NASCAR will make a return to Southern California in 2026 by hosting all three national series for a street race at Naval Base Coronado in the San Diego area, it announced July 23.
The announcement marks the first time NASCAR will host a race on an active military base, while also returning to Southern California to race for the first time since 2023.
“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, NASCAR evp, chief venue and racing innovation officer, said in a statement. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”
The NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will compete on the street course June 19-21, 2026.
The official layout for the street course will be revealed closer to the race date.
The announcement comes following news that NASCAR will not return to the Chicago street course in 2026 after three years in the city. Chicago had hosted the Cup and Xfinity series.
Just more BS street races. Leave that for Formula 1 and Indy cars. Nascar has to cater to SVG to keep him competitive just like they cater to Bubbles the McDonald’s clown.
A lot of the media is claiming that his is replacing the Chicago street race. The scheduled weekend is actually what was the Mexico race this year. The 4th of July is still wide open as of now. Does Mexico get moved? Is Road America back on for the 4th? Or Chicagoland? Or does the Firecracker return to the 4th? I’m sure those in charge will find a way to screw things up.
I guess this will officially kill the short track at the AAA Speedway. Of course, that was never going to happen anyways.
Maybe NA$CAR can put on a Cup event on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Pacific?
I think it will draw a crowd. No way Ben Kennedy thought this up.
Maybe they will get the same crowd that went to Auto Club Speedway?
Now lets hope they don’t let Cup stars race in the lower series.
I agree with you 100%. It’s especially odd the “Buschwhackers” (showing my age there) are allowed to take points and credit for stage/playoff wins away from the lower series regulars. It would be so simple to just exclude upper series regulars from those statistics.
That said, maybe if they did, the Cup boys would learn enough to avoid letting SVG (and probably Zilisch by then) beat the brakes off them in the Cup race.