Shane van Gisbergen says he 'should be up front' in crucial Mexico City race

There may not be a driver in the NASCAR Cup Series field more excited to see a road course than Shane van Gisbergen. 

While the 36-year-old rookie from Auckland, New Zealand, has improved on ovals as of late, it's the road courses that remain his strong suit. Sunday's race in Mexico City is no different, and a win could turn what's been a rough-and-tumble rookie season around. 

"We should be up front," van Gisbergen said during a news conference at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Friday. "These are the types of tracks I'm good at." 

While van Gisbergen is considered a favorite for Sunday's race, he doesn't tend to think about where he stands on the odds list or how he stacks up against the rest of the field. 

"That's (the media's) job," van Gisbergen said with a smile. "I know that we will be competitive if we get everything get everything right. It's so hard to know what the car's going to be like - different track, how is it going to be affected by the altitude and the surface? It's going to be interesting to feel what our cars our like in these conditions." 

If anyone is equipped to handle the range of challenges racing in Mexico City provides, it's van Gisbergen, who has proven that on any given road-course race weekend, he can compete with the best NASCAR has to offer.