Qualifying is complete for NASCAR’s Cup Series debut at Naval Base Coronado, in the shadow of the San Diego skyline.
Shane van Gisbergen, to no one’s surprise, was fastest in qualifying and will be joined on Sunday’s front row by Carson Hocevar. SVG has won six of the past seven Cup Series road-course races. He averaged 90.809 mph on the street course, a tenth of an MPH faster than Hocevar.
This 3.4-mile version of the Coronado street course is new, but Coronado isn’t new to road-racing. The island was host to the Coronado Speed Festival from 1997-2016 and used a 1.7-mile street course. That course was used by the Mazda MX-5 Cup Series in 2012-13 and Stadium Super Trucks i 2014.
Sunday’s Anduril 250 will be the 17th race of the 2026 Cup Series schedule and the fifth of five for Amazon’s Prime Video. It’s also the first of two straight California road courses — NASCAR goes upstate next week to Sonoma, which will be host to the first of five weeks of racing on TNT.
After that, eight various forms of oval tracks remain in the 26-race regular season, which concludes Aug. 29 at Daytona.
NASCAR lineup for Sunday race at Naval Base Coronado
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NASCAR qualifying sets lineup for Sunday debut race at Naval Base Coronado
Reporting by Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ken Willis, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
