NASCAR will hold a street race on Naval Base Coronado in San Diego next June to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy by hosting all three of its national series over a three-day weekend.

It will be NASCAR’s second street race in the sport’s history, following a 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.

“This a huge win for San Diego and we are so grateful to NASCAR for their partnership,” said Mark Neville, Sports San Diego chief executive officer. “Without a doubt, the NASCAR San Diego Weekend will have a significant and favorable impact on San Diego’s tourism and hospitality industry. On top of that, being the first ever NASCAR race on an active military base is going to be quite the spectacle and you can’t beat Naval Base Coronado.”

NASCAR is partnering with Sports San Diego on operational and promotional support for the race weekend. The San Diego weekend will be a replacement for its downtown Chicago event that ran the past 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.

“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.”

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, 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.

Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 gener8tor Ford Team
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Competition Notes
Brickyard 400

Date: Sunday, July 27, 2025
Event: Race 24 of 38
Series: NASCAR Cup Series
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-miles)
#of Laps: 160
Time/TV/Radio: 2:00 PM ET on TNT Sports/SiriusXM channel 90

Todd Gilliland Notes

Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 team will face the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend for the tracks Brickyard 400. In his sole previous start at the 2.5-mile oval in 2024, Gilliland started 24th and finished sixth in an overtime finish.

gener8tor & Gilliland reunite at The Brickyard, adding some local flair with IU LAB on board. IU LAB is a new Biosciences innovation center that Indiana University is building in downtown Indianapolis’ 16 Tech District. Where academia meets industry to drive biotech innovation and train the next generation of life science leaders & entrepreneurs, gener8tor is proud to provide accelerator services to the program. More information can be found at iulab.iu.edu.

“Dover was disappointing, but the good thing about this sport is there’s another opportunity every week,” said Gilliland. “I had a solid run at the Brickyard last season, so I’m hoping I can replicate that this weekend. It’s cool to have gener8tor make their season debut at Indy, and with IU LAB on board too. They are bringing a lot of guests this weekend, including innovators participating in the IU LAB program, so hopefully I can make them proud with a good, clean run.”

Road Crew

Driver: Todd Gilliland

Hometown: Sherrills Ford, North Carolina

Crew Chief: Chris Lawson

Hometown: Medway, Ohio

Car Chief: Joe Marra

Hometown: Somers, New York

Engineer: Marc Rullo

Hometown: Ringwood, New Jersey

Engineer: Kevyn Rebolledo

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Spotter: Brit Andersen

Hometown: Branford, Connecticut

Underneath Mechanic: Michael Brookes

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Interior Mechanic: Chance Burke

Hometown: Siler City, North Carolina

Tire Specialist: Billy John

Hometown: Pitman, New Jersey

Engine Tuner: Tim Meyer

Hometown: Beatrice, Nebraska

Transporter Driver: Randy Bernier

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Pit Crew

Front Tire Changer: Danny Olszowy

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky

Rear Tire Changer: Justin Fox

Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Paul Steele

Hometown: Wichita, Kansas

Jackman: Landon Honeycutt

Hometown: Mount Pleasant, North Carolina

Fueler: Zeke Nance

Hometown: Calhoun, Georgia

ABOUT GENER8TOR

gener8tor is a global venture firm and accelerator network that supports startups, workers, employers, artists and musicians across race, place and gender. gener8tor partners with companies, governments, universities, and nonprofits to operate programs and conferences in more than 41 communities across 22 states and two countries. Fast Company named gener8tor one of the Best Workplaces for Innovators in 2021 and 2022. The International Trade Council recognized gener8tor as the Global Venture Capital Firm of the Year in 2022.

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 4, No. 34, and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 34 and No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series teams from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @teamfrm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

The NASCAR Cup Series will tackle Round 5 of the 2025 In-Season Challenge this weekend, with the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway being the venue on Sunday (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports/truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

QUALIFYING ORDER: Cup Series | Xfinity Series | Craftsman Truck Series

All 39 cars will have a chance to post a qualifying time Saturday (2:35 p.m. ET, truTV, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Saturday‘s qualifying session will be one lap and one round.

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The groups below are determined via a metric that combines the previous race finish by owner (70%) and current owner points position (30%).

MORE: How to watch on TNT Sports | Weekend schedule

# denotes series rookie
(i) denotes ineligible for driver points

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been an unexpected whirlwind for Ty Dillon in the No. 10 Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, with the inaugural In-Season Challenge, considered the brainchild of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, allowing him his moment in the limelight 11 years after making his debut with his grandfather’s team, Richard Childress Racing.

33-year-old Dillon’s Cup Series journey has been a rocky one, spending two seasons on the books at RCR, where he failed to earn a full-time spot, before being dropped and forced to find his own way. 

For Dillon, failing to make it at RCR after racing with them in both the Xfinity and Truck Series was heartbreaking. He revealed: “I had success at RCR in the Truck Series and Xfinity Series and thought my path was just going to keep going that way, and hopefully race for RCR. That was my dream as a kid.” It comes after a NASCAR legend reveals he will be arrested if he visits his own father’s grave. 

Dillon continued on the Door Bumper Clear podcast: “I think a lot of people think that I chose to go my own way. But honestly, there just wasn’t a door there open. I think they had [Ryan] Newman at the time. I think Caterpillar wasn’t interested in having me as their driver, and having two brothers at RCR just wasn’t something that they wanted. 

“I don’t know all the politics behind it, but the door wasn’t there. And I wanted to continue my career. And Germain Racing gave me an opportunity with a four-year contract at that point. It’s just hard to turn down to be a Cup racer.”

Dillon said that he made the move to Germain, believing his success in the Xfinity Series would carry over and continue, but this wasn’t the case. After four seasons and just five top 10 finishes, sponsorship issues led Germain to cease operations after 2020, leaving Dillon without a team once again. 

This uncertainty led Dillon to question his racing future and consider hanging up his race suit for good in favor of a job working with his father-in-law building retaining walls. However, his wife Haley and her father convinced him not to give in, calling everyone he could think of in the Cup Series to work his way back into the mix.

Stints with Gaunt Brothers Racing, 23XI Racing, Petty GMS Motorsports, Spire Motorsports, Kaulig, Team AmeriVet, and even a one-off return to RCR followed before landing a full-time drive with Kaulig in 2025.

Despite these challenges, Dillon said that in hindsight, he wouldn’t change a thing, believing his experiences have helped him grow “as a person, as a man, as a husband, as a father, and just give me so much perspective for this time in my life to grind. 

“And I’m proud of who I am as far as somebody that like never giving up and never quitting has become so true to me. And I hope that that portrays not only to young kids or people trying to grow in the sport, but I can be a help to my kids, too, in their life, whether it’s racing or not, like just believing and continuing to push forward in what you want to do.”

Having narrowly beaten Legacy Motor Club’s John Hunter Nemechek in the fourth round of the Challenge at Dover, Dillon now heads to Indianapolis, where he’ll take on JGR’s Ty Gibbs for a shot at the $1 million prize fund.

By JENNA FRYER

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 July 23. “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.

Originally Published: July 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM EDT