Twenty-four hours before the green flag initiated NASCAR’s first race at a naval base, the crowd metrics were in: The roughly 40,000 seats are sold out, 67% of the ticket buyers have never attended a NASCAR event and attendees will come from 50 states and 17 countries.
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On Saturday — after taking a high-speed spin himself in a Next Gen car on this 3.4 mile, 16-turn course at Naval Air Station North Island — NASCAR COO Ben Kennedy confirmed that street races are a business novelty not likely to go away soon.
“I would say in general, events like this they’re important for a lot of new fans that come into this sport,” Kennedy told SBJ. “They bring in more partners. I was talking with a team representative earlier … and they say outside Daytona 500, the Chicago and San Diego street races sell quicker than anything else that they see on the schedule.
“And I think, ultimately, a little bit of it is changing the perception of who NASCAR is. You know, we’re for everyone. We’re a bad ass sport.”
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While Kennedy said no street races have been officially greenlit for 2027 — while admitting his team is already ideating out to 2030 — he intimated returns to Chicago and San Diego are possible, if not preferable.
“I hope so,” he said. “It’d be great. It’s a one-year commitment. So we’re focused on this weekend, and I’m sure there’ll be a lot of conversations after we come out of San Diego with the Navy and with the military to talk about: ‘Is there a second year? Is there a future here? And if so, what does that look like?’”