NASCAR
NASCAR will race on an active military base for the first time in its history next year, bringing all three of its national series to compete at a new street course on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego.
Though the circuit layout won’t be finalized until this fall, the race will be held entirely inside the Navy base and is expected to wind its way past both aircraft carriers and fighter jets as cars race on the tarmac — all with the San Diego skyline and San Diego Bay as a backdrop.
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The races will be held on Father’s Day weekend, with the Cup Series competing on June 21.
“What a special way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Navy, the 250th anniversary of our country,” said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovation officer.
But how will this all work? And how did this come together? Here’s a look at some of the backstory and logistics involved in NASCAR’s latest big splash event.
Naval Base Coronado is a consortium of Navy installations in Southern California, including the location of the NASCAR race — Naval Air Station North Island. As you might guess by the name, NAS North Island is located at the north end of the spectacular Coronado peninsula across the bay from downtown San Diego. It is the home base for several aircraft carriers from the Pacific Fleet, as well as a variety of naval aviation units.
Although there have been races on NAS North Island’s runways in the past — as part of the Coronado Speed Festival — NASCAR is planning an entirely new circuit that incorporates both streets on the base and the tarmac.
It is using the iRacing service to test potential track layouts, and Kennedy is imagining a lap distance “in the ballpark of three miles.”
“Part of the course will be a bit set in stone, because we can’t move many of the streets around,” Kennedy said. “But part of it will also be a blank canvas. Once we go out on the tarmac, whether it’s hairpins or chicanes or S turns or long straightaways, we’re playing with a handful of configurations … I would expect it to look unlike anything they’ve had in the past around the base.”
Despite the race being held on a military base, Kennedy said there will be plenty of opportunity for the public to buy tickets and attend — with potential attendance numbering "tens of thousands of people."
"The great part about it is the base has plenty of space to use, and the course will be pretty sizable, too," Kennedy said. "We'll have grandstands and suites and hospitality areas, but we'll also be selling more of a general admission ticket, which will probably have a lot of volume. So we would expect quite a few people to be attending this event."
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Publicly accessible events at a military base are nothing new; the nearby Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, for instance, hosts an annual air show that attracts an attendance of around 700,000 over three days.
Each week, Kennedy chairs a scheduling committee whose task is to plan the schedule for the following years — through 2031. From these conversations, the idea of staging a race in the San Diego area was born, as it meets several criteria for NASCAR's special events.
Since California Speedway — in Fontana, just outside of Los Angeles — closed after its 2022 race, and with the end of the three-year stint (2022-24) of staging the exhibition Clash race inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, NASCAR has looked for ways to continue racing in Southern California. San Diego certainly checks this box. The city is among the top 30 media markets in the United States, enhancing its appeal in a sponsor-driven sport.
The idea to race on Naval Base Coronado was suggested in one of Kennedy's weekly schedule meetings, with someone on the committee pointing to how other leagues have successfully staged games on military bases. And with 2026 representing the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy, NASCAR's close ties to the military, and the availability of a tarmac and public roads to construct a course, the pieces all came together to race at the Naval Base Coronado next year.
"It felt like just such a natural opportunity for us to explore," Kennedy said. "The idea came about, I would say, probably three or four years ago, and we've talked to a handful of military bases, and this one was a really good fit for us."
NASCAR announced last week it will not return to Chicago in 2026, leaving the site of its inaugural street race (although it left the door open for 2027 and beyond).
Part of the Chicago storyline was pushback from the downtown residents and community about street closures and course build time, which NASCAR worked to shorten during its three-year stay.
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But a military base could pose less potential disruption and headaches for neighbors — although being on an active base poses challenges of its own, given people live and work there.
"We can set up a majority of the course without having a good impact on people," Kennedy said. "For example, the walls and fencing on the straightaways will be able to go in quite a bit earlier than the corners. And then once we get closer to Thursday and Friday of the event weekend, we'll close down the corners.
"But we've been collaborating with the base on load-in and load-out times. Thankfully, we've got a pretty good track record over the past couple of years in Chicago."
Kennedy said the course layout will be designed to make sure NASCAR is "minimizing the impact on their daily operations at the base" and said the base is "going to stay active pretty much the entire time."
Historically, when NASCAR adds a new event to its calendar, the plan is to be there multiple seasons. In the case of the temporary races held in Los Angeles and downtown Chicago, each ran for three years.
But the unique circumstances of racing on a military base combined with this being promoted as a celebration to the Navy means NASCAR isn't envisioning Naval Base Coronado being a long-term fixture on the schedule. The league won't rule out a longer partnership, but extending beyond one year at this location is not a certainty. NASCAR sees San Diego as a potential launching point for other similar opportunities.
"We've always talked about this a lot internally, is we would love to kick it off and be at Naval Base Coronado for a number of years, but this could also be an opportunity for us to move into other military installations across the country, too," Kennedy said.
"So for now, we're focused on 2026. It is naturally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to celebrate this special anniversary of the Navy and our country and put on one of the biggest sporting events of 2026. Then, we'll certainly put our heads together on what the future could potentially look like after that."
(Top photo of the USS Stockdale leaving Naval Base Coronado in January 2016: Gregory Bull / AP)
NASCAR at Naval Base Coronado: What we know about the San Diego street race – The Athletic – The New York Times
