NASCAR’s debut at San Diego Naval Base was seen as the sport's biggest experiment, drawing attention both on and off track. The France family has now revealed whether the series could return for another race at the Naval Base. 

While addressing the media after the race, NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy called the event a success and revealed that NASCAR would love to come back to San Diego again. However, he stressed that they wanted to be respectful of the active military base. 

“We would love to return," NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy said. "We're also cognizant of the fact that this is an active military base, and we want to be mindful of that as well." 

The temporary 3.4-mile street course held all three of NASCAR’s divisions across the weekend. The inaugural event was seen as a success by the sanctioning body.

"What I can tell you is that we feel that this is a tremendously successful event," Kennedy said. "So this is a great partnership and great pairing, being the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy, the 250th anniversary of the United States of America." 

Kennedy further added how the nation and its navy's anniversaries coinciding made it the perfect opportunity to host the race.

For now, the NASCAR sanctioning body has decided to sit down with the US Navy to conduct an in-depth review of the weekend.

The race weekend saw more than 125,000 attendees from across the nation and 17 countries. According to the reports released by NASCAR, around 67% attendees were first-time race goers.  

At the moment, the sanctioning body seems to be in talks with the Navy to bring the race back next year. 

NASCAR hopes to return to the base for 2027

Despite no official confirmation from Ben Kennedy or any of NASCAR’s executives, the race for the future seems to already have a date in mind.

The NASCAR San Diego president, Amy Lupo, addressed the possibility of the race returning. She revealed that the sanctioning body was targeting the Fourth of July weekend for next year. 

"We are really hopeful to be back here in 2027. We would very much like to be back. I think it will be a joint decision between NASCAR and the Navy. I think the Navy probably needs more information."

Lupo further revealed that beyond the race organization, the sanctioning body has to take other factors into consideration.

“We’re event pros,” said Lupo. “We’re going to make a lot of changes to everything, but I don’t think there will be anything significant. But in terms of guest services and the track, we were able to build a pretty great product for the first time out.”

If NASCAR does indeed return to the San Diego Naval Base next year, they would need to tweak some things, including details related to concrete barriers lining the track and the attendees' accommodations. 

If discussions progress as hoped, the race at the Naval Base could just become a recurring event on the calendar. 

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit