(i)  1 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
53. Jj Yeley(i)  5 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
54. Josh Bilicki(i)  2 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0
55. Chandler Smith(i)  0 2 0 -604 0 0 0 0
56. Helio Castroneves  1 0 0 -604 0 0 0 0

-Ldr/-Nxt = Points behind Leader/Next higher, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series