From transforming the LA Coliseum into a bullring to hosting a street race in downtown Chicago, experimentation on a monumental scale has been NASCAR’s scheduling modus operandi for the past three years. NASCAR announced on Wednesday that the Cup Series will contest a street race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California in late June next season. The Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series will also be tagging along for the first NASCAR race weekend at an active military base.
While the regular season event is ostensibly to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Navy and the country, NASCAR made sure to include every military action movie trope under the sun in the trailer revealing the “Top Gun: Maverick” filming location. Ben Kennedy, a NASCAR executive vice president and great-grandson of founder Bill France, admitted the plans for a race on a military base had been in the works for years with multiple locations in consideration. Regarding the Coronado circuit, he said:
“It’ll be a blend of traditional street racing in a way where we’ll be winding our ways through some of the streets on the base. They’ll be going past (aircraft) carriers. They’ll eventually go out onto the tarmac, probably by some military aircraft, maybe a couple of F-18s out there, and then back towards the entrance to the base.”
NASCAR is taking stock car racing everywhere
The NASCAR San Diego Weekend will end a year-long absence from Southern California for stock car racing’s most prestigious championship after the Clash left the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after the 2024 edition. The season-opening exhibition moved to LA in 2022 and saw the home of USC Trojans football and soon-to-be three Olympic Games temporarily paved over, an idea championed by Kennedy. The inaugural Clash at the Coliseum was scheduled just a week before the city was set to host Super Bowl LVI, generating a level of hype comparable to the Big Game.
The Chicago street race was NASCAR’s next big swing, debuting in 2023. The event was a rousing success with Australian Supercars ace Shane van Gisbergen, becoming the first driver to win in their Cup Series debut in 60 years. NASCAR brought an exciting event straight to new fans in the heart of one of America’s largest cities. However, the sanctioning body was at odds with local officials while negotiating terms to continue the event. Chicago’s exclusion from the 2026 schedule signaled the start of speculation surrounding the San Diego race. SVG, now a full-time Cup driver, is already the favorite to win the “Race at the Base” with three road course wins this season, including the final race in Chicago.