Matt Johnson
NASCAR is headed back to Southern California this summer, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy with a historic race at Naval Base Coronado. It could prove to be one of the most chaotic races ever.
On the latest episode of The Teardown, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said some of the drivers he spoke with who have done sim time to prepare for the Cup Series race on San Diego’s naval base said it will be the most difficult track in NASCAR history.
“The drivers now this week, talking to them, a lot of them have now done sime time. Some of the drivers are saying this is going to be the most difficult track in NASCAR history, essentially.”
Jeff Gluck on conversations with NASCAR drivers about the upcoming race at Naval Base Coronado
Gluck and fellow motorsports reporter Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic both had a chance to visit San Diego last week and get a tour of what the race will look like. It shed light on the uniqueness of this street course racing, which will be one of the longest track lengths (3.4 miles) in NASCAR history.
“Super narrow at times…The roads, it’s not like they just freshly repaved the whole thing. These are like the roads of the navy base…It’s going to be rough, super rough, super bumpy.”
Jeff Gluck on the road conditions of the NASCAR race at Naval Base Coronado
As Gluck mentioned, drivers have already had plenty of issues in the past with how the Next Gen car handles rougher surfaces and bumps on the track. What they’ll be experiencing on Sunday, June 21, in San Diego will potentially take all of that to the extreme.
The road conditions are only part of what will make this race so difficult for drivers. Bianchi mentioned that drivers can also expect to run into stretches where even going two-wide could prove difficult.
“At times, just from the drawings I’ve seen and the people I’ve talked to, there are going to be sections of track where they can kind of fan out a little bit. But then it’s going to get real narrow, real quick.”
Jordan Bianchi on the narrowness of the track at Naval Base Coronado
Part of that will come on a stretch of the track that runs right along the bay, with cars flying by just feet away from the water. Because of how close it is, Bianchi said that drivers could “maybe get two wide” and there’s minimal room. Furthermore, if someone spins, the tightness will lead to a huge pileup.
There are additional problems for the teams, too. Gluck mentioned that there are “a lot of blind corners” and there simply won’t be enough spotters to help the drivers navigate those blind spots in time.
Needless to say, Shane van Gisbergen will be an overwhelming favorite to win the Anduril 250 with his road-course excellence giving him a massive advantage. While it’s possible this race will be a one-and-done at Naval Base Coronado, it will be fascinating to watch and there could be even more chaos the day before with the O’Reilly Series race on the same track.
