Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen altered the NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture with his dominant win at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday. Despite battling an illness, the 36-year-old New Zealander took charge during the final 32-lap green-flag run and won by a whopping 16.567 seconds over Christopher Bell.
Van Gisbergen led a race-high 60 of the 100 laps around the 2.42-mile, 15-turn road course to win the first international points-paying race for the Cup Series since 1958. It is the second time van Gisbergen has won the debut race at a track after claiming the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023. Behind van Gisbergen and Bell in the top-five were Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, with Spire Motorsports' Michael McDowell in fifth.
Updated Cup Series standings after Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Driver Standings | Points | Behind |
|---|---|---|
1, William Byron | 604 | 0 |
2. Kyle Larson | 537 | -67 |
3. Christopher Bell | 524 | -80 |
4. Chase Elliott | 500 | -104 |
5. Denny Hamlin | 494 | -110 |
6. Tyler Reddick | 477 | -127 |
7. Ryan Blaney | 466 | -138 |
8. Ross Chastain | 443 | -161 |
9. Joey Logano | 411 | -193 |
10. Bubba Wallace | 411 | -193 |
A quiet ninth-place finish was all William Byron needed to extend his points lead (+67) over teammate Kyle Larson due to Larson's 36th-place result. Bell and Elliott each jump ahead of Denny Hamlin, who missed Sunday's race following the birth of his third child earlier in the week. The rest of the top-10 remains the same.
Notable drivers outside the top-10 in the overall standings include Chase Briscoe (11th), Alex Bowman (12th), Talladega winner Austin Cindric (15th), Kyle Busch (18th), Las Vegas winner Josh Berry (19th), Carson Hocevar (20th), Ty Gibbs (24th), Daniel Suarez (28th) and Brad Keselowski (32nd).
Keep in mind, a win will most likely guarantee a driver a playoff berth with 16 spots up for grabs. After Mexico City, Larson, Hamlin, Bell, Byron, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Cindric, Berry, van Gisbergen and Ross Chastain are the season's 10 winners. Van Gisbergen's win moves him from 33rd in the overall standings to ninth in the playoff field.
With van Gisbergen vaulting up to ninth, that moves Chris Buescher down to the 16th and final playoff spot (+19) over Ryan Preece. Kyle Busch entered Mexico City tied with Preece for the final spot, but fell to 20th (-50) after crashing out of the race on Lap 7. With 10 regular-season races remaining, things are going to change, but that is the position drivers currently find themselves in after Sunday's race at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
One thing to keep in mind is the importance of both regular-season points standings and playoff standings. While drivers with wins vault to the top of the points standings and guarantee themselves a playoff spot, assuming there are no more than 16 winners, the overall points are equally important.
The regular-season champion by season's end will earn an additional 15 playoff points, second place will get 10 and drivers third-to-10th in points will receive points in descending order down to one point for 10th.