NASCAR Insider sheds light on "really scary situation" involving Shane van Gisbergen before Mexico glory

In Mexico, Shane van Gisbergen earned the second NASCAR Cup win of his career. Gisbergen took the checkered flag by a massive margin of over 15 seconds of the next driver to cross the line.

However, as per Jeff Gluck on The Teardown podcast, the Trackhouse Racing driver almost didn't make it to the race weekend on time.

After the race, Gluck took the mic on his podcast, recalling the bumpy start to the weekend for many NASCAR teams and drivers, including Shane van Gisbergen. The NASCAR insider shed light on the travel woes some teams faced as the governing body instructed the teams to not take their own planes to Mexico.

Instead, they were asked to travel along with their industry colleagues on a charter service that NASCAR had arranged. But right at the time the planes were supposed to take off, one of them faced serious issues.

"I think there was two planes with problems. One of the planes though was on takeoff and from our understanding was going approximately 160 miles per hour at the time, had its nose ready to lift off the ground, and one of the engines blew. This was the plane that Shane van Gisbergen was on, among other people. Very scary situation there. Thank goodness the pilots did not try to take off. They slammed on the brakes. That was a really scary situation," Gluck described. [25:00]

Because of this incident, the individuals on that plane were forced to find their own way down to Mexico. As a result, the Xfinity Series schedule ended up being affected with no track activity on Friday (June 13), which then put the Cup practice further back. Gluck further revealed that Shane Van Gisbergen arrived only a few hours before Cup practice began on Saturday.

Despite this, SVG ended up winning the race on Sunday (June 15) by a record margin.

Shane van Gisbergen was pleased with his performance in the last stint of the race at Mexico

Speaking after his win in Mexico, Shane van Gisbergen opened up on his thoughts. The Kiwi driver claimed he had really enjoyed his time in Mexico City as he continued (via Motorsport):

"I felt pretty rubbish today leaking out both holes. That wasn't fun. Thank you to SafetyCulture, Trackhouse, Chevy, and ECR engines. Our car was amazing. I think the #54 [Gibbs] was close, but that last stint, man, what a pleasure just ripping lap after lap and watching them get smaller in the mirror. Unreal."

Although Mexico turned out to be his second Cup win, Shane van Gisbergen's chapter in NASCAR has had more feathers in his cap. Before going full-time in 2025 in the Cup Series, van Gisbergen competed in the Xfinity Series in 2024 where he took three wins, two of which came in a row.

And now with his win at Mexico, SVG has locked himself in the playoffs in his first season as a full-timer.