Two years ago, the NASCAR Cup Series made history with the sport’s inaugural street course race through Chicago. Since the first race in 2023, the course’s been a unique challenge for drivers on the grid.
Next year, they’ll have a new street course to prepare for.
There will be three days of action from San Diego next year with the Craftsman Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series all competing in NASCAR’s second-ever street course. It’ll be a historic venue in its own right; this will be NASCAR’s first race on a naval base.
The race weekend will mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy.
“What a special way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Navy, 250th anniversary of our country and put on what is going to be undoubtedly the most anticipated event of 2026,” NASCAR executive vice president Ben Kennedy said in a statement. “And I’m bullish on it being the best sporting event of the year.”
Here’s what we know about the event.
When will NASCAR race in San Diego?
NASCAR’s race weekend in San Diego will be June 19-21, 2026, during Father’s Day weekend. That weekend also coincides with the anniversary of the U.S. Navy and will take that weekend from the Pocono race from the 2025 calendar.
NASCAR San Diego course
The official course layout has yet to be released. NASCAR officials state that they’re driving around the base in person and using the popular racing simulation video game iRacing to help iron out the layout. They used iRacing for both the Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum and Chicago street race events.
The course will likely use Naval Air Station North Island’s streets as well as the runway tarmac. Officials expect the circuit will be roughly three miles in length. By comparison, the Chicago Street Course is 2.14 miles.
“It’ll be a blend of traditional street racing in a way where we’ll be winding our ways through some of the streets on the base,” Kennedy said in a statement. “They’ll be going past (aircraft) carriers. They’ll eventually go out onto the tarmac, probably by some military aircraft, maybe a couple of F-18s out there, and then back towards the entrance to the base.”
Why is NASCAR racing in San Diego?
From 1997 through 2024, the Cup Series had a race in Southern California every year with one exception – 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The 2025 season is the first without a race in the area for no restricted reason since 1996.
NASCAR’s military ties, options for tarmac and street sections and the backdrop of downtown San Diego made the naval base a worthwhile venue.
“We contemplated a number of places, not just in San Diego, but the greater Southern California region,” Kennedy said. “Naturally, I think we all started to gravitate towards the military base, seeing that we knew that the 250th anniversary was upcoming, our natural ties that we have to the military and then the location of it. I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better location than Coronado, sitting between downtown San Diego, the Pacific Ocean and not far from Tijuana, either.”
No specific number of events has been confirmed, but it’s very likely San Diego will have at least three years, much like Chicago and Los Angeles Coliseum events.
NASCAR’s future in Chicago
NASCAR confirmed it will not return to Chicago in 2026 but did not rule out a return in the future.
