MEXICO CITY — The NASCAR Cup Series ran its first points race on foreign soil in five decades and New Zealand native Shane van Gisbergen put a beat down on the field Sunday at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Starting his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet from the pole, van Gisbergen led 60 of the 100 laps and beat Christopher Bell to the checkered flag by 16.567 seconds in a race that was run in a constant drizzle.
It was the second NASCAR Cup Series victory for van Gisbergen, who won the Chicago Street Race in 2023.
Van Gisbergen cemented a playoff berth after leading the final 32 circuits.
“What a week. I’ve really enjoyed myself here, but felt like rubbish this morning,” said van Gisbergen. “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.”
Bell started his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 31st and drove through the field to finish second.
“I don’t know. He was really good. Ultimately it was just a third-place day. I felt like Ty (Gibbs) was really good, so the yellow flag bit him and we walked away with second,” Bell said. “Both days – in the Xfinity car, I was the third-place car, and today, I felt like I was the third-place car. I think more than anything it was just me. I need to do a little more homework and figure out where I can be better to keep up with these guys.
“The Joe Gibbs Racing Group brought an amazing Mobil 1 Camry, and I can’t really say that it was my car that was lacking. It was on me this weekend.”
Chase Elliott brought his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet home third.
“Really proud of our No. 9 LLumar Chevy group for sticking with it,” Elliott said. “We were kind of up and down all day and finally got going there a few runs from the end. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) made us a good call to get us on tires. Finally had a restart go halfway decent and got a decent top-three finish out of it.”
Elliott’s teammate, Alex Bowman finished fourth, with Michael McDowell fifth in a Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
