As soon as Auto Club Speedway in Fontana closed in February of 2023, NASCAR began looking for another home in Southern California.
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The Busch Light Clash All-Star race was held three times at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum through 2024. But the event was seen as a temporary answer until a new half-mile oval was completed on the grounds of the old two-mile Fontana track.
However, escalating costs and a shrinking amount of space available at Fontana have placed that project on a near-permanent hold.
NASCAR started studying alternate sites and ideas in Southern California. If not a permanent track, what about finding a spot for a temporary street course — a plan that NASCAR had just successfully executed in Chicago?
Then NASCAR looked into the past — and the future. In 2026, both the United States of America and the United States Navy would be celebrating their 250th birthdays.
What if NASCAR held a race weekend on a Navy base?
The results: the NASCAR San Diego Weekend held at Naval Base Coronado. The three-day event begins with Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race, continues with an O’Reilly Auto Parts series race on Saturday and wraps next Sunday with the Anduril 250, the first-ever Cup race held in San Diego County.
“I haven’t talked with one person anywhere who thought this was anything less than a brilliant idea,” said Jimmie Johnson, an El Cajon native and racing legend. “Every driver, crewman, fan has some connection to the military. This makes us all proud and excited.”
Still, the logistics behind the race weekend are staggering. How does a major military base, conducting both air and sea missions, stay operational while NASCAR is building a track and inviting 100,000 visitors to the base over several days to watch three days of racing? On normal days of operation, 34,000 live and work at Naval Station Coronado.
“What has been phenomenal to all of us is the cooperation between NASCAR and the Navy to make this event happen,” Amy Lupo, president of San Diego NASCAR said earlier this week. “If NASCAR needed help on anything, the Navy jumped in. And if a question arose with the Navy, NASCAR was there.”
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When NASCAR ran short of people to weld down manhole covers along the 3.4-mile, 16-turn course on Navy Base Coronado, a team of Seabees quickly arrived to complete the task. When NASCAR suppliers mistakenly dropped off materials in the wrong spot, everything was quickly moved.
Construction on the track began on June 1, with crews completing about a mile every three days. More than 3,200 concrete barriers have been positioned lining both sides of the racing surface and along the pit lane. The track will be completed by Wednesday, with final inspection set for Thursday.
Grandstands with a capacity for 40,000 fans have also been erected, with another 10,000 spectators expected to occupy standing areas around the grounds.
Perhaps the biggest question now facing San Diego’s NASCAR weekend is what’s next.
Will Coronado again be on NASCAR’s schedule in future years, or will this event be moved around? And will the brass at Naval Base Coronado want to again host this event?
Certainly, however, the 2026 NASCAR races at Coronado are fulfilling promises to both sides.
NASCAR has strengthened its already strong ties with the Navy and the military. And the Navy sees the NASCAR races and connection as another tool in building community awareness and boosting recruiting.
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