NASCAR / ARCA Race Weekend Recap (Mexico & Berlin)

Winners: Shane van Gisbergen (Cup); Daniel Suarez (Xfinity); plus Treyten Lapcevich (ARCA)

Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and Berlin Raceway

Recap Graphic by Rolando Ramirez - RTR Graphics

 

NASCAR Cup

Shane van Gisbergen Triumphs in Inaugural Cup Series Race in Mexico City

 

An overcast sky and early afternoon drizzle could not dampen the enthusiasm or energy of the huge crowd at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Sunday for the first points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race outside the United States in half a century.

 

And they were not disappointed.

 

As he did at another NASCAR “inaugural race” — on the streets of Chicago two years ago in his national series debut — New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, 36, prevailed again. This time, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing, he claimed a huge 16.567-second victory over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell in the Viva Mexico 250 – the largest margin of victory in the Cup Series since Texas in November 2009.

 

The three-time Australian Supercars champion van Gisbergen — in his first full-time season at the NASCAR Cup Series level — won pole position and led 60 of the race’s 100 laps, including the final 32, easily pulling away from the field to claim his first ever provisional berth in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with the win. He extended his margin of victory by nearly a second in each of the final five laps.

 

“What a week. I’ve really enjoyed myself here, but felt like rubbish this morning,” said van Gisbergen, whose victory was only his second top-10 finish of the season.

 

“Our car was amazing,” he added. “The 54 [Ty Gibbs] was close, but that last stint, what a pleasure, just ripping lap after lap and watching them get smaller in the mirror.”

 

Call that the Kiwi Kick. 🏉 pic.twitter.com/EIhmK6k3K3

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 16, 2025

Pole: Shane van Gisbergen

Click Here for Race Results

Next Race: The Cup Series will return on Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 2:00 pm ET for the The Great American Getaway 400 Presented by VISITPA.COM at Pocono Raceway.

NASCAR Xfinity

Daniel Suárez Scores Massive Xfinity Series Win at Home in Mexico City

 

In all his high hopes and hard work over the last year to promote NASCAR’s return to his home country of Mexico, even Daniel Suárez could not have imagined the amazing story of his dramatic win in Saturday’s The Chilango 150 — coming from last place on the grid in a backup car and charging to Victory Lane.

 

After victory spinouts, the 33-year-old native from Monterrey, Mexico climbed out of his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet, stood on the car’s roof, pounded his chest and pointed upward to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez grandstands — shouting to the thrilled crowd in his native Spanish and thanking his loyal fans for their support.

 

“It’s everything I was looking for, just a special day,” said an emotional Suárez, the 2016 Xfinity Series champion, who led a race-best 19 of the race’s 65 laps and beat Taylor Gray to the checkered flag by .598 seconds in a backup car the team rebuilt after he crashed in the morning qualifying session.

 

“It’s a very special day, very, very special to be here in front of my people, all these people that have supported me for many, many years and known me since my NASCAR Mexico days, now I’m fighting with the big boys,” said Suárez who was forced to use the “international provisional” starting position after his incident in qualifying.

 

Así se vive la emoción por @Daniel_SuarezG en el NASCAR Mexico City Weekend. 🇲🇽 🙌🏻
¡Recuerda que hoy veremos competir al piloto en la primera carrera de NASCAR Cup Series en México! 🔥 Últimos boletos: https://t.co/SYDqvcUDNG 📲#NASCARMexico #NASCARMexicoCity pic.twitter.com/AsMQE1Pyej

— NASCAR México (@NASCARMexico_) June 15, 2025

Pole: Connor Zilisch

Click Here for Race Results

Next Race: The Xfinity Series will return on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 3:30 pm ET for the Explore the Pocono Mountains 250 at Pocono Raceway.

NASCAR Trucks

The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Did Not Race This Weekend.

We're back in America's motorsport, the HEMI® V8 is back, and we ain't here to mess around. LFG. pic.twitter.com/H6EqU5d1VN

— Ram Trucks (@RamTrucks) June 8, 2025

Next Race: The Truck Series will return on Friday, June 20, 2025 at 5:00 pm ET for the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway.

ARCA Series

Treyten Lapcevich Secures Dominant First ARCA Menards Series Victory at Berlin

 

When the 2025 season began for Treyten Lapcevich, he knew it was important to capitalize on every available opportunity.

 

A third-place showing for the Canadian driver at Phoenix Raceway earlier this year reinforced his belief that he could excel in the United States. The ride with Venturini Motorsports that evening was only for one race, which left Lapcevich waiting for the next moment to showcase his talent in the ARCA Menards Series. 

 

Nitro Motorsports provided Lapcevich with a chance in Saturday’s Berlin ARCA 200 at Berlin Raceway, one he didn’t let go to waste. Leading every lap from the pole, Lapcevich faced minimal opposition from the field and easily cruised to Victory Lane in his second ARCA Menards Series appearance.

 

“I don’t even know what to say,” Lapcevich said. “A big thanks to Nitro Motorsports. [My crew chief] Shannon [Rusch] and the guys had this thing hooked up. I haven’t been in the seat a whole lot this year and these guys came together and made this possible for me. A huge thanks to Nitro for truly giving me a rocket ship.”

 

✅ First win for @TreytenL!
✅ First win for @racewithnitro! pic.twitter.com/jM7t5sY6p5

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) June 15, 2025

Pole: Treyten Lapcevich

Click Here for Race Results

Next Race: The ARCA Series will return on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at 8:14 p.m. CT for the Shore Lunch 250 Presented By Dutch Boy at Elko Speedway.

 

source: NASCAR Media

Ty Gibbs and Scott Dixon Take Checkered Flags

Suarez to Start from Cup Pole

 

Ty Gibbs and Scott Dixon drove to victories in two Brickyard Weekend races Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, while Daniel Suarez won the pole position for the headlining NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday.

 

Gibbs dominated the Pennzoil 150 at the Brickyard presented by Advance Auto Parts NASCAR Xfinity Series race, while Dixon held off Graham Rahal to make history by winning the Gallagher Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

 

Gibbs, grandson of Joe Gibbs Racing owner and NFL Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs, drove the No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota to a 7.959-second victory over Sam Mayer in the No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet. Gibbs, who started second, took the lead on Lap 46 of the 62-lap race and never trailed thereafter.

 

“It’s really cool to get one at the Brickyard,” Gibbs said. “I grew up racing go-karts at New Castle (Indiana) right down the street. It’s really special to me. We got the Brickyard – let’s go!”

 

Suarez will start from the first spot on the grid for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, which starts at 2:30 p.m. ET Sunday. Tickets are available at IMS.com. Suarez, a native of Mexico, earned his first pole of the 2023 season and third career Cup Series pole in the No. 99 Freeway.com Chevrolet with a lap of 1 minute, 27.968 seconds, 99.814 mph.

 

“It’s a good first day,” Suarez said. “Looking forward to carrying on tomorrow. We have to execute well. The car has the speed. Now we have to have a good, clean day and the most important thing – have fun.”

 

Reigning Verizon 200 at the Brickyard winner Tyler Reddick qualified second at 1:28.113 in the No. 45 SiriusXM Radio Toyota.

 

Chase Elliott, son of 2002 Brickyard 400 winner Bill Elliott, will start third after a lap of 1:28.335 in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. Michael McDowell will join Elliott in Row 2 after his best lap of 1:28.434 in the No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford.

 

Australian Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen qualified eighth for his second Cup Series start. Van Gisbergen, from New Zealand, stunned the motorsports world by winning his Cup Series debut last month in the inaugural street race in downtown Chicago.

 

Yesterday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series winner Gibbs was the quickest rookie in NASCAR qualifying and will start 10th after a lap of 1:28.606 in the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota.

 

💋🧱 pic.twitter.com/Nzalo5dvTW

— NASCAR Xfinity (@NASCAR_Xfinity) August 13, 2023

 

source: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Media

Circuit of the Americas 101

First Road-Course Rodeo of 2023

 

Five races down in the 2023 Cup Series season and the first trek to a road course awaits this weekend. There are story lines aplenty to keep an eye on with exciting entrants and rule changes that will shake up strategies on Sunday at Circuit of The Americas.

 

To get ready for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix (Sun. 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), let’s look at some trends to watch, rule changes for Sunday, notable moments and the on-track schedule for the weekend in Austin, Texas.

 

International Flair

Joining Mexico’s Daniel Suárez in Sunday’s event will be English driver Jenson Button and Finnish driver Kimi Räikkönen.

 

Button will pilot the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford with support from Stewart-Haas Racing and Mobil 1. The 43-year-old is a 15-time winner in Formula 1 and claimed the 2009 championship. Räikkönen returns to Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 initiative after making his Cup Series debut last year at Watkins Glen where he crashed out in the final stage after running inside the top 20 for the majority of the race.

 

Click Here For Cup Entry List

 

Rule Changes / Goodyear Tire Notes

For all Cup races on road courses this season, there will be no cautions at the end of stages. Instead, the race will remain under green while stage points are still rewarded to the top 10 at the conclusion of Stage 1 (Lap 15) and Stage 2 (Lap 30). It will be the first time the Cup Series has gone without stage cautions in a points-paying race since the onset of stages at the beginning of the 2017 season.

 

The GEICO Restart Zone will return to its 2022 dimensions after it was extended for the first five races of this season.

 

The choose rule will also be in effect for the first time at a road course this season.

 

Cup cars will run the same tire codes that were used on road courses all last season. One code is used on the left front and right rear and the other on the right front and left rear.

 

In the event of a lost wheel that is contained to pit road, the offending team will be subject to a pass-through penalty under green-flag conditions. If the infraction occurs during a caution period, the offending team will restart at the tail end of the field.

 

If the wheel breaks free outside of pit road, the new rules guidelines mandate a two-lap penalty, plus a two-race suspension for two crew members. Each penalty is series-specific: Violations in one series will not impact those crew members’ eligibility to participate in other series.

 

Nothing like @NASCAR at @COTA. 😍#NASCARatCOTA | #EchoParkGP pic.twitter.com/Q4ddDqeMAj

— NASCAR at COTA (@NASCARatCOTA) March 24, 2023

 

source: NASCAR Media

Trackhouse Racing Looks Strong Early

Both Teams in Series Points Top Five

 

Through three races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Trackhouse Racing drivers Ross Chastain  and Daniel Suárez have been putting up some impressive performances and as a result both are ranked inside the top five in the NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings for the second consecutive week – the first season the organization has had both drivers ranked within the top five in points.

 

Following Las Vegas, Ross Chastain leads the NASCAR Cup Series points standings by a mere three points over second place Alex Bowman and 21 points up on third place Kevin Harvick. Chastain’s teammate Daniel Suárez is currently ranked fourth in the series standings, only 25 points back from Chastain in the series lead. Suárez is the one of only two drivers to score top-10 finishes in all three races this season – Alex Bowman is the only other driver to accomplish the feat.

 

Looking ahead to Phoenix, expect the Trackhouse Racing success to continue. In this race last season at Phoenix, Chastain finished runner-up to race winner Chase Briscoe and Suárez finished in the top-10 (ninth).

 

Chastain has made nine series starts at Phoenix Raceway posting two top-five finishes. His average finish at the 1-mile track is an 18.5.

 

Suárez has made 12 series starts at Phoenix, and the Monterrey, Mexico native has put up three top-10 finishes.

 

Rolling off 6th tomorrow at @phoenixraceway in the No. 1 @kubota_usa @TeamChevy . Nice work, @TeamTrackhouse! pic.twitter.com/hjS3Z9KLm9

— Ross Chastain (@RossChastain) March 11, 2023

Felt like I left just a liiittle bit 🤏🏽 on the table in quali. But happy with my car and looking forward to tomorrow 👊🏽

🇲🇽 Siento que mi vuelta podria haber sido un pouquito mejor, pero feliz con mi carro. Largamos undécimo mañana 👊🏽 pic.twitter.com/W1g2QuZfXf

— Daniel Suárez (@Daniel_SuarezG) March 11, 2023

 

source: NASCAR Media

2022's Most Loved and Hated NASCAR Drivers

Hearts for Daniel  / Boos for Bubba

• Gambling.com reveals the Internet’s top 10 most loved and hated NASCAR drivers during the 2022 regular season.
• The report names Daniel Suarez as the most loved driver, with Bubba Wallace coming in as the most disliked.
• With 12 drivers left in the 2022 playoffs, how do these stars fair in the ranking?

One month on from the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, the team at Gambling.com have looked back to reveal which drivers received the most love and hate online last season.

 

By utilizing the social listening tool Linkfluence, positive and negative online sentiment data, for every active NASCAR driver, was acquired over the regular season (between 1st February – August 31st). These figures were then ranked to find the top 10 most loved and hated drivers for 2022.

 

 

The Top 10 Most Loved NASCAR Drivers of 2022:

Rank	NASCAR Driver	Positive Sentiment*
1	Daniel Suarez	44.7%
2	Austin Cindric	42.4%
3	Kyle Larson	36.6%
4	Kevin Harvick	35%
5	Alex Bowman	34.8%
6	Ryan Blaney	31.8%
7	Martin Truex Jr.	31.2%
8	Joey Logano	30.4%
9	Chase Briscoe	29.6%
10	Kurt Busch	29.6%

 

Coming in the number one spot as 2022’s most loved NASCAR driver is Daniel Suarez, with 44.7% of all tweets praising the Mexican racer.

 

Diving into the data, the majority of these came during his win at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 event, where 62% of all tweets about the driver were positive.

 

Daytona 500 winners 🤯😁 pic.twitter.com/xS6rGHScSn

— Austin Cindric (@AustinCindric) February 21, 2022

Ohio’s Austin Cindric falls just behind, placing 2nd on the ranking (42.4%). Following a similar pattern to Suarez, it was Cindric’s win at the Daytona 500 in February which delivered him the most love online.

 

 

The Top 10 Most Hated NASCAR Drivers of 2022:

Rank	NASCAR Driver	Negative Sentiment*
1	Bubba Wallace	30.1%
2	Cody Ware	18.9%
3	Ty Dillon	17.2%
4	Denny Hamlin	15.1%
5	Justin Haley	14.7%
6	Cole Custer	13.9%
7	Daniil Kvyat	13.5%
8	Jacques Villeneuve	13.4%
9	Kyle Busch	12.5%
10	Austin Dillon	12.3%

Unfortunately, its Bubba Wallace who came out as the most disliked driver over the course of the 2022 regular season, with almost 1 in 3 tweets made about him being negative (30.1%)

 

It was his second-place finish at the Firekeepers Casino 400 which received the most negativity online, with one tweet reading:

 

“You could pull ten random strangers off the street and they would all beat Bubba Wallace in a race”

 

With Wallace sitting clear at the top of the ranking, Cody Ware (18.9%) and Ty Dillion (17.2%) make up the top 3 most disliked drivers last year.

 

Which Drivers in the Playoffs Received the Most Love?

Most Loved Overall Rank	NASCAR Driver	Positive Sentiment*	Negative Sentiment
1	Daniel Suarez	44.7%	3.9%
2	Austin Cindric	42.4%	3.8%
3	Kyle Larson	36.6%	10.1%
5	Alex Bowman	34.8%	6.4%
6	Ryan Blaney	31.8%	10.9%
8	Joey Logano	30.4%	10.1%
10	Chase Briscoe	29.6%	7.5%
12	Chase Elliott	28.6%	7.1%
14	William Byron	26.4%	8.1%
18	Ross Chastain	24%	10.8%
25	Christopher Bell	21.6%	9.7%
27	Denny Hamlin	20.9%	15.1%

*Percentage of all Twitter posts made which were deemed positive between 1st Feb -31st Aug.

 

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source: NASCAR Media