NASCAR to hold street course race in San Diego at Naval Base Coronado in 2026

NASCAR announced Wednesday that the sport will race in San Diego, Calif. in 2026 with a new street course race weekend at Naval Base Coronado. NASCAR's San Diego Weekend, set for June 19-21 of next year, will be the first NASCAR event on an active military base and feature the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Craftsman Truck Series.

The course, which will be approximately three miles in length, will be constructed entirely on Naval Base Coronado with skyline sights of the Pacific Ocean as well as downtown San Diego. San Diego and Naval Base Coronado will serve as the new site of NASCAR's annual street course race date, which had been held in Chicago's Grant Park over the past three years. Last week, it had been announced that the Chicago Street Race would not return to NASCAR's schedule for 2026 as the city explores a new, more optimal date outside of July 4 weekend in looking towards a potential return in 2027.

The exact configuration of the Naval Base Coronado course, as well as other details of the San Diego Weekend -- which will also honor the 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Navy -- will be announced at a later date.

"As part of our nation's 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado," said NASCAR executive Ben Kennedy in a statement. "NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy's history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado." 

San Diego is the first confirmed new addition to NASCAR's 2026 schedule, and it returns the sport to the Southern California market after having been away for a year due to a lack of a viable permanent racing facility. Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, which served as NASCAR's Southern California home for a quarter century, had its original two mile configuration demolished following 2023 and has yet to be redeveloped. NASCAR then held its season-opening Clash exhibition race at a temporary quarter-mile oval within the Los Angeles Coliseum, but that event was moved to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. starting in 2025.

The San Diego race marks the second confirmed major change to NASCAR's 2026 schedule, which will also see the sport's Championship Race moved to Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first year of a rotation between racetracks. Homestead will host the season finale for the first time since 2019, after which point the finale was moved to Phoenix Raceway.