Van Gisbergen roars into Cup Series playoffs with Mexico City walloping

Shane van Gisbergen did it again Sunday in Mexico City as the winner of a NASCAR Cup Series inaugural event, and in doing so, went from outside the top 30 in points to a postseason berth.

Van Gisbergen, who arrived in NASCAR by winning the inaugural event in Chicago two years ago, was the dominant car at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez after starting from the pole. In addition to winning the race by 16.5s over Christopher Bell, van Gisbergen won the second stage and led the most laps, 60 of 100.

“What a week; I’ve really enjoyed myself here,” van Gisbergen said. “I felt pretty rubbish today... That wasn’t fun. But thank you to Safety Culture, Trackhouse, Chevy and ECR engines. Our car was amazing. I think the [No.] 54 was close, but that last stint, man, what a pleasure to just rip it lap after lap and watch them get smaller in the mirror. Unreal.”

Van Gisbergen's No. 88 cycled to the race lead for the final time when the final caution flew on lap 65. He had been among the drivers who had pitted before the caution came out, which kept him on track under the yellow and put him back at the front of the field.

Once the race restarted on lap 69, van Gisbergen made quick work of shaking Alex Bowman and Bell and drove away. Chase Elliott charged late to finish third, and Bowman faded to fourth. Michael McDowell finished fifth.

John Hunter Nemechek finished sixth, Chase Briscoe seventh, Cole Custer eighth, William Byron ninth and Chris Buescher 10th.

The afternoon started with a caution before the first lap of the race was complete because of rain. NASCAR deemed the conditions damp, which left it in the hands of the race teams to determine whether they wanted to keep with slick tires or put on the wets. Chris Buescher and Austin Cindric were the only two who initially stayed on the slick tires, and the field would be split on strategy until the track dried out.

Kyle Busch brought out a caution on lap seven when he spun entering Turn 1 and collected multiple drivers. The incident ended Busch’s day, and he was the only driver who fell out of the race early. It took away the chances of Kyle Larson, who fell multiple laps down, as well as Zane Smith. AJ Allmendinger and Justin Haley were also involved.

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Ryan Preece won the first stage over Ryan Blaney and Ross Chastain. In the second stage, Ty Gibbs and van Gisbergen further solidified their contender status. Gibbs would pit before the stage break, and van Gisbergen took the stage win.

The final stage was largely uneventful as far as cautions. Carson Hocevar spinning on lap 65 was the only one, but it cemented van Gisbergen at the front of the field while Gibbs fell out of contention.

When the race restarted, Gibbs quickly moved into the top 10 but stalled in ninth place for much of the run. He ultimately finished 11th after leading 27 laps.

Allmendinger rebounded from being collected in the lap seven caution and finished 13th. Preece fell out of contention when he was called for driving through too many pit stalls and finished 15th.

Local favorite Daniel Suarez finished 19th after winning Saturday's Xfinity Series race, but was not a factor Sunday.

Ryan Truex finished 23rd in his substitution role for Denny Hamlin. Truex had an adventurous afternoon that saw him spin multiple times.

There were six caution flags Sunday afternoon. The race featured 14 lead changes among eight drivers.

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