Jimmie Johnson has returned home many times in the quarter-century since he headed east to pursue a NASCAR racing career.
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But the El Cajon native pointed out Saturday morning that returning this weekend to race in the NASCAR San Diego Weekend addressed an item on his bucket list that he didn’t even know existed.
“No way I ever saw this happening, so it’s not something I can say I thought about,” Johnson said from Naval Base Coronado.
“I think it’s really wise for NASCAR to do this event with the Navy. I hope it’s not a one-and-done. I think this weekend is great for NASCAR, the Navy and San Diego. I hope we’ll be returning. There are so many fans who are part of the racing culture in San Diego, from off-road racing to the early years of motocross.
“San Diego and the Navy are interwoven. They have cooperated to create a great event. Everyone benefits. For me, this is one of the highlights of this year. It is important for our sport to be in Southern California. I hope this event stays on the calendar. The cooperation between the Navy and NASCAR has been great.”
Johnson is well-versed in both disciplines. He is one of three seven-time champions in the history of NASCAR, standing alongside legends Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt.
And his grandparents were all in the Navy and are buried at Fort Rosecrans. One grandfather served on an aircraft carrier, a predecessor to the U.S.S. Carl Vinson that Johnson and his peers have been racing past this weekend.
While his shoreside time as a youth was spent more at Pacific Beach and Mission Beach than Coronado, Johnson remembers walking along San Diego Bay and viewing the carriers parked along Coronado.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been home,” said Johnson. “I didn’t get back to El Cajon this time. But when I was driving around, memories came flooding back.”
Johnson’s weekend as a driver has been a bit rougher.
On Friday, he finished 30th in the Craftsman Trucks race after turning in the fourth-fastest practice and qualifying laps and leading two laps early in the race’s second stage. And on Saturday, Johnson qualified 36th among the 39 starters for Sunday’s feature.
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Johnson was a victim of aggressive, younger drivers in the trucks race. He was still running as high as second and third with 17 laps to go when he was twice spun out from behind after pitting. Johnson was running on a strategy that had him making one less pit stop than his rivals.
“It might have been a winning strategy,” said Johnson. “We’ll never know. A lot of drivers in the pack were doing some very aggressive things.”
Sunday’s race is the penultimate start of Johnson’s NASCAR Cup career. But he’s not finished as a racer.
“I’m not against running a truck again,” he said. “I had so much fun (Friday). I’m looking into a few other championships to dabble in. I’m trying to find a balance of things I can run. But these Cup cars are so tough. They are impossible to figure out for someone not racing week after week. They are quite a handful.”
Positive demographics
NASCAR announced some interesting preliminary numbers for the San Diego Weekend:
• Californians purchased 60% of the tickets for Saturday’s and Sunday’s races. But the 40% of out-of-state tickets included buyers from all 50 states plus 17 countries.
• Nearly 40% of the ticket buyers were female, which is 11 percentage points more than other NASCAR events.
• More than two-thirds of the attendees — 67% — are experiencing their first NASCAR race.
• The turnout of Hispanic attendees was nearly three times the regular NASCAR event.
• San Diego is the seventh sellout of the 2026 NASCAR season, with ticket demand in most areas exceeding availability.
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