Inaugural Mexico City Cup Series Pole Belongs To SVG

Shane van Gisbergen celebrates the NASCAR Cup Series pole Saturday at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. (Lesley Ann Miller/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

MEXICO CITY – It might have been a shorter Busch Light Pole Qualifying session than expected Saturday at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, but the end result was exactly as expected.

Three-time Australian Supercars champion and NASCAR Cup Series rookie-of-the-year contender Shane van Gisbergen captured the top starting spot ahead of the Viva Mexico 250, as he looks to grab his first win at stock car racing’s top level in nearly two years.

Van Gisbergen took his No. 88 Safety Culture Chevrolet to a lap of one minute, 32.776 seconds (93.904 mph) around the 2.42-mile, 15-turn natural road course for his second career Cup Series pole and first this season.

He’s the 164th driver in Cup Series history to have multiple Cup Series pole positions and Saturday marked the 19th time that an internationally-born driver led qualifying in NASCAR’s premier division, per research by Race Face Digital and Motorsports Reference.

Officials called the session complete with 17 of the 45 scheduled minutes remaining on the clock, when light rain moved over the racetrack after all 37 drivers had turned at least one lap in dry conditions.

“That’s awesome. What a really cool achievement for us and a great starting spot for tomorrow,” said van Gisbergen after learning his run was officially the pole lap. “I’m excited. That’s really cool.

“I think we made some big swings last night after practice,” he continued. “The Safety Culture Chevy was a bit better and had a lot more front grip, which is what I needed. But my laps were average. Everyone was beating me on the first half of the lap, but then my lap got good at the end. I actually went for another lap and was on a ripper before I mucked it up. But we’ve got a lot of speed, which is good.

“It’s been a great improvement. But we know there’s still a lot more to do to be P1 [on Sunday].”

Also of note, Van Gisbergen is the third Cup Series driver to win his first two poles on road courses, joining Tyler Reddick and the late Dan Gurney in that exclusive category.

Van Gisbergen led a qualifying session where all three Trackhouse Racing entries – joined by Ross Chastain (third) and home-country hero Daniel Suarez (10th) timed among the first five rows.

In a relative surprise, RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece qualified second and will join Van Gisbergen on the front row for Sunday’s 100-lap race after getting just one timed lap in before rain squelched the balance of the session.

Preece’s time of 1:32.840 (93.839 mph) in the No. 60 Kroger/Colgate Ford Mustang Dark Horse came while following his teammate Chris Buescher, who has been strong on road courses and won at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) Int’l last fall.

“It actually stings a little worse, because I told Chris I was going to follow him out, and I caught him … so the final few corners, I feel like I probably gave away the pole there because I didn't want to catch him to ruin our second lap,” Preece explained. “But this Colgate-Kroger Ford Mustang is really solid. It’s been good since practice, and we put a lot of effort into this race. So, I’m excited about our chances.”

Chastain shares the second row with Ty Gibbs, the best Toyota and best Joe Gibbs Racing driver in time trials, with Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell lining up fifth.

Kyle Larson, Todd Gilliland, A.J. Allmendinger, Joey Logano, and Chastain closed out the top 10 starters.

Those lining up deeper in the field include Chase Elliott (12th), Buescher (16th), Ryan Blaney (18th), Austin Cindric (20th), Tyler Reddick (22nd), Carson Hocevar (23rd), William Byron (27th), Christopher Bell (31st), and Ryan Truex (36th), who is subbing for Denny Hamlin after Hamlin stayed in North Carolina this week for the birth of his third child.

With just 37 drivers entered, no one missed the field for the first-ever Cup Series points race outside of the United States.

Broadcast coverage of Sunday’s Viva Mexico 250 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is slated for 3 p.m. ET, live on Prime Video, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.