Welcome to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Shane van Gisbergen!

MEXICO CITY — If you can win a race by the largest margin of victory in two decades, you have proven you are among the best of the best in your discipline.

Shane van Gisbergen did just that in Mexico City. He punched his ticket to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs by 16.567 seconds. It was the largest margin of victory in a Cup race since Kurt Busch won at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2009 by a fuel-mileage-aided 25.686-second margin of victory.

The playoffs is supposed to include the best of the best of the series, isn’t it? Now Shane van Gisbergen is in.

SVG held off past road course winners and playoff qualifiers Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman when they hounded him. Then, he proceeded to drive away from them by as much as a second a lap and buried past champion Chase Elliott’s chances of winning in a far, far distant third-place.

The New Zealander admittedly has an advantage. SVG became an 81-time winner and a three-time champion running Supercars Championship cars that have essentially the same tube-style chassis as the current Cup Series cars. Even still, in his lone NASCAR Xfinity Series season with cars most akin to traditional American stock cars generations of drivers and champions have grown up on, SVG was one of the series’ leading winners with three checkered flags in 2024.

SVG is not a traditional driver in any sense. He is 36 years old in his rookie Cup season and just jumped from 33rd in the championship points standings to being virtually locked into the playoffs. Even after the win, he is 30th in points — far away from even whiffing the playoffs for the first 10 years of it.

For 10 years, the playoffs were about taking the top-10 or top-12 drivers in the series — with points used to effectively determine the top drivers. The 2014 format shift meant winners effectively determined the top drivers more.

Winning is valuable. Fans clamored for it to mean more after Matt Kenseth’s 2003 championship, leading to the playoffs.

Winning proves a point. SVG could easily affirm his place in the playoffs and detract any haters at the three road courses coming up where he is a favorite.

Winning is tough. In the 77-year history of the Cup Series, only 206 drivers have ever won a single race. 144 drivers have won multiple races. For reference:

• 2,997 drivers have made at least one start
• 1,945 drivers have multiple starts
• 418 drivers have made 30 or more starts
  • Sunday marked SVG’s 30th Cup start

There are more drivers who have made as many starts as SVG and never won than there are drivers who have made as many starts as him and won.

NASCAR has continuously swung the pendulum on rewarding wins in the playoffs. The original format didn’t seed the playoffs based on wins. The second through fourth formats did but the fourth format didn’t beyond the first round of the playoffs, leading us to the balance NASCAR has struck — drivers get into the playoffs on the strength of the win but get into the Championship 4 round on the strength of their performance at many different track types the Cup field faces throughout the season.

SVG has been improving on ovals but is unlikely (for now) to steal a spot in the Championship 4 – let alone the Round of 16. Historically, the Round of 16 is a time for some teams and their partners to revel in the playoff glory before their subsequent elimination.

Again, it’s a reward for achieving something tough — winning. In the respective years that drivers like Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Harrison Burton got it done, former champions like Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch didn’t and paid for it — albeit in different circumstances than each other.

Beyond a win and glory, a playoff berth guarantees extra money over the next three years. That extra money arguably allowed a team like Hyak Motorsports to survive and contend for the playoffs this year despite losing many of their major partners.

For Trackhouse Racing, a team that has been struggling with finding raw speed, losing key higher-ups like Pitbull and Ty Norris and failing to get multiple cars in the playoffs the last two seasons, this is just as huge for them. Two cars in the playoffs puts them on-par with heavyweights like Joe Gibbs Racing, Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports. With contract talks swirling within the team as they look to find a spot for hotshot Connor Zilisch, SVG and Trackhouse are securing their future in real-time.

As some have said, “don’t hate the player, hate the game” — but how do you change the game? Proposals have swirled and people have called for past formats to return. But NASCAR usually never looks back, especially when their format has promoted parity in the sense of what a burgeoning or smaller team can do more with a financial boost for making the playoffs.

Not to mention, crossovers like SVG can bring a new audience and excitement to the sport for more than a handful of races. His presence in the playoffs is something that we missed in the days of Boris Said, Scott Pruitt and even Marcos Ambrose, who won before the win-and-you’re-in days began.

So welcome to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Shane van Gisbergen! You’re here at the right time when a ringer like yourself can be hired for your talents and to deliver for a huge, new opportunity for a team like yours.

Again, “don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Play on, SVG.