NASCAR at Naval Base Gives Fans Rare Opportunity Logan Riely – Getty Images

NASCAR is shifting its street race from Chicago to the United States Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California, for 2026, but that doesn’t mean the event is solely for the military.

Ben Kennedy, NASCAR’s chief venue and racing innovation officer, says there will be no limit on tickets sold to the general public like the IndyCar Series had for its event at the Thermal Club in Thermal, California.

“We will have a military day on Friday,” Kennedy said.

“A lot of active-duty military will be joining us on Friday for our Craftsman Truck Series race.”

Kennedy says fans wanting to attend the three-day event, June 19-21, can go to NASCARSanDiego.com and put their name on the wait list or they can place a deposit for the weekend, which will have the Xfinity Series on Saturday and the Cup Series on Sunday. Social media updates will be at @NASCARSanDiego.

This is the first time the Craftsman Truck Series will join NASCAR’s other two national touring series on a street course since the sanctioning body conducted its first ever street race in Chicago in 2023.

The addition of the San Diego race for 2026 marks the sixth consecutive year that one or more new events have been added to the schedule, and it returns NASCAR’s premier series to the Southern California market.

NASCAR was absent from the nation’s second largest market in 2025.

After Auto Club Speedway closed, NASCAR conducted the non-points event Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum for three years, but that ended after the 2024 race.

The Cup race will be on Prime Video with the Xfinity Series on CW and Fox Sports handling the truck event.

The three-mile course hasn’t been finalized, but Kennedy says it is entirely on the sprawling base and its backdrop will include the Pacific Ocean, San Diego, and F-18s on the tarmac.

The base is home to the I Bar where scenes were filmed for the movies “Top Gun” and “Top Gun Maverick.”

The final course design will be released this fall, along with the location of the grandstand suites and hospitality areas. iRacing has created a virtual rendition of the course, and a few drivers have tested it.

“They shared a lot of feedback with us about straightaways, corners, runoff areas, all the things we would consider from a safety perspective but also a competition perspective, making sure there’s good passing zones, and an adequate pit lane that is long enough, wide enough to be able to service all the vehicles,” Kennedy says.

Kennedy says the idea of hosting an event on a military base was fostered several years ago by NASCAR’s scheduling team.

“We’ve had a number of conversations with bases across the country,” Kennedy said. “We looked at different branches of the military as well. We started having conversations with Naval Base Coronado … probably a couple years ago.

“We believe it’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment for our sport to celebrate the 250th anniversary of our country and our Navy.”

Amy Lupo, who led the NASCAR venture at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, is leading the project.