NASCAR CUP SERIES: VIVA MEXICO 250

June 15, 2025

Shane van Gisbergen

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by our race winner, Shane Van Gisbergen. Maybe open us up with some thoughts on the experience here in Mexico City and the dominant performance you just showed us.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Thank you, everyone. Brilliant day, brilliant weekend for us with a pole and a win. I really am stoked for SafetyCulture to get a great result with them. We've had speed with them on the car but never had a great result. Amazing to win with an Australian company on the car.

And yeah, thank you so much to the Trackhouse guys, Chevy, ECR Engines, and everyone who's supported us and dug deep. It's been a tough start to the year, but there's been a lot of bright spots lately, a lot of progress, and today was -- that last stint I struggled to enjoy it because I'm just praying that a yellow wouldn't come out, but the car was just, like, unreal, just so balanced.

And yeah, kind of took off to a lap time and thought, maybe the 48 is cruising, maybe he's not, and then they just blew off. Yeah, those last 10 or 15 was pretty special.

Q. Shane, you had this totally weird weekend with the plane and then I guess you were sick. What ailment did you have? How did you get sick? Do you have any idea?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I have no idea. I've been so careful. I try to treat it like when I go to Asia, just drink bottled water and be careful when you shower and brush your teeth with bottled water.

Yeah, yesterday after qualifying I just went really downhill and couldn't keep anything in. Everything just went straight through me.

I missed a lot of stuff pre-race which is a shame, so I apologize to people for missing that. They gave me a couple of whatever it was, and it took a while in the race to feel better. I felt really queasy. My mind was clear but my body, I just had so much pressure in my stomach.

But yeah, crazy weekend and everyone dug deep. 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 come up with a plan, and yeah, it ended up amazing.

Q. You mentioned it's been a tough year. This win gets you into the playoffs. What second life does that give you? How are you feeling now?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, it means everything to us. That's essentially why I'm here, right? But I am getting better and more competitive on ovals. I said earlier, my average oval running position has gone from 85th to 10th to 20th or 10th to 15th on a good day.

Like we're really making a lot of progress and sort of not been forcing. I've been methodical, got better every got better every week, and it'll been really fun working with my 88 crew all year, but the last couple of months, yeah, it's been great to show some improvement and be competitive.

Q. Following up on that, there's five road courses during the regular season. What is the pressure like going into one of these races knowing it's one of five to get in the playoffs, where things are at for you guys?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I didn't let it get to me this week, but there probably was. Yeah, the way we've been going and that expectation every week that the 88 is going to be up the front on any right-hand corners.

Yeah, I guess there is, but we handled it pretty well. The atmosphere on the team, we were really stoked yesterday but didn't lose focus. There's no points for pole position, but my laps yesterday were terrible. If I put all my sectors together we would have been lights out.

We still had a lot of work to do to the car, but I guess we just kept our heads down.

Q. There was a stretch in the race where you were behind Ty Gibbs. Were you just kind of riding there or biding your time or was he just faster at that moment?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: A bit of both. I tried to really get to him because he was pushing 10:10s it looked like, but as soon as I pushed and was in dirty air the brakes just cooked themselves, the engine temp went up, and, yeah, the thinner air really affects the car.

Yeah, I kind of backed off, but it was all sort of track position. Like if I was out front, he would have had the same problem behind me. Yeah, it would have been really interesting to see how that strategy played out at the end.

Lucky for us. But yeah, he was driving really well.

Q. I wanted to ask you a little bit, it seemed like after your last pit stop you were a little unsure that maybe something wasn't tightened. Maybe you could tell us what that was.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, we just -- you're running such a low tire pressure here, and when the tire is cold and baggy it's a weird tire and it feels like the car was moving. I just asked for reassurance really and they reviewed the tape and they told me multiple times the wheels were tight.

After that last restart it felt terrible, but two, three laps later the tires come up to pressure and we were okay.

Yeah, the first set of tires was like that, too. It's just these tires feel really odd.

Q. That must be hard as a driver to talk yourself down and say I trust in what they're telling me.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I had so many noises and stuff going on those last few laps and begging not for a yellow and stuff like that. It's a real relief when you get to that white flag and can enjoy the last lap.

Q. You won by such a large margin, and I guess you also were like, let me go, let me go, and they were telling you calm down, but I believe it's one of the largest margins of victory this season if not the, so...

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, that's unreal. Yeah, Stephen kept telling me to slow down and telling what the other guys were doing, you know. I tried to back it off six, eight tenths, and I just kept making mistakes. You just lose focus and you start thinking about what's going to happen.

I just wanted to knuckle down and concentrate on the task at hand, and I think it was 36 zeros and 35 eights. I was just trying to do that every lap and challenge myself to be consistent to not lose focus.

Q. Did they give you any medication or anything during the race, and pre-race did you go and get fluids? What did you have to do?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I don't know what it was they gave me, but certainly helped. I took it just before I got in the car and took probably an hour into that first stage. I drunk as much as I could and I thought I was starting to get a bit better by then.

Q. Were you lucky it was cool temperatures and everything or were you feeling pretty bad in the car during the race?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: The first stint I was feeling pretty average. I was like, this is going to be a long race. It's 100 laps and the first stage with only 25, I think. I looked at my watch and my heart rate, need 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.

Yeah, it's pretty average to feel like that in a race car.

Q. What was the most difficult part of the circuit for you?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Probably the restarts. Yeah, it felt kind of like -- not that I've ever led a superspeedway, but how you took off with the restarts you really needed to time the guy behind you to try to get a push, and if you didn't you'd get swallowed up, which I did on a couple of them.

Yeah, that's the kind of restarts I don't have experience at, I guess, or enough skill yet to place myself in the right spot. Yeah, definitely need to improve that. But yeah, that's probably the hardest bit was the restarts.

Q. After everything that's happened, does it now feel like a déjà-vu compared to Chicago?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: No, it feels completely different, like I felt pretty out of place at Chicago. No one knew who I was and we were pretty under the radar really into that weekend which was perfect for me. This weekend the expectation and the favoritism is there, so it feels polar opposites really.

Yeah, this weekend is really like a privilege to execute, and everyone did their job right, the pit crew, the strategy. Yeah, it's amazing how it worked out.

Q. How do you feel after winning for the first time in México with all that means, being the first time that the Cup Series is being held here in Mexico City?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, it was amazing. Yesterday I had goose bumps watching Daniel win at the hotel, and I've won at home before when Supercars went to New Zealand, and New Zealanders are a bit more reserved, I guess, than Mexicans, and it was amazing, the reception, the crowd.

Even today when he was on wets and he's got no chance, I got to the lead and you just see the crowd erupt. It's amazing the support that he had and how much this race meant to everyone, and you see people so stoked to meet you for the first time. Like they've been NASCAR fans for years but never been able to see the race in person.

I thought it was a really cool weekend, and I'd love to come back here.

Q. What is your opinion about the Autódromo Rodriguez, the track in particular?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I didn't find it the most challenging. It's all first and second gear corners so quite boring. I like a track with fast corners and you've really got to hang on to the car and commit.

The track itself wasn't very challenging. It was first and second gear everywhere and a lot of technique, I guess, but that's why in qualifying everyone was within eight tenths or a second. It's close because the track is not challenging.

But that's probably what made the racing so close, I think.

Q. This is a season changer for you; you're in the playoffs. What's your emotions taking away from this win, especially in a historic race down here for the first time in the Cup Series?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, as I said earlier, that's why I'm here, to win road races. 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 yeah, this is what I'm here to do, make the playoffs, put another Trackhouse car in the playoffs, and yeah, can't wait to do the victory lunch during the week at Trackhouse and just see how stoked everyone is there.

You see the effort everyone puts in, and they don't get the glory. They're just stuck at the shop. I love taking that and sharing that moment with them during the week.

Q. Does this take the pressure off the other road courses that you would have had to worry about throughout the rest of the year?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Maybe. But it might change -- it changed last year how we raced. We started, we won the race at Portland, then we started racing for playoff points and changed our approach to the races with flipping stages and stuff like that.

Now we're trying to get as many playoff points as we can. Yeah, I guess it does take some pressure off because we can freestyle a little bit more, but every race we go to, the expectation is going to be there.

Q. Are you feeling well enough to celebrate tonight, or is this going to be something that impacts you and you're just going to go back and go to sleep? How are you feeling now?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I'm going to mix some Red Bulls with some adult beverages.

Q. Is your firesuit clean?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: We had a spare one ready to go, but all good, no dramas. Safe.

Q. You talked a little bit about the vibe and the atmosphere of this. Did it meet up with your expectations, and how did it compare to some of the other events that you've raced in around the globe?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, I tried not to have expectations coming here, just have an open mind. It's a fresh place and did as much study and I could, but I didn't know how we were going to be received, what the city would be like and stuff like that.

Yeah, it's a cool place. I'm not a city person, so I'm looking forward to getting back to the farm at Mooresville and chilling out. But it's a cool place.

Q. Do you think that México should stay in the NASCAR series Cup calendar for the next years, and how important is the voice of you as drivers for making this possible?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Is it not locked in for next year?

Q. No.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I'd love to come back. It's always cool going to different places. But I have no say in it.

But yeah, I think everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The racing was cool. I'd love to come back.

Q. I'm really curious about what Max Verstappen told you. I'm amazed to hear that you said the track wasn't challenging. I'm curious, did he say that?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: I just look for every advantage I can. I know he's raced here in the rain and he's a friend of mine, and I walked out on to pit road this morning and it was amazing how slick it was.

Normally on a wet circuit the tarmac has grip and the white lines are slipperier. It was the opposite. It was like ice how slippery it was out there.

I just reached out to him, was the grip on line, off line, what kind of techniques did he use, and, yeah, he didn't say too much, but it's always good to get a little leg up, you know.

Q. How much are you willing, NASCAR 2026 has a new venue because those are the places you're shining bright. Rumor has it maybe Canada is going to be in the schedule next year.

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: Yeah, new places are always great. When we go to like a Darlington or a Texas or a Vegas and I'm three, four-years behind really what these guys do, and the car can go flat out at Vegas on the first lap and I'm like, Jesus Christ, we're doing 310Ks into here and I have to go flat out.

It's eye-opening stuff, and practice always takes me a bit of time. That's how I've grown up racing.

Yeah, I love new places. It puts me on a level playing field. I always feel like I'm playing catch-up, and every time I go back to a track for a second time in a Cup car, I feel like I make big gains, so yeah.

Q. How special will Hermanos Rodríguez racetrack be in your career?

SHANE VAN GISBERGEN: It's certainly up there. Yeah, I've been very lucky to take part in some great races, win a few majors, I guess, and this is certainly up there. It probably wasn't sunk in yet, but as I said I've been lucky enough to race in Europe, Asia, and I've never raced here. There's a couple places left I'd love to go and race, but yeah, I'm stoked to tick off another cool race.