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MEXICO CITY — A four-day stretch that in some ways couldn’t have gone much worse culminated in an afternoon that couldn’t have gone much better for Shane van Gisbergen.
Shane Van Gisbergen takes the center of the podium after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at Mexico –> <!–>
Mired in 33rd in the NASCAR Cup Series standings and struggling in a rookie season, van Gisbergen captured the inaugural Cup race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez as the Trackhouse Racing team overcame travel woes that resulted in them only having a partial crew for practice Friday.
“Crazy weekend and everyone dug deep,” van Gisbergen said. “Everyone banded together. Those engineers arriving yesterday right before qualifying and the night before mechanics — it was a skeleton crew really on Friday.
“Credit to everyone who banded together and came up with a plan. And it ended up amazing.”
It didn’t come as easy as the margin of victory of 16.567 seconds, the largest gap between a winner and second place in a Cup race in nearly 16 years. The three-time Supercars champion, in his second year of racing in NASCAR, battled sickness that he said had him feeling “pretty rubbish today leaking out both holes.”
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Despite the sickness, van Gisbergen’s dominance didn’t surprise many. —
Shane van Gisbergen celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Viva Mexico 250 <!–>
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A stout road racer, he won in his first Cup start in 2023 when he prevailed at the inaugural Chicago street course race in a one-off event for Trackhouse Racing. That started conversations for van Gisbergen to move from New Zealand full time and compete in NASCAR, where he raced primarily in the Xfinity Series last season.
Having won the pole on Saturday and knowing he had a solid car, van Gisbergen said he felt queasy during the first stage of the event Sunday on the 15-turn, 2.42-mile road course before medication kicked in for the remainder of the 100-lap race.
“The first stint, I was feeling pretty average,” van Gisbergen said. “I was like, ‘This is going to be a long race. … I looked at my watch and my heart rate, and I needed to calm down a bit. I kind of had to manage myself, whereas normally it’s just push flat out without a think of the fitness.”
While he led 60 of the 100 laps, van Gisbergen did need the cautions to fall his way to align with when he put on tires and took fuel. They did, allowing him to lead the final 32 laps.
“The car was obviously OK, but he’s unbelievable,” said SVG crew chief Stephen Doran. “It’s amazing to watch him race at tracks like this.”
Doran didn’t have too much of a concern that van Gisbergen’s illness would significantly impact his performance. But it was a little unknown as van Gisbergen said the illness came quickly Saturday afternoon and evening.
Shane Van Gisbergen and more post-race interviews from Viva Mexico 250
Having traveled extensively, van Gisbergen said he tried to be careful with what he was putting in his body during the weekend.
“My mind was clear but my body, I just had so much pressure in my stomach,” van Gisbergen said.
If van Gisbergen was in pain during the race, he didn’t indicate it to his team.
“I just kept reminding him to keep drinking some fluids,” Doran said. “He had some little squeeze packs of energy pouches in the car with him. I could tell by his tone that he wasn’t struggling too bad once he got racing.”
Everyone in the facility could tell he had the dominant mix of machine and skill.
“I just need to work on myself a little bit, figure out what Shane was doing through a couple sections of the race track,” said second-place finisher Christopher Bell.
Daniel Suarez, teammate to van Gisbergen, said SVG had a solid setup. Suarez came in as the home country favorite and had delighted the crowd by winning the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Starting 10th, Suarez finished 19th, a result of not being fast enough (losing speed on the long green-flag runs) and the cautions not coming out at times that would match his strategy.
“We don’t have exactly the same race cars,” Suarez said. “We have different [geometry], different springs, so the cars are not the same. And then the strategy — today the strategy didn’t work out.
“Do I think that with the same strategy I was going to beat him? I don’t know. It’s impossible to say. … We just have to continue to work, and hopefully we get better enough in the next 10 weeks to make it into the playoffs.”
The playoffs.
For van Gisbergen, the victory vaulted him into the 16-driver playoffs despite his points position. The only way he would miss the playoffs is if there are more winners than 16 playoff spots (van Gisbergen was the 10th winner this year and 10 races remain in the regular season) as points are used as the tiebreaker.
“That’s why I’m here, to win road races,” van Gisbergen said. “But I’m not here to run last on the ovals, either. I need to keep getting better to justify being a Cup Series driver. I need to be performing on the ovals, too.
“I feel like we’re really making strides, but this is what I’m here to do – make the playoffs, put another Trackhouse car in the playoffs.”
In the first 10 oval races this year, van Gisbergen finished once in the top 20. In the four oval races leading into Mexico City, van Gisbergen earned three top 20s.
So it appears he has made progress. Slow progress but progress, nonetheless.
That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a frustrating year. But van Gisbergen is known as someone who will fight through the struggles.
And the victory Sunday amid sickness appears to be no exception. He had no plans of going to sleep or taking more meds.
“I’m going to mix some Red Bulls with some adult beverages,” he said.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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