NASCAR race heads to San Diego naval base in 2026 after Chicago pause

The course will be roughly three miles and will utilize the tarmac and the apron areas of the runways but likely not the runways themselves, said Kennedy, who oversees NASCAR’s scheduling and new events. The course will be designed to also limit disruptions of base operations.

Kennedy said NASCAR expects “tens of thousands” of fans to be able to attend the event. NASCAR will have a general admission ticket that would allow people to roam to various temporary grandstands as well as to visit military displays. There also will be temporary suites erected for the event.

NASCAR is partnering with Sports San Diego for promotion of the event, which for now is a one-year deal.

“We’d love to kick it off and be at Naval Base Coronado for a number of years, but this could also be an opportunity for us to move it to other military installations across the country, too,” Kennedy said.

The announcement of the San Diego race adds another element into the still-evolving 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule.

The race will be the 17th event of the Cup schedule (the last race televised by Prime), meaning that NASCAR has 20 weekends available for the final 19 races (the season finale already has been announced as Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway).

Where that off-weekend will come and the rest of the schedule — other than the preseason Clash Feb. 1 at Bowman Gray Stadium and season-opening Daytona 500 on Feb. 15 — is still to be finalized.

Could that off-weekend be the July 4 weekend? NASCAR has traditionally raced on that weekend, including at Daytona for decades until 2020 when NASCAR moved the Daytona race to the regular-season finale in August.

“More than likely, we’ll have an event on that weekend, not sure exactly where it’s going to land yet, but it is an important part of our schedule,” Kennedy said about a race around the July 4 holiday.

Whether there could be additional new venues on the 2026 schedule is also still to be determined. Since NASCAR won’t race the streets of Chicago, there is some movement to race at the Chicagoland Speedway in somewhat nearby Joliet.