NASCAR’s Premier Naval Base Coronado Event Goes to Corey Heim

Naval Base Coronado, San Diego, CA — June 21, 2026

NASCAR visits Naval Base Coronado just outside of San Diego for the first-ever race on an active military installation. The San Diego Street Course is a challenging 16-turn, 3.4-mile street circuit that mixes high-speed action with breathtaking views, providing a star-spangled backdrop to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy.

Course Highlights

The Ellyson Start/Finish Line: Named in honor of Commander Theodore Ellyson, Naval Aviator Number One. His training at North Island laid the foundation for its commissioning as a naval air station in 1917 and eventual recognition as the “Birthplace of Naval Aviation.”

Turn 5, Carrier Corner: This sharp left-hand turn is located between the docking locations of two aircraft carriers.

Turn 8, Coronado Chicane: This marks the start of a series of turns that will present drivers with a steep challenge as they speed toward the base’s interior.

Turn 14, Runway Road: Aptly named, given it is located near the north end of Runway 18/36 at Halsey Field.

The race course is a combination of asphalt and concrete of different ages. The new pavement provides exceptional grip but is harsh on tires. Keeping up with tire wear will be a key factor in today’s race. Drivers also complained about the track’s bumpy surface.

Ryan Blaney was asked by a member of the media during Saturday’s press conferences. WHAT KIND OF RACING WILL WE SEE TOMORROW? “Your guess is as good as mine. I’ll be racking through it tonight, just talking with Jonathan tonight on what do we think the best way to go about things are, and then you plan as much as you can but sometimes you’re gonna have to audible in the race and understand where you’re at and what you want to do, and then see what the tire wear is like tomorrow. So, that’s the fun part about these new things. This whole weekend has been super cool to be here on the base. I appreciate them having us. The fans have been amazing the whole weekend and it should be a great day tomorrow for sure. As far as racing goes, I don’t know. Manage rear tires and don’t hit any concrete. I hope I can do those two things and we might have a shot.”

Today’s Race

The Anduril 250 will be 255 miles, 75 Laps, around Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado’s 3.4 Mile Street Course. Stages are set for 20/20/35 laps. Of course, the Road Course King, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) starts on the pole with Carson Hocevar lining up next to him.

Quick Notes on SVG

• Won seven of his 14 Cup road course starts
• Six of his seven road course wins came in the last seven races
• Currently on a 10-race top-10 streak on road courses
• Shane van Gisbergen’s average finish of 6.71 on road courses is second best all time among drivers with 4+ starts, behind only Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts (2.78)
• Can become the first driver to get their first eight Cup wins on road courses
• Will be making his 67th Cup start this weekend

Points leader Tyler Reddick started at the rear of the field after a practice crash necessitated work on the car’s splitter. Denny Hamlin, winner of the last three Cup Series races, starts deep in the field (26th).

Stage One

As expected, SVG(97) took the lead into turn one. Carson Hocevar(77) hung with the road course expert and even made a pass for the lead early in the race.

Jimmie Johnson(84) was the first driver to make contact with a concrete barrier. He complained of brake issues with his car from the start. SVG said his rear tires went away quickly, and teams began planning an early pit stop.

Cars began to come to pit road at the midpoint of Stage One for fresh Goodyear rubber. In the middle of the pit sequence, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s (47) car stalled on the track, and NASCAR was forced to display the caution flag.

Prior to pit road being opened for regular service, Christopher Bell(20) came in, and Brent Crews took over the driver’s seat. Bell had broken his wrist in a crash at Michigan, and his team was concerned about the multiple left- and right-hand turns encountered while navigating the course. Since Bell started the race, he will be credited with any points earned today.

Not everyone with old tires came to pit road. Some teams opted to stay out, conserve a set of tires and will come in before pit road closes two laps before the end of the Stage. The strategy is called “Flipping the Stage.” Drivers who employ that move will pick up track position when everyone else pits during the Stage ending caution.

On the restart, SVG held the lead. However, Ryan Blaney(12), with fresher tires, made the pass to take over the top spot.

Ryan Preece(60) drove under SVG in a tight corner and the two cars collided. Preece moved to second briefly. SVG gave the Ford Mustang Dark Horse driver a smack on the rear bumper and regained the position.

Bubba Wallace(23) was one of the drivers on the flip strategy. Unfortunately, his crew failed to get one of the wheels on his race car tight and it came off when he returned to the track. The caution waved again and when Wallace returned to pit road he was held for two laps as the penalty for the infraction. The Stage ended under the caution.

Results of Stage One

Position	Car #	Driver	Behind	Stage Points
1	12	Ryan Blaney	—	10
2	60	Ryan Preece	0.993	9
3	5	Kyle Larson	1.423	8
4	54	Ty Gibbs	2.053	7
5	16	AJ Allmendinger	3.019	6
6	34	Todd Gilliland	3.857	5
7	77	Carson Hocevar	4.607	4
8	22	Joey Logano	5.919	3
9	88	Connor Zilisch	6.504	2
10	24	William Byron	7.406	1

 

Stage Two

Ryan Preece and Connor Zilish(88) restarted on the front row. SVG sat in the seventh position. Everyone is experiencing significant tire wear and tiptoeing around the circuit.

Zilisch took the lead from Preece just as things got crazy at the front of the pack. Chris Buescher(17) got loose entering turn five, SVG braked but still tapped the rear bumper of the #17 car. Buescher did a complete 360 degree spin and kept running without further contact. Fortunately, for the whole filed, the incident occurred at one of the spots around the track that provided an elevated platform for spotters. The whole field was able to get slowed down and avoid contact, so the caution was not needed.

Out front Zilish drove away from the pack opening a five second advantage on Preece.

Ten laps into Stage Two the engine on the Bell/Crews car expired. Apparently due to a transmission issue that over-revved the engine. The resulting caution allowed those cars needing tires to come to pit road.

On the restart Austin Hill(33) and Zilisch led the field to green. SVG jumped up to make it three-wide. Heading into the second turn SVG backed off as it was apparent their were not going to navigate the corner three-wide. Ultimately they could not drive through it two-wide. Hill got loose and forced Zilish into the left side retainer. SVG hit both cars and the wreck was on. The wall moved as designed to absorb the impact and NASCAR was forced to wave the red flag to clean up the mess and reset the barrier.

The cars of Hill, Zilisch, and SVG all went to the garage. Several additional cars suffered minor damage but were able to continue racing. After the red flag was lifted several teams made pit stops and the running order was scrambled. Riley Herbst(35) Kyle Larson(5), Daniel Suarez(7), Zane Smith(38), and Joey Logano(22).

The wreck was a big break for Bubba Wallace(23), it was the second caution he received the “lucky dog free pass” putting him back on the lead lap.

Smith quickly drove to the front. As laps in the Stage wound down multiple teams choose the flip the stage strategy. On the track drivers struggled with the handle on their race cars. Tyler Reddick(45) spun, Noah Gragson(4) went around and smashed the wall with a push from Kevin Magnussen, the former F1 driver making his first NASCAR start. Gragson was forced to go behind the wall with heavy right side damage.

Results of Stage Two

Position	Car #	Driver	Behind	Stage Points
1	60	Ryan Preece	—	10
2	35	Riley Herbst	1.391	9
3	17	Chris Buescher	4.831	8
4	16	AJ Allmendinger	4.887	7
5	12	Ryan Blaney	5.295	6
6	77	Carson Hocevar	7.995	5
7	7	Daniel Suarez	8.454	4
8	1	Ross Chastain	10.393	3
9	34	Todd Gilliland	12.167	2
10	22	Joey Logano	12.900	1

Pit strategies are all over the board. A few teams have conserved an extra set of tires. Whether or not that is a factor remains to be seen on how the action plays out over the final 35 laps.

The Final Stage

Heading to the restart Preece, Buescher, Todd Gilliland(34), Blaney, and Chase Briscoe(19) were the top five. But on lap 44 of the 75 the caution came out again for debris on the track. Line em back up and see if the pack can survive another restart. The same five are out front just in a different order. Buescher moved ahead of Preece, Blaney got the best of Gilliland and Briscoe remained in fifth.

On the restart Preece spun his tires and Buescher got a huge jump on the pack. Blaney, Briscoe, Larson, Smith, William Byron(24), and Corey Heim(67) moved past Preece. Denny Hamlin joined the top ten.

Blaney and Larson swapped the lead at the front of the pack. Stenhouse and Brad Keselowski(6) got together forcing Brad into the wall. Byron also made contact with the barrier. Both drivers lost multiple laps in the pits as crews worked to repair their cars.

As the race worked its way down to 25 laps to go the fuel window is open so that drivers can complete the final laps on a full tank of Sunoco Racing Fuel. Pit road got busy. The question is will a set of tires last for 25 laps.

Larson pulled away from the lead pack as he tries to break his 40-race winless streak.

Blaney pitted with 21 laps to go. Larson, Heim, Hocevar, Ross Chastain(1), and Reddick were the leaders.

Larson and Heim pitted with 16 laps to go. Hocevar, Reddick, Wallace, and Chastain all pitted on the next lap. At the same time Stenhouse had his engine expire and dumped enough oil on the track to force NASCAR to bring out another caution. NASCAR scoring will have to sort out the running order in what will now be a sprint to the finish.

Surprisingly, most of the field opted to pit for fresh tires. Hocevar and Larson in row one, Reddick and Heim in row two, Ty Gibbs(54) and Wallace sit in row three as the race resumes.

Hocevar fired off into the lead, followed by Heim. On the first lap after the restart, (11 to go), Heim bumped into the rear of Hocevar spinning out the leader. In the dust up Reddick moved around both cars. Resetting the running order Heim, Wallace, Larson, and Herbst followed Reddick.

With six laps to go 23XI racing holds the top three spots. However, Reddick and Heim have separated themselves from Wallace by six seconds. The two leaders are swapping the fastest lap of the race as the drive had to the checkered flag. Will their tires hold up over the final five laps?

With three laps to go Reddick overshot a corner. Heim pounced and took the lead. Reddick had a tire go down and Heim drove away with his first Cup win in his 13th start in the series. Reddick finished 25th.

NASCAR Cup Series Points Standings

Position	Car #	Driver	Points	Behind
1	45	Tyler Reddick	716	0
2	11	Denny Hamlin	708	-8
3	12	Ryan Blaney	583	-133
4	5	Kyle Larson	536	-180
5	54	Ty Gibbs	535	-181
6	9	Chase Elliott	534	-182
7	17	Chris Buescher	500	-216
8	7	Daniel Suárez	478	-238
9	77	Carson Hocevar	476	-240
10	19	Chase Briscoe	431	-285
11	23	Bubba Wallace	429	-287
12	20	Christopher Bell	422	-294
13	24	William Byron	421	-295
14	43	Erik Jones	372	-344
15	2	Austin Cindric	370	-346
16	60	Ryan Preece	367	-349
NASCAR Cup Series Postseason Cut Line
17	97	Shane van Gisbergen	362	-354
18	22	Joey Logano	357	-359
19	6	Brad Keselowski	354	-362
20	16	AJ Allmendinger	346	-370
21	71	Michael McDowell	333	-383
22	1	Ross Chastain	327	-389
23	38	Zane Smith	316	-400
24	35	Riley Herbst	309	-407
25	34	Todd Gilliland	306	-410

Results of the Anduril 250 on the San Diego Street Course

Position	Car #	Driver	Laps	Behind
1	67	Corey Heim	75	—
2	23	Bubba Wallace	75	10.365
3	5	Kyle Larson	75	10.689
4	38	Zane Smith	75	17.114
5	16	AJ Allmendinger	75	17.623
6	17	Chris Buescher	75	17.880
7	1	Ross Chastain	75	18.431
8	35	Riley Herbst	75	19.236
9	12	Ryan Blaney	75	19.556
10	71	Michael McDowell	75	24.135
11	60	Ryan Preece	75	26.079
12	9	Chase Elliott	75	27.364
13	7	Daniel Suarez	75	29.151
14	11	Denny Hamlin	75	29.920
15	54	Ty Gibbs	75	32.243
16	42	John Hunter Nemechek	75	32.924
17	19	Chase Briscoe	75	34.521
18	22	Joey Logano	75	37.607
19	77	Carson Hocevar	75	39.224
20	43	Erik Jones	75	43.624
21	34	Todd Gilliland	75	45.737
22	2	Austin Cindric	75	46.411
23	51	Cody Ware	75	50.422
24	3	Austin Dillon	75	54.229
25	45	Tyler Reddick	75	71.907
26	48	Alex Bowman	75	76.327
27	91	Kevin Magnussen	75	78.006
28	84	Jimmie Johnson	75	99.930
29	21	Josh Berry	75	114.299
30	10	Ty Dillon	74	1 lap
31	41	Cole Custer	72	3 laps
32	24	William Byron	68	7 laps
33	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	59	OUT
34	6	Brad Keselowski	59	16 laps
35	4	Noah Gragson	37	OUT
36	33	Austin Hill	31	OUT
37	88	Connor Zilisch	31	OUT
38	97	Shane Van Gisbergen	31	OUT
39	20	Christopher Bell	28	OUT