Trackhouse Racing star Shane van Gisbergen will start Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 on pole position after coming out on top in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Saturday, beating the likes of Ryan Preece and Ross Chastain.
A three-time Supercars champion and previous road course winner in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen is always one of the favorites when NASCAR ditches the oval layouts for something a little bit different, and he proved why today, setting the fastest time of 92.776 seconds around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez before rain brought out an early red flag and cut the session short.
The No. 88’s time was just enough to edge Preece and Chastain, who qualified 2nd and 3rd, respectively, with the No. 60 and No. 1 both under one-tenth away from the leading lap time.
With SvG on pole and Chastain third, hometown favorite Daniel Suarez also qualified inside the top 10, marking an excellent session all around for Trackhouse.
Elsewhere in Mexico City, Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five, with former champions such as Kyle Larson and Joey Logano set to start inside the top 10 in sixth and ninth, respectively.
Further down the order, it was a difficult day for Christopher Bell in the No. 20 Toyota, with the three-time 2025 Cup Series race winner only able to put his car 31st in Saturday’s session, enduring something of a nightmare start to his Cup weekend having done well in Xfinity Series qualifying earlier in the day.
Ryan Truex, stepping in for Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing, meanwhile, qualified 36th.
With that said, let’s take a look at Saturday’s qualifying results in full!
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NASCAR Cup Series: Who is on pole in Mexico City?
After qualifying on Saturday, here is the starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City, with the leading lap time and gaps included.
| Position | Driver | Car No. | Team | Lap Time / Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Van Gisbergen | 88 | Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | 92.776 secs |
| 2 | Ryan Preece | 60 | RFK Racing Ford | -0.064 |
| 3 | Ross Chastain | 1 | Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | -0.073 |
| 4 | Ty Gibbs | 54 | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | -0.145 |
| 5 | Michael McDowell | 71 | Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.198 |
| 6 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.208 |
| 7 | Todd Gilliland | 34 | Front Row Motorsports Ford | -0.244 |
| 8 | AJ Allmendinger | 16 | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | -0.246 |
| 9 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske Ford | -0.273 |
| 10 | Daniel Suárez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet | -0.285 |
| 11 | Kyle Busch | 8 | Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | -0.308 |
| 12 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.332 |
| 13 | Josh Berry | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing Ford | -0.382 |
| 14 | Erik Jones | 43 | Legacy Motor Club Toyota | -0.418 |
| 15 | Riley Herbst | 35 | 23XI Racing Toyota | -0.425 |
| 16 | Chris Buescher | 17 | RFK Racing Ford | -0.430 |
| 17 | Justin Haley | 7 | Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet | -0.458 |
| 18 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske Ford | -0.471 |
| 19 | Chase Briscoe | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | -0.481 |
| 20 | Austin Cindric | 2 | Team Penske Ford | -0.543 |
| 21 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet | -0.566 |
| 22 | Tyler Reddick | 45 | 23XI Racing Toyota | -0.569 |
| 23 | Carson Hocevar | 77 | Spire Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.575 |
| 24 | Zane Smith | 38 | Front Row Motorsports Ford | -0.589 |
| 25 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing Toyota | -0.650 |
| 26 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing Ford | -0.652 |
| 27 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.682 |
| 28 | Ty Dillon | 10 | Kaulig Racing Chevrolet | -0.819 |
| 29 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet | -0.828 |
| 30 | Brad Keselowski | 6 | RFK Racing Ford | -0.931 |
| 31 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | -0.944 |
| 32 | John H. Nemechek | 42 | Legacy Motor Club Toyota | -1.282 |
| 33 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet | -1.376 |
| 34 | Cody Ware | 51 | Rick Ware Racing Ford | -1.437 |
| 35 | Noah Gragson | 4 | Front Row Motorsports Ford | -1.640 |
| 36 | Ryan Truex | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota | -1.848 |
| 37 | Katherine Legge | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet | -2.692 |
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