Bob Pockrass
FOX Motorsports Insider
CORONADO, Calif. — As Ben Kennedy described the roughly three-mile course where NASCAR Cup Series cars will weave through Naval Base Coronado next year, he mentioned elements that don’t sound typical of a NASCAR course.
There will be a turn by the aircraft carrier. Maybe some by helicopters and F-18s.
Another turn onto the tarmac of the naval base, a tarmac area that could include a chicane or some esses (quick, multiple turns).
Kennedy, NASCAR’s chief venue officer, doesn’t have the course finalized yet. He’s having drivers work through a variety of elements on iRacing, the racing game simulator that has helped NASCAR work on designs for street courses and other track reconfigurations.
The June 19-21 race weekend next year will be NASCAR’s first on a military base and will coincide with the 250th anniversary celebration of the U.S. Navy.
“You have the tarmac, which is as wide as you want to make it,” Kennedy said while standing near the top of the base’s control tower. “And then a lot of the roads and streets that we drove in this morning, they’re five or six lanes wide. So this is going to create for some really good passing zones.”
Kennedy says there will probably be 10 to 15 turns on what will be a relatively flat course, with a slight decline on the frontstretch and a slight incline when they get to the road by the bay.
“I don’t know all the challenges they’re going to face with the location,” said seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who will possibly compete in the event, as he grew up in the San Diego area.
“I’m highly confident we’re going to have an incredible venue, incredible backdrop and great racing.”
Drivers who visited the base on Wednesday didn’t seem too concerned about the design of the track.
“I have heard a rumor that on one of the straightaways, we will be going by a couple aircraft carriers, so that’s going to be hard not to pay attention to going by those on the sea,” said 2023 Cup champion Ryan Blaney. “I don’t have any expectations. I know it’s going to be a great layout and a great course and just a special place to be able to go run here at such a famous base.
“I’m honestly really honored that they are having us and letting us do what we’re going to do. And I think it’s going to be a heck of a time. I’m incredibly excited about it.”
All three NASCAR national series will compete on the track, with the course finalized sometime this fall.
“I have no clue,” said 2021 Cup champion Kyle Larson. “I haven’t seen any drawing or anything of anything yet. But I don’t really care what the course is. I’m just happy that we’re doing this.
“It’s going to be a fun event no matter what. It’s a beautiful part of the country. You’re racing on a Navy base. This is pretty surreal.”
Larson indicated that they won’t know how the track will race until they race.
“A lot of times, the weirder and crazier the tracks are, the better racing we have,” Larson said. “When we think things aren’t going to be right, it creates chaos and whatnot. … We could build an oval right here. We can build a road course. I don’t care.
“I’m just glad that we’re here racing on this base, and it should be fun.”
One thing that probably won’t be possible (and won’t be a goal) is to design a course that could limit the dominance of Shane van Gisbergen, who has won the last three road courses this year.
The three-time Supercars champion has won at Mexico (where he battled stomach issues), the Chicago street course and Sonoma in the last couple of months.
“Food poisoning still won’t get the job done so we’ve just all got to get better,” Blaney quipped.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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