NASCAR Cup Series winner eliminated despite historic win

Shane van Gisbergen remains on the outside of the NASCAR Cup Series in-season tournament despite his win last weekend in Mexico City.

The New Zealander took a brilliant victory in the first ever points-paying Cup Series race held in Mexico, dominating the road course at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the win.

That win would have locked him into a top-three seed for the in-season tournament, were it not for a disastrous lack of performance earlier in the year.

With only one top-10 finish this year prior to Mexico City (at another road circuit, COTA), Van Gisbergen was outside the top 32 in the Cup Series drivers standings prior to his huge win.

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SVG out of in-season tournament

That means that despite taking a race win in the current three-race seeding round of the in-season tournament, SVG failed to even qualify for the tournament thanks to his struggles on ovals.

With the top 32 qualifying for the tournament, Van Gisbergen was sat just on the outside at 33rd at the time of the cut-off.

For the 32 drivers who did qualify, a win in the three-race run of Michigan, Mexico City and Pocano guarantees a top-three seed in the single-elimination tournament – with only Denny Hamlin locked into that spot so far.

Hamlin didn't race in Mexico City after the birth of his third child, but his impressive win at Michigan means he'll be racing against a relatively low-ranked driver in the round of 32.

Mexico City marked the second of three seeding races for the 2025 In-Season Tournament.

Here are the updated seeding positions following Mexico City, with one race remaining: pic.twitter.com/urQ0xsSbQn

— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) June 16, 2025

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