NASCAR’s highly anticipated debut race in San Diego was a great success. Conversations about whether the track should be on the calendar for the upcoming seasons have already begun and have caused a lot of buzz amongst the fans. However, Kevin Harvick feels differently about the venue. 

The Anduril 250  race weekend at the Naval base at Coronado 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.  

Despite all of this, the NASCAR veteran Kevin Harvick feels that the race at the Naval Base should be a one-of-a-kind race.

While discussing the same on the latest episode of his Happy Hour, Harvick expressed that despite San Diego being a great market, the sanctioning body should look into making it a one-off race, using Chicago as an example. 

"I mean, you go right to the Chicago thing. Like, I would not go back to Chicago either. It's a great market, but why not go somewhere that 100% wants you? I mean, it's not like everybody in Chicago doesn't want us, but it just doesn't it doesn't feel like that, that's an area that especially right in the city," Harvick said.

He further suggested various other places beyond San Diego that have good markets for NASCAR. 

"I think a lot of the surrounding areas love NASCAR racing, and I think Chicagoland will be super well attended, and it always was all the way up until they shut it.

"I just think there's so many markets that were not there, not going to you know, and I bring up Seattle, and I bring up Colorado, and you could just keep making, you could just keep making Utah right, like go to some of those places, South Dakota, North, I mean, take your pick," Harvick added.

While nothing has been set in stone by the sanctioning body, since the conclusion of the race weekend, the NASCAR executives have shown interest in making a comeback at the temporary circuit on the Naval base.

Among those who spoke about the possibility of the race making a comeback for the 2027 season was Ben Kennedy. 

NASCAR executive gives his verdict on the San Diego race 

After wrapping up the race, while addressing the media, NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy was questioned about whether there was any possibility of the race being on the calendar for the upcoming season. 

"We would love to return. We're also cognizant of the fact that this is an active military base, and we want to be mindful of that as well," Kennedy said, as reported by Steven Taranto on X.

For NASCAR to come back to the track, the sanctioning body will have to hold meetings with the Navy, as it is an active military base. While no other details are confirmed about the race, NASCAR is reportedly targeting the Fourth of July weekend for 2027, which is also falling on a Sunday.

As Kevin Harvick remains unconvinced about making San Diego a permanent spot on the schedule, the NASCAR executives seem to push for the San Diego race to have a permanent spot on the calendar due to the great reception in the inaugural race. 

What's your opinion? Let us know!

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason