A vehicle control system for an internal combustion engine having a fuel injection valve for injecting fuel directly into a combustion chamber includes a controller configured to perform a fuel cut-off when a predetermined fuel cut-off condition is met during travel of the vehicle to thereby stop fuel injection from the fuel injection valve. The controller is configured to resume the fuel injection from the fuel injection valve when a predetermined fuel cut-off recovery condition is met during the fuel cut-off. The controller is configured, upon elapse of a predetermined time that is required for a wall temperature of the combustion chamber to rise after resuming the fuel injection from the fuel injection valve, to perform a rich spike that temporarily increases the fuel injection amount from the fuel injection valve.