AJ Allmendinger gives 130 mph tour of Daytona International Speedway
Before The NASCAR Foundation’s License to Drive Track Laps event July 23, AJ Allmendinger took us around Daytona twice in a Chevy Blazer pace car.
- NASCAR will hold a street race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego in June 2026.
- Driver AJ Allmendinger supports the move and believes six road courses on the schedule is a good balance.
DAYTONA BEACH — AJ Allmendinger admires this about NASCAR over the last few years.
“I’m all for trying new things,” the driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet said. “Dirt race at Bristol, whether you liked or hated it, it was new. Street racing, going to different places. I think it’s cool.”
This week, NASCAR formally announced its newest novelty.
Next season, it will run a street race at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. The weekend, which is scheduled for June 19-21, will include Cup, Xfinity and Truck events.
It serves as the spiritual successor to the Chicago Street Race of the last three seasons, becoming just the second street course in the modern era. It also will be the first time NASCAR has put on a show from an active military base.
“I think it’s a win for everybody,” Allmendinger told The News-Journal during a fundraising visit to Daytona International Speedway on Wednesday.
San Diego street race will put NASCAR back in SoCal
The event will insert NASCAR back into the Southern California market, something it lost with the shuttering of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana in 2023.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum filled the gap for one year in 2024. But that was the last of its three years hosting the preseason Clash. The exhibition relocated to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the 2025 season.
“That Southern California market we miss, for sure,” Allmendinger said. “We still had it a little bit with the Coliseum, but now that is gone. And San Diego itself is just such a pretty area. So it’ll be fun to see how they set up the race track.”
Allmendinger added that’s the biggest potential con to street racing — the track layout.
He harbored initial doubts about Chicago.
When that race arrived in 2023, he looked at the course and thought it would eliminate passing opportunities. It was too narrow.
He quickly realized that wasn’t the case, though.
“I think we had some of the best passing opportunities, and it showed that over the three years of racing,” he said.
AJ Allmendinger thought NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race was successful
Allmendinger liked the Chicago experience.
He participated in all three iterations and posted his best finish (sixth) earlier this month.
“I thought Chicago, for the most part, was very successful over the three years,” he said. “It was nice, for the most part, to have good weather this year because I felt like, the first two years, that’s what hurt the Cup race. But this year, it seemed more crowded than it had been. It just kept growing.
“I think that’s what’s great about street racing in general. You kind of bring a new public to it. Back when I raced Champ Car, that’s what we always said — 30% of the fans knew what was going on and 70% of them usually drove down those streets at 30 miles per hour and they kind of rolled out there like, ‘What’s going on now?’”
Despite putting the event on pause, NASCAR might return to Chicago in the future. The door remains open for 2027.
Allmendinger wouldn’t mind that.
“It’d have been fun to keep it,” he said. “I think it was doing a really good job. But I also think sometimes, with street races, you’ve got to go try new markets and it kind of runs its course. But I’m not opposed to going back there.”
Does the NASCAR schedule have too many road courses?
Because 2026 won’t feature a Chicago Street Race, with San Diego essentially replacing it, the number of road courses on the schedule could stay at six. The full slate is expected to be released in the next few weeks.
Road courses have been a point of contention recently.
Brad Keselowski criticized the amount of them on social media. Denny Hamlin stated his desire for fewer on his Actions Detrimental podcast. Both drivers publicized their feelings in mid-July, right as Shane van Gisbergen was ripping off his third road-course victory in five weeks and rumors about a San Diego addition swirled.
Then, Michael McDowell defended NASCAR and opposed Keselowski’s comments during an appearance on the Door Bumper Clear podcast.
Where does Allmendinger fall?
“I think six is about as max as we need,” he said. “Anywhere from four-to-six, I’m good with.
“But you can say we have six superspeedway races, right? I don’t want any more of those, either. You don’t want too much of one thing, so I think that’s a good number. We don’t need more of it. But I would hate to go back to just two or three of them as well.”
Especially with the San Diego news, a massive decrease doesn’t look likely anytime soon.
