La Prensa News Desk

The usual sounds of jet engines in Coronado are being replaced this weekend  by the roar of race car engines in an unprecedented event coinciding with the celebration of the United States Navy's 250th anniversary.

NASCAR has taken over the runways and inner streets of Naval Air Station North Island to stage the first racing weekend on an active military base in modern motorsports history.

The three-day event, which concludes this Sunday, June 21, with the premier Cup Series race—the Anduril 250: Race at the Base—has completely transformed the island’s landscape. What is normally a highly restricted, maximum-security national defense zone has been turned into a colorful 3.4-mile, 16-turn temporary street circuit with stock cars brushing up against concrete barriers with towering aircraft carriers and the downtown San Diego skyline providing a spectacular backdrop across the bay.

The event is named after sponsor company Anduril Industries, a defense products company based in Costa Mesa, California, that provides unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and counter-UAS systems to the US military.

Building a professional-grade race track inside an active military facility required more than two years of classified planning and close coordination between NASCAR engineers and high-ranking Navy officials. Formally named the Qualcomm Circuit, the track is notable for combining brutal acceleration zones on the edges of the active runways with highly technical braking points and 90-degree corners weaving between historic hangars.

Among the most talked-about spots by drivers is "Carrier Corner," a sharp left turn where vehicles pass just yards from the docking areas of floating giants like the supercarrier USS Carl Vinson, and "Runway Road," a high-speed straightaway adjacent to the active tarmac of Halsey Field.

For the local Latino community and the thousands of fans who crossed the Coronado Bridge or took the ferry from San Diego, witnessing this spectacle has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Much of the local bilingual and binational community's attention is focused on Mexican driver Daniel Suárez, driver of the #99 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.

Suárez, who boasts a massive fan base in the San Diego-Tijuana region, put together a solid performance in Saturday's qualifying sessions, securing a strong sixth-place starting position on the grid for Sunday's race.

The pole position was claimed by road-course specialist Shane van Gisbergen of New Zealand, followed closely by Carson Hocevar and Ryan Blaney.

For local tourism officials, the "NASCAR San Diego Weekend" represents a massive economic boost for the hotel and restaurant industries. While the region is traditionally strong during the summer, it has been supercharged by the arrival of over 100,000 race fans from across the country.

Dozen airplanes landed at Brown Field airport in Otay Mesa to deliver drivers and crews, with over a dozen jets remaining tied down at the local airport overnight.

The event officially kicked off on Friday with "Naval Community Day," dedicated exclusively to sailors' families and base military personnel, reinforcing the deep, historic bond between San Diego and the armed forces. Saturday afternoon features the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (Xfinity Series) race, serving as the perfect prelude to Sunday's main event.

The historic Cup Series race will stream live on Sunday at 1:00 PM Pacific Time on Prime Video, marking the grand finale of the platform's exclusive summer broadcast window and showcasing the postcards of the San Diego Bay and Coronado's naval might to millions of homes worldwide.