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Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell win NASCAR All-Star heats

After Brad Keselowski earned pole position in qualifying on Friday, the rest of the grid was determined by a pair of heat races on Saturday. To put it simply, Heat #1 results decide the inside row for the All-Star Race while Heat #2 results decide the outside row with ten drivers in each heat. On […]

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After Brad Keselowski earned pole position in qualifying on Friday, the rest of the grid was determined by a pair of heat races on Saturday. To put it simply, Heat #1 results decide the inside row for the All-Star Race while Heat #2 results decide the outside row with ten drivers in each heat.

On Sunday, the 18 drivers who are not yet locked into the All-Star Race will take part in their own race with the top-two finishers from the ‘Open’ advancing into the main event. Now for a breakdown of Saturday’s heat races:

Heat #1

Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

It’s been a difficult and at times nightmarish season for Keselowski, but the weekend at North Wilkesboro has offered him some relief. He held off all challengers to win the first heat race of the night, even though a couple of drivers got very close in trying to snatch the top spot away.

When the planned competition caution flew in the middle of the race, Keselowski stayed out while Ross Chastain and several others pitted, taking on a set of fresh sticker tires. Those drivers quickly charged through the field with Chastain drawing even with Keselowski in a fierce battle for the race lead. However, the tires ultimately overheated while running the bottom and he was left defending the runner-up spot for the remainder of the race.

He battled back-and-forth with William Byron and Ryan Blaney as the three drivers fought over the spot that would determine who starts third in the All-Star Race on Sunday. Chastain held on over Byron by just a nose while Blaney finished fourth and Alex Bowman fifth.

Josh Berry was sixth, Tyler Reddick seventh, Austin Dillon eighth, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. ninth. Kyle Larson’s car did not take part in the heat race since its driver was busy qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 today. So, Larson will come from the last row of the grid on Sunday, which he also did one year ago.

“It doesn’t hurt,” said Keselowski after the win. “It’s been a good two days for everyone on this #6 crew … It’s good to be starting up front with this Ford Mustang. To be running fast, this is fun.”

Speaking about the tire difference, Keselowski added: “Those guys who put tires on were really hard to hold off. I had the preferred groove and just tried to use it to my advantage. We’ll see if that’s the case tomorrow.

Heat #2

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Photo by: David Jensen / Getty Images

Christopher Bell was in control of the second heat race from start-to-finish and no one was able to mount a real challenge against him. During the competition caution, nearly the entire field pitted for fresh rubber with most taking four, but Bell took two right-sides instead and narrowly avoided his tire changer on the way out.

Chase Briscoe was the lone driver who rolled the dice and chose to stay out. He inherited the race lead, but it did not last long as he quickly faded through the field. However, he could not get out of the way quick enough, spinning after contact from Daniel Suarez and hitting the door of Denny Hamlin.

This was the only incident of the entire night as Bell set sail for the remainder of the race, taking the win over Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. Kyle Busch and Chris Buescher filled out the rest of the top five while the remainder of the top ten was as follows: Suarez, Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Harrison Burton, Hamlin.

“Maybe the Mobil 1 Camry is a million-dollar Camry,” smiled Bell after the win, guaranteeing him the outside of the front row. “It’s feeling really good. I knew yesterday in practice that if they could get some rear grip in it, I felt like I had a lot of car potential. The guys did an amazing job on just making the car better overnight and it was really refreshing to get out there and just cruise those first 30 laps. Then, I didn’t know how it was going to work with having Joey [Logano] right behind me, but this thing was on rails. I’m really happy and excited about the opportunity tomorrow.”

All-Star Race lineup

Pos. Driver Team
1 Brad Keselowski RFK Racing
2 Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing
3 Ross Chastain Trackhouse Racing Team
4 Joey Logano Team Penske
5 William Byron Hendrick Motorsports
6 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports
7 Ryan Blaney Team Penske
8 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing
9 Alex Bowman Hendrick Motorsports
10 Chris Buescher RFK Racing
11 Josh Berry Wood Brothers Racing
12 Daniel Suarez Trackhouse Racing Team
13 Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing
14 Chase Briscoe Joe Gibbs Racing
15 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing
16 Austin Cindric Team Penske
17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Hyak Motorsports
18 Harrison Burton Rick Ware Racing
19 Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports
20 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing
21 OPEN RACE WINNER OPEN RACE WINNER
22 OPEN RACE RUNNER-UP OPEN RACE RUNNER-UP
23 FAN VOTE WINNER FAN VOTE WINNER

Photos from All-Star Race – Heat

 

In this article

Nick DeGroot

NASCAR Cup

Brad Keselowski

Christopher Bell

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Active military base set to host NASCAR street race in 2026 | News, Sports, Jobs

The Associated Press The guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale leaves Naval Base Coronado in 2016 in Coronado, Calif. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years. The move to the San Diego […]

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The Associated Press
The guided-missile destroyer USS Stockdale leaves Naval Base Coronado in 2016 in Coronado, Calif.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027.

But the shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer, said Wednesday. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be NASCAR’s second street race in the sport’s history, following the three-year run in Chicago, and first on an active military base. The course layout is not complete but is expected to be around 3 miles.

NASCAR has seen Auto Club Speedway close after the 2023 race. It built a temporary short track inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2002 through 2024 but moved that event to North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, Chicago, this year’s visit to Mexico City and now next year in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.



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NASCAR will host full weekend of racing on military base in 2026

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for the Cup Series event held in downtown Chicago for three years. The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return for the top-tier Cup Series to Chicago, where NASCAR will […]

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for the Cup Series event held in downtown Chicago for three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return for the top-tier Cup Series to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027. Shane Van Gisbergen won the inaugural Chicago street race in 2023 as well as the third edition earlier this month — both times in a Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet — while Alex Bowman won the 2024 event.

The shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21. The Cup Series will take the track for the main event after races for the third-tier Truck Series and the second-tier Xfinity Series.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer for NASCAR, said Wednesday via a news release. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be the second exclusively street venue in NASCAR history — Chicago was the first — and first on an active military base. The course layout is not set, but it is expected to be close to three miles.

While NASCAR maintains a presence in the Golden State at Sonoma Raceway — this year’s Cup Series race there was held July 13 — that track is in Northern California. The circuit hasn’t visited SoCal for a regular-season race since the closure of Auto Club Speedway after the 2023 race at the track in Fontana, and while the preseason Clash exhibition was held on a temporary short track inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2022 through 2024, that event was held this year at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, in Chicago and at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City earlier this summer, and he also gets the credit for next year’s street showcase in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said in a release. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.

NASCAR named Amy Lupo, who has been with the stock-car sanctioning body since 2021 and helped launch the Coliseum’s hosting of the Clash, as president of the race. She spent more than 20 years at ESPN, a tenure that included helping the X Games when she lived in San Diego early in her career. She still lives in Southern California.

AP photo by Jae C. Hong / Pit crews work during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 26, 2023, in Fontana, Calif. The Cup Series will return to Southern California for a regular-season race for the first time since then with next year's event on a street course at Naval Base Coronado.
AP photo by Jae C. Hong / Pit crews work during a NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 26, 2023, in Fontana, Calif. The Cup Series will return to Southern California for a regular-season race for the first time since then with next year’s event on a street course at Naval Base Coronado.

Pacer will set the pace

INDIANAPOLIS — Brickyard 400 fans are about to get their own version of a “Pacers and Racers” weekend.

Organizers of the Cup Series race said Tuesday that three-time NBA All-Star selection Pascal Siakam, a forward for the Indiana Pacers, has been selected to drive the pace car for Sunday’s Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The announcement came two months after the Pacers played the New York Knicks in an Eastern Conference title series matchup on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. The events at IMS and Gainbridge Fieldhouse took place just a short drive apart.

It was just the fourth time a Pacers and racers doubleheader had taken place in Indy.

Now, though, Siakam will get a chance to experience the other part, this time leading the Cup Series cars to the green flag in a 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS. The race will take place on the historic 2.5-mile oval for the second straight year after it had been run on the track’s road course from 2021-24 as the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard while part of a busy weekend that included the open-wheel IndyCar Series also racing there. The Cup Series first raced on the oval at IMS from 1994 to 2020 before NASCAR decided to change things up.

“Basketball and motorsports — Pacers and racers — go hand in hand in Indianapolis,” Doug Boles, the president of IndyCar and the speedway, said in a release. “Following the Pacers’ electrifying postseason run, it’s only fitting to have Pascal join us to pace the field as NASCAR’s biggest stars compete to win the In-Season Challenge and add their name to the history books with a win at the Brickyard.”

Siakam, who grew up in Cameroon, didn’t start playing basketball until he was 17 years old. A two-time All-NBA selection, he helped the Toronto Raptors win the league championship in 2019 and helped the Pacers reach this year’s NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who won the title after Indiana took the best-of-seven series the distance.



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NASCAR to hold race at Naval Base Coronado – NBC 7 San Diego

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Ryan Blaney takes issue with NASCAR playoff narrative amid raging debates on format

Ryan Blaney chimed in on the championship format debate Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Blaney pushed back on the narrative that drivers who have won a championship in the 16-driver playoff era were less deserving than those who won under the full season points format. “What kind of bugs me a little bit is the […]

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Ryan Blaney chimed in on the championship format debate Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Blaney pushed back on the narrative that drivers who have won a championship in the 16-driver playoff era were less deserving than those who won under the full season points format.

“What kind of bugs me a little bit is the people that are so diehard on, like, ‘If you won a championship in this format that we have now, oh, it’s a Mickey Mouse championship and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t count,’” Blaney said. ‘It’s like, man, everyone has the same opportunity as the guy who won it. This isn’t the full season points. Like everyone always talks about like, ‘Oh, this guy, he would have won the full season points.’ Like, well, that’s great. But we haven’t used that format in 20 years.

“… I look at our championship as like, we had a good year, and we even had a better playoffs than everybody else. And we rose to the occasion when we needed to, and we dug in, and we were the best car during the playoffs and had some big wins and I was able to get the championship.”

Ryan Blaney joins in on NASCAR championship format debate

The current playoff format has come under fire following Joey Logano’s victory in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix this past season, in which the Team Penske driver captured his third title. Logano had an average finish of 17.1, the worst for a driver in a championship-winning season.

But in the playoff format, adopted in 2004 and tweaked along the way, winning is everything. NASCAR switched to an elimination style format in 2014, where 16 drivers make up the field. Winning at least one regular season race grants entry into the postseason.

Blaney won the championship in 2023. While far from the dominant car during the regular season, Blaney locked in during the playoffs. He won two of the 10 races, and finished second twice, including in the season finale at Phoenix.

Ryan Blaney reveals what he would change about NASCAR championship format

“I mean, everyone can have their opinion,” Blaney said. “It gets under my skin a little bit when they’re like, ‘You guys didn’t deserve that championship.’ It’s like, what are you talking about, man? Like we went through the grinder, everyone digs in. And we were resilient when it mattered.”

While Blaney will defend his championship against anyone, he is open to change when it comes to the playoff format. He said he doesn’t love the winner-takes-all nature of the final playoff race. Instead, Blaney would like to see a little more consistency rewarded.

“Do I have my ideal like championship format? Yeah,” Blaney said. “Like my opinion on it, I was a huge fan of the initial Chase. Last 10 weeks of the year, you kind of have somewhat of a reset in points and then you go 10 races and whoever had the best 10 races was going to win the championship.”



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NASCAR sets course for race at naval base | News, Sports, Jobs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years. The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and […]

Published

on


CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in Southern California next June as a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the last three years.

The move to the San Diego area does not eliminate a return to Chicago, where NASCAR will still maintain an office and effort an eventual return, perhaps as early as 2027.

But the shift next year will allow NASCAR to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend on June 19-21.

“As part of our nation’s 250th anniversary, we are honored for NASCAR to join the celebration as we host our first street race at a military base, Naval Base Coronado,” Ben Kennedy, executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer, said Wednesday. “NASCAR San Diego Weekend will honor the Navy’s history and the men and women who serve as we take the best motorsports in the world to the streets of Naval Base Coronado.”

It will be NASCAR’s second street race in the sport’s history, following the three-year run in Chicago, and first on an active military base. The course layout is not complete but is expected to be around 3 miles.

NASCAR has seen Auto Club Speedway close after the 2023 race. It built a temporary short track inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum from 2002 through 2024 but moved that event to North Carolina.

Kennedy, who has been bullish on new endeavors for his family business, was the brains of the races at the Coliseum, Chicago, this year’s visit to Mexico City and now next year in San Diego, a venture the Navy is excited about.

“NASCAR embodies the very best of the American spirit through speed, precision and an unyielding pursuit of excellence,” Navy Secretary John C. Phelan said. “Hosting a race aboard Naval Air Station North Island, the birthplace of naval aviation, it’s not just a historic first, it’s a powerful tribute to the values we share: grit, teamwork and love of country.

“From the flight deck to the finish line, this collaboration reflects the operational intensity and unity of purpose that define both the United States Navy and NASCAR.”

The base is known as the “West Coast Quarterdeck” and is a consortium of nine Navy installations that stretch from San Clemente Island 50 miles off the coast of Long Beach to the Mountain Warfare Training Facility 50 miles east of San Diego.

NASCAR named Amy Lupo, who has been with the series since 2021 and helped launch the Coliseum, as president of the race. She spent more than 20 years at ESPN expanding the X Games when she lived in San Diego early in her career. She still lives in Southern California.



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NASCAR Will Host Race in Coronado

NASCAR will host a new street race at Naval Air Station North Island to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. The event will take place on June 21, 2026 the National Association for Stock Auto Cars (NASCAR) confirmed. “For us, this isn’t just a race; it’s a mission celebrating the shared values of courage, commitment, and […]

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NASCAR will host a new street race at Naval Air Station North Island to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The event will take place on June 21, 2026 the National Association for Stock Auto Cars (NASCAR) confirmed.

“For us, this isn’t just a race; it’s a mission celebrating the shared values of courage, commitment, and elite performance of the men and women who serve our nation,” said Ben Kennedy, a former race car driver and the current executive vice president and chief venue and racing innovations officer for NASCAR, in a statement.

The Coronado race will be a part of a broader show,  encompassing three days of races showcasing stars of the NASCAR cup series from June 16-19.

“It’s an honor to partner with NASCAR at NAS North Island as a part of our 250th anniversary celebration,” said Cpt. Loren Jacobi, commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado. “Hosting one of America’s premier motosports events on this historic base reflects our partnership with the local community and our shared pride in the nation’s heritage.”



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