{"id":59359,"date":"2026-06-21T21:55:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T02:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=59359"},"modified":"2026-07-02T16:20:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:20:46","slug":"nascar-celebrates-successful-debut-at-naval-base-coronado-street-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/21\/nascar-celebrates-successful-debut-at-naval-base-coronado-street-course\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR celebrates successful debut at Naval Base Coronado street course"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 21: A general view of racing during the NASCAR Cup Series Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado on June 21, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

SAN DIEGO \u2013 Blue skies, comfortable temps in the low 70s and a light breeze \u2013 absolutely stunning weather all week matched only by the spectacular backdrop of the iconic Coronado Bridge high atop the surrounding San Diego Bay.<\/p>\n

Mountains in the background and Navy ships in the foreground. Tens of thousands of Southern Californians – and fans from 17 countries in all – filled Naval Base Coronado all weekend, at last had a NASCAR race in this region of the country.<\/p>\n

In only his 12th NASCAR Cup Series start, 23-year old Corey Heim passed California\u2019s own Tyler Reddick with three laps remaining to claim his first ever series trophy, delivering a dramatic ending to the inaugural NASCAR race weekend \u2013 a thrilling event that was popular with diehard fans and also those happy to have welcomed stock cars to this unique setting for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love NASCAR and it\u2019s finally here,\u2019\u2019 Ventura County\u2019s Carie Brinton, 72, said with a wide grin, \u201cIt\u2019s much louder than I was expecting and my heart is just pounding with it all. I love this.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exactly the vibe NASCAR\u2019s bold Southern California initiative has enjoyed all week.<\/p>\n

Kids wearing Connor Zilisch hats, their parents sporting Chase Elliott t-shirts and a whole lotta love for San Diego\u2019s native son, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson who grew up in El Cajon \u2013 about a 20-minute drive from the track \u2013 all provided an unmistakable atmosphere enjoyed by fans and the industry alike.<\/p>\n

Early in the week, a social media video caught drivers Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott laughing while they shared an electric scooter ride from their island hotel to the track – the friends winding through the Coronado neighborhoods – past houses and coffee shops with handmade signs posted out front welcoming NASCAR and its fans.<\/p>\n

It was indicative of the warm welcome shared all week \u2013 fans lined up in the pre-dawn hours waiting for the gates to open onto the Navy base\u2019s runways and busy racing midway. They patiently waited in long winding lines again inside the track for souvenirs and refreshments and autograph signings in the hours before Sunday\u2019s inaugural Anduril 250 NASCAR Cup Series headliner. There was access and gratitude.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his family were trackside for pre-race ceremonies, which included a flyover by F-18 fighter jets, the Navy Band performing the National Anthem and the start-your-engines command delivered by uniformed sailors saluting from high atop the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier docked right along the 16-turn, 3.4-mile track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve watched races for years and always wondered what the vibe was like,\u2019\u2019 said 59-year old Pacific Beach resident Jennifer Sprofera, who was among the 67 percent of the weekend\u2019s attendees who had never been to a NASCAR race before.<\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s Chief Operating Officer Ben Kennedy \u2013 the great grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. \u2013 was effusive in his praise and hopes for the event. It was Kennedy that spearheaded the race weekend \u2013 making a two-year long process come to fruition. And succeed.<\/p>\n

Yet another remarkable achievement in expanding the schedule to new race locales that in recent years have included successful events on the downtown Chicago streets, at the Los Angeles Coliseum and in Mexico City in just the past few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have any ideas, send them our way, we’ll take any ideas,\u2019\u2019 a smiling Kennedy said of the inevitable \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d question.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that’s the beauty of it. We found a way to create a culture where innovation, we put a lot of energy around it internally at NASCAR and across the industry. That gives us a lot of these different ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m the one that speaks on behalf of NASCAR. But I can’t take credit for this idea. I can’t take credit for a lot of the work that went into this. But it’s the people at NASCAR that come up with a lot of these ideas. This was the next evolution of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve heard a lot of great ideas from folks internally, across the industry,\u2019\u2019 he continued. \u201cFans on social media every day have different ideas. Every time we have those ideas, we take them to the pipeline, vet them, see if there are any that come to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not only were the fans appreciative, the drivers and teams have been enthusiastic from even before the drop of the first green flag \u2013 from promotional visits in the area for months to the general positivity they have been met with.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an event,\u2019\u2019 fifth-place finisher and California-native A.J. Allmendinger said, impressed with the reception and loving the willingness of NASCAR to try something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been fortunate in my life to go to some cool cities and run some good events, this might just be the best one. To be here on the 250th birthday [of our country] and just the background of it \u2013 the fans that are passionate about NASCAR were here and hopefully we made some new ones too.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

As a team owner (23XI Racing ) and driver (Joe Gibbs Racing) Denny Hamlin was pleased with the whole weekend.0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed like to me the people I interacted with, like lots of them, it was their first race,\u2019\u2019 Hamlin said. \u201cRacing the racetrack, it felt like a normal NASCAR track to me. It was a little surprising the first time we hit the racetrack, but after that, once the race got going, it felt like any old road course that we’ve had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought great design, lots of passing zones, challenging in so many different ways with the surface. But when we come into this event, you want it to feel like the racing is a big part of why you’re here, but it’s not the only reason why you’re here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they did a great job with their midway, how much activation they had. That’s the boxes we need to check. There’s many races that makes selling on a car really difficult. This was not one of ’em.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly the kind of support and review that fuels Kennedy and the sport to continue its ability and willingness to try new projects. He said NASCAR executives will hold a \u201cdeep dive\u201d after-action review of the weekend and the lead-up to the race weekend as both NASCAR and the Navy decide about future events here.<\/p>\n

But in the meantime, Kennedy smiled and emphasized, \u201cWe\u2019ve said from the start this is more than a race, this is a mission I think we all looked around the room today and we said \u2018the mission has been accomplished.\u2019”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service SAN DIEGO \u2013 Blue skies, comfortable temps in the low 70s and a light breeze \u2013 absolutely stunning weather all week matched only by the spectacular backdrop of the iconic Coronado Bridge high atop the surrounding San Diego Bay. Mountains in the background and Navy ships in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":59341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,1178,1112],"class_list":["post-59359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-naval-base-coronado","tag-san-diego"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2282678712-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-frp","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59359"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59361,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59359\/revisions\/59361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}