Is it all right to point out when something doesn’t happen?
OK, good.
The Boys in the Booth did not throw a caution flag during Sunday’s closing laps in Mexico City.
Shane van Gisbergen was so far ahead, he’d win the race and be done with his donuts and burnout while many drivers were still completing the final lap.
If a situation ever called for a visit from good ol’ Jacques Debris, that was it. We’ve all made fun of NASCAR over the years for those mysterious debris cautions that spring up when a rout is unfolding in the later laps, but this time, the yellow flag remained holstered.
Best guess: They were ready to get outta there. From a marketing standpoint, NASCAR’s first Cup Series visit to Mexico City appears to have succeeded. But logistically, what a pain. It didn’t help when one of the chartered jets blew an engine before leaving the Charlotte runway.
A lot of personnel, including a good chunk of van Gisbergen’s crew, arrived late for the weekend. And then it rained.
And finally, SVG “stunk up the show,” to borrow (and tweak) an old Bill France Jr. term.
Thankfully, he didn’t stink up the cockpit.
Huh? We’ll get to that, and more, as we throttle up.
First Gear: SVG plugs the leaks with a checkered flag in Mexico City
Compared to crediting Goodyear and the pit crew, professing love for the wife and kids back home, and thanking the ticket buyers, this wasn’t your typical winner’s interview from SVG.
“I felt pretty rubbish today,” he began, “leaking out both holes.”
He wasn’t talking about his Chevy. It was a short-lived illness that came on suddenly Saturday night and departed in time-honored fashion.
But for a few hours Sunday afternoon, the exit ramps were closed and Shane did what he’s been hired to do — show off on the road courses while hopefully improving enough on ovals to become a threat instead of an accessory in the playoffs.
After races at Pocono and Atlanta the next two weeks, NASCAR has back-to-back road races at Chicago and Sonoma. The odds boards had SVG heavily favored entering Mexico, so how much of a favorite will he be when Chicago rolls around?
It’s a good time to remind everyone that he still loses more road-course races than he wins. Including his part-time work the previous two seasons, he’s now 2-for-8 on road courses, though he did win three of six in last year’s Xfinity season.
He woke up in Mexico sick to his stomach.
He threw up a few times.
He took some medicine.
He rallied and got back out there.
He had margarita.
Shane van Gisbergen is not just today’s winner.
He’s every frat boy on spring break. pic.twitter.com/5d9uhZeKOs
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) June 16, 2025
Second Gear: So SVG has no shot in the NASCAR playoffs?
Probably not. Barring a serious uptick in oval-track performance, he’d need to thread some needles to go deep in the playoffs.
Step 1 was Sunday’s win and the automatic playoff entry it brings — along with the five-point bonus for the win and another bonus point for winning a stage. Those bonus points transfer to the playoffs, and if he piles up a bunch in the three remaining regular-season road races, it will obviously help.
If he gets through the Round of 16 (Darlington, St. Louis, Bristol), the Round of 12 includes the Charlotte Roval. And the Round of 12 includes Talladega.
It’s tempting to say “stranger things have happened,” but frankly, it’d be shocking to see SVG ride into Phoenix in November as one of the Championship 4.
Third Gear: Ricky Stenhouse prefers north-of-border retribution for Carson Hocevar
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is not happy with Carson Hocevar in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/IaVg0oxItc
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) June 15, 2025
The next two tracks on the schedule — Pocono and Atlanta — are fast ones. In normal times, growing a third eyeball would be beneficial to any driver.
Consider Carson Hocevar. Along with the heavy traffic at high speeds, it’s gonna be pure head-on-a-swivel time as he keeps tabs on the whereabouts of a ticked-off Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who delivered a warning which, you have to assume, has never been uttered before in the nearly eight decades of NASCAR racing.
“I told him I was going to beat his ass once we got back in the states.”
It’s a weird dynamic and probably not rooted in any type of science, but in stock-racing particularly, when two guys develop a history of not playing well together, they find themselves near each other quite often.
Hocevar got into Ricky’s left-rear two weeks earlier in Nashville, which seemed avoidable. Sunday in Mexico, he simply lost his car and, wouldn’t you know it, Ricky was nearby, took the brunt, and later delivered his version of diplomacy to Hocevar.
Yes, there’s some irony here. It wasn’t all that long ago, Ricky Stenhouse was the driver who went through a period of igniting caution flags and anger. In racing, what goes around will eventually come around. Barring trouble in Turn 2.
Fourth Gear: One more week, and Amazon delivers its Prime product to TNT
That’s Carl Edwards THE BROADCASTER to you 😅#NASCARonPrimepic.twitter.com/nCQWYBD3YM
— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) May 27, 2025
Grandma’s NASCAR blackout has just one more Sunday to go. Pocono will be the fifth and final installment of Amazon Prime’s midseason takeover of the Cup Series.
After that comes five weeks on TNT, which Grandma can find because that’s where she goes to watch “Charmed” every morning. And guess what: The broadcast changes from Prime to TNT, but TNT keeps the Prime roster of on-air talent, which includes Junior and Cousin Carl — Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards.
Not sure if TNT will also keep Prime’s strategy of negating full commercial breaks during green-flag racing. We’ll find out soon enough, but not soon enough for the Prime boycotters.
— Email Ken Willis at [email protected]
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR race in Mexico City ends in rainy rout as SVG plugs leaks
Read the full article here