Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Shane van Gisbergen Interview following win at Mexico City | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Shane van Gisbergen just pulled off one of the gutsiest wins in recent NASCAR history. In this week’s Victory Lap, Kevin Harvick sits down with SVG to break down his chaotic weekend in Mexico City Despite it all, the Kiwi road course ace dominated the 100-lap event and secured a playoff spot with his win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was an amazing weekend team-wise. And then, yeah, the race had so many different strategies with the weather and, you know, flipping the stages and stuff like that. But yeah, there was a certain 12-year-old beating up on us last night, taking a few of us out. You know who that is. Well, Shane, thanks for taking the time today. I know that that was, you know, massive weekend going into Mexico City. It has to feel good to get that win out of the way and performing under all the pressure. I mean, we all expected you to go down there and win that race.

had to feel pretty good. Yeah, it was great to execute. You know, I think it's being, you know, most road course races we go to, I guess we're the favorite. But yeah, to go out there execute, it was a lot of adversity, I guess, right from the start on Thursday with the travel and Friday morning having to leave so early to get there. Yeah, crazy weekend.

And we had engineers and mechanics not arriving until right before qualifying, even. It was tough. So, yeah, for all three teams of trackhouse to sort of band together and make sure we got things right. It was amazing weekend team-wise. And then, yeah, the race had so many different strategies with the weather and, you know, flipping the stages and stuff like that. And I think Stephen Dora and my crew chief heated, you know, not only a brilliant job of calling the race, but also painting the picture of the race inside my head. Like what I needed to do and how to manage my ties to go extra long.

in stage two and, you know, that start of stage three. So I think all around we got it all right. What did you think of the race course in general? I always, I enjoyed driving there. I didn't get to drive through the stadium section, but that is such a unique section of racetrack. What did you think of the track and the event as a whole? Well, the event was awesome.

It was a really cool race. I thought the fans were awesome. They were really, like, knowledgeable, you know, and cool to have them there. The track itself, it was a little bland. Every corner was first or second gear. It was quite slow. But I thought it was a good racing track.

You know, there was lots of passing zones and plenty of action. But from a driver's point of view, you know, there was no real fast corners. It was all kind of Mickey Mouse slow speed stuff. So it was really about the car, I thought. And I think, you know, working with the guys, we made our setup pretty good. Is this, I mean, you've raced around the world. Is it something to where you like the international? flair that you've been here long enough to see what happens in the States. Is that,

is that something that you think is good for the sport? What's your opinion of that? Oh, yeah, but I'm a foreigner, you know, you feel the... I know, but you've been here long enough. Yeah, but I love change, you know, I love doing different stuff. That's probably why I've really enjoyed the last couple of years experiencing new things. And I really like going to a new track, new place, very different culture than anywhere I've sort of been to before. And, you know, it's cool to, cool to,

you know, keep expanding on that stuff, but it was eye-opening to me, like there was drivers in the field. They'd never even been out of the country before. So it was, it was crazy to see that.

And, you know, we have very different backgrounds, myself and a few other drivers. So, yeah. Yeah, we're cultureing, we're cultureing the young guys as, as we go along. So do you think you went wrong with the water?

Or do you think you, you went wrong with the food? Where did the, where did the, where did the, where did the illness come from? Only thing I think I stopped up, I had the juice at the breakfast in the driver's lounge and I spoke to Austin Cindrick and he had the same stuff I did really and he said that's the

only thing he stopped up. So like I was careful with my showering, you know, brush my teeth with bottled water stuff like that and still, yeah, still got sick. So it was a shame. It was the most miserable experience that I've ever had at a race when I got the Montezuma's revenge down there back in I think 2006. So kudos to you for for gutting it out. I think, you know, for me it's been really fun to watch the progress. And you talk about Stephen, your crew chief. And that was his first win as a crew chief. And so that's a that's a massive

milestone. Where do you think you guys are right now? We've seen, you know, the improvement on the and, you know, we all expect you to win every road course race. So, but, you know, I just, it looks like you guys that are starting to hit your stride. Yeah, I'd agree with that. You know, the last month, month and a half, not just for the 88, but all of trackouts, you know, we've been, we're really battling earlier in the year. And now I think, you know, we're starting to build some momentum. And, you know, when we were struggling, I really just kept my reference to my teammates and tried to get as close as I could, you know, and, you know, at Homestead, for example, I was running 32nd battling Ross, you know, so we were all struggling, but I, you know, where Ross is

exceptional as his restarts and execution, you know, he would drag a 25th place car and get well inside the top 10. He's very impressive with how he places the car and still manages to get a result out of it. So I'm still trying to match him on that, but I really feel like my pace is getting a lot closer and I'm getting up to speed quicker at all these races and yeah it's um with the last month and a half we've made some huge leaps and speed and competitiveness and you know i've you know we've we've gone from running in the 30s to being pissed off with an 18th the last couple of weeks like it's um you know it might not sound like too much but you know our improvement has been constant and steady and i really think like we can keep building on that and you know we're

in the mix now you know i feel like in that mid-pack it's is being a huge step for us, and we need to keep building on that. So for some reason, you've made the decision to go out and run this legend car with all these maniacs. And last night, Monday night, you went out there and raced and started the race was good, and all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose. What has that experience been like for you to go out? I feel like you've picked up the legend car stuff pretty quick.

What is it, what has that been like? because I don't, half of the summer shootout stuff is just survival. It reminds me of Bowman Gray. What's this experience been like with yourself and Scotty McLaughlin as you guys have kind of ventured down this path of chaos? Yeah, so we wanted to do it for fun. You know, I watched Babad do a couple of races last year and he was enjoying it. And, you know, we, Scotty and I decided to do it for fun, but also for more experience, you know,

like this NASCAR type of racing you know these guys have been doing it since they were 10, 12 years old that kind of stuff and that's where I'm behind I just need to get better at restarts close combat, placing my car in the right place and you know also left foot braking transitioning and balancing the car

so these little skills are just going to help me but yeah there was a certain 12 year old beating up on us last night taking a few of us out but you know who that is but it's been so much fun You know, the races have been a little bit of action, but I feel like, you know, it can only help doing stuff like this. And it's more racing during the week, too. I did it one time, and they knocked me out of the way, and I quit.

So the master's class looks more appealing to me. So hopefully you keep having fun. Congratulations on everything that you guys accomplished last weekend. I know that's a huge relief for you and your team. And good luck through the rest of the season. and try to keep all the wheels on it tonight. I will do. See you there. All right, man. See you.