Van Gisbergen was onboard a chartered flight with other NASCAR drivers and crew members from North Carolina when a large bang was heard, forcing the pilot to abort its planned takeoff.
An engine issue forced the flight to be abandoned, delaying the passengers for the coming race weekend at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Ryan Ellis wrote on X that the “plane attempted takeoff, plane made a small boom, we are headed back.”
Some passengers opted to drive to Atlanta and board commercial flights to Mexico City, according to reports.
“Yeah, it wasn’t real fun,” said van Gisbergen in Mexico City.
“Yesterday was a long day. Pretty scary when the plane lunched itself on take-off.
“They stopped and were trying to just get another plane — and then it was first thing this morning, so early start this morning.
“I think we got up at 3:30am at home and [got on] an early flight down here.”
Engine blew up going down the runway to Mexico City. Hope we can all make it in time for practice tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/IxEB4Gw6Yp
— Austin Green (@austingreen2_) June 12, 2025
His flight wasn’t the only one affected by issues, which forced NASCAR to adjust its practice and qualifying schedule due to the delays.
“Due to two aircraft issues that grounded multiple race teams in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday, NASCAR has adjusted the on-track schedule for this weekend’s activities at Mexico City’s Autoodromo Hermanos Rodriguez,” NASCAR said in a statement.
The first NASCAR Cup Series practice at Mexico City, which runs on a slightly shortened version of the grand prix circuit, took place late on Friday afternoon (local time).
The feeder NASCAR Xfinity Series practice sessions were moved to Saturday (local time) while the NASCAR Mexico Series sessions were brought forward.
“You can’t predict that kind of stuff happening,” said van Gisbergen of the delays.
“There are so many moving parts. Everyone’s down here now. I think it’s all the important people, I guess, needed for (Friday), so I think they’ve done a good job salvaging it.
“I guess it’s a big deal when you think about it, but I’m not really too fussed about it. I’m already focused on (racing). Obviously not ideal, but it happened and we fixed it.”
Van Gisbergen finished inside the top 10 in both sessions, clocking the ninth and 10th fastest times across Practice 1 and Practice 2 respectively.
Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell was quickest in the first hit-out, setting a 1:34.024s in his #71 Chevrolet Camaro. Van Gisbergen was 0.333s off the pace in that session.
Todd Gilliland was the surprise packet in the second session with a chart-topping 1:33.496s for Front Row Motorsports in his #34 Ford Mustang. In that session, van Gisbergen was 0.585s adrift of the pace.
“Its a pretty cool track,” said van Gisbergen.
“The SafetyCulture Chevy is okay, not amazing. We need to get a bit more rotation. It’s really lazy in the slow speed [corners]. I can’t carry enough [speed] there.
“It’s a cool track and we get another practice to try some stuff. We lost a little bit of track time there. Our spotter went to the wrong stand and we had to wait for him to get there.
“That was a shame, but we’ll get back out there and try some more stuff.
“It’s nice to go to a clockwise track. It’s been good turning right and it feels familiar straight away. Heel-toeing again feels pretty cool. I’m looking forward to the racing.”
Practice was relatively uneventful, save for a few cars exploring the limits. Noah Gragson will move to his spare #4 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang after he crashed in the first session.
Ty Gibbs explored the limits through the esses and spun after his #54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry bottomed-out.
Qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series at Mexico City gets underway at 4:05am AEST on Sunday.
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