NASCAR has finalized the layout for the street course it’ll run at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego in 2026.
The 3.4-mile street circuit will consist of 16 turns and will be the longest course on NASCAR’s 2026 schedule, NASCAR announced as part of the layout reveal on Oct. 21.
“It’s so exciting to finally share the street course layout and provide this first look for our longtime and new fans,” NASCAR San Diego President Amy Lupo said in a release. “Anticipation for this event is already high, and we know this course layout will raise that level of excitement even higher. We can’t wait to see how the best drivers in the world meet this challenge, while celebrating America’s Navy.”
The course’s highlights include the Ellyson start/finish line, which is named after Commander Theodore Ellyson, whose training at North Island at the Coronado complex paved the way for the commissioning of the location as a naval air station in 1917.
Turn 5 is called Carrier Corner and will be a sharp left-handed turn between two docked aircraft carriers, while turn 8 (the Coronado Chicane) is a series of challenging turns that go toward the interior of the base.
NASCAR’s trip to San Diego begins with Navy Community Day on June 19 and will be open exclusively to members of the U.S. Navy at Naval Base Coronado and a limited number of Coronado residents. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is scheduled to race on this day.
Ticket holders from the general public are granted access June 20-21, 2026, for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on June 20 and the NASCAR Cup Series event on June 21.
Logan Kendall joined the Frontstretch team in 2025 as the Tuesday News Writer and fills in other roles as needed. He resides in the Finger Lakes region of New York and spends his free time writing as a hobby creatively and is a self published author.
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That is the same length as the COTA circuit until they decided to shorten it to 2.5 miles and increase from 75 laps to 95. At 30 mph that is almost SEVEN minutes per caution lap. That is a lot of commercial time. I can’t wait to see how the NA$CAR brain trust splits up their product for the TV time outs.
Maybe for minor incidents, NASCAR should introduce their version of Virtual Safety Car like in F1. That way cars can go up to 80 MPH and a caution lap is less than 4 and 1/2 minutes.
This is the way.
The VSC dramatically reduces caution time, and because cars are required to hold at a specific speed, the field doesn’t bunch up, so there would be no need for NASCAR to separate lead lap from lap down cars pitting. There’s not even a need to remain under caution for a full lap, if it’s an easy hazard to clear. Just grab that brake rotor or sheet metal, and get back to it.
Go back to racing ASAP. Would take cautions for a piece of debris from “maybe I’ll take a quick nap” to “this caution will take around two minutes”. Cautions benefit and hurt NASCAR teams nearly every week, so I wouldn’t see this any differently. Maybe you get lucky and pit under the VSC, maybe you don’t. Either way, more green flag laps is a good thing, and modern F1 has proven this can be done safely.
I have to guess the traditionalists would yell about it, but it seems it would lead to a more engaging product.