Fare thee well, Naval Base Coronado.
Or is it simply “See you next year?”
Before NASCAR arrived at the military base for a tripleheader weekend that ended with Corey Heim’s dramatic maiden win in the NASCAR Cup Series, conventional wisdom said this foray to the West Coast would be a one-off event tied to the 250-year celebrations of the birth of the United States and establishment of the U.S. Navy.
What those spouting the conventional wisdom didn’t anticipate was the overwhelming success of an event that began as a discussion two years ago and grew into one of the most memorable postcard moments of the entire season.
After navigating the 3.4-mile, 16-turn course to a third-place finish, Kyle Larson had nothing but praise for the collaborative effort that created an extraordinary weekend.
“Overall, it was just a lot of fun this weekend,” Larson said. “It was an unreal atmosphere, probably one of the coolest atmospheres I’ve been a part of in a long time.
“Kudos to NASCAR, the Naval Base Coronado and all the men and women who serve. I was hoping we could get this Chevy to Victory Lane, but we’ll take a third-place finish.”
Zane Smith, who was fourth in the highest-finishing Ford, was equally effusive in his assessment.
“Honestly, just an amazing weekend,” Smith said. “This will go down as arguably the coolest weekend of the year. Obviously, the Daytona 500 and Indy, the Coke 600, places like that stack up towards the top, but this is right there with it.
“It was just an amazing weekend honoring our Navy and our military. It’s a wild road course, and it was cool to have a good run at the end of the day.”
That’s not to say there weren’t growing pains involved with an inaugural event. Concession lines were long at the start of the weekend. NASCAR responded by beefing up staff and food supplies.
Ticket sales were capped at 50,000 per day, dictated by the number of fans Naval Base Coronado could accommodate comfortably and securely. Early arrivals on race mornings were rewarded with the most favorable traffic conditions.
Nevertheless, the magnitude of the event dwarfed any problematic details and provided the impetus for a possible reprise next year.
“We would love to return,” said Ben Kennedy, Chief Operating Officer for NASCAR. “We’re also cognizant of the fact this is active military base. We want to be mindful of that, as well…
“What we are going to do after this weekend is have a deep dive after-action review with our entire team. We’re going to sit down with the United States Navy and talk about what did we learned, what worked well.
“I’d like to sit down with them, have a debrief, then have a conversation about is there an opportunity for us to return here. Nothing to report today. A lot more conversations we’ll have after this weekend.”
If the Navy is amenable, there are myriad reasons for returning. Two-thirds of the fans who came to Naval Base Coronado had never been to a NASCAR race before. The race weekend drew from all 50 states and 17 different countries. Percentages of both female and Latino fans were significantly higher than at a typical NASCAR weekend.
At present, there are few other opportunities for NASCAR to stage a points-paying race in the important Southern California market.
And perhaps most obvious was the collaboration between NASCAR and the Navy, which accrued to the benefit of both.
The bridge of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, which provided an imposing backdrop to Turn 3, took on a new role as the broadcast booth for the last NASCAR on Prime telecast of the season.
Officers in Navy whites worked alongside reporters, photographers, public relations pros and NASCAR staffers in the media center. The weekend functioned as seamlessly as possible without sacrificing necessary security.
“You think about a lot of the strategic reasons that we invest in events like this,” Kennedy said. “We want to put these amazing races on. Obviously, this weekend was all about our military and honoring them and thanking them for all that they do. We also welcomed a lot of new fans this weekend, which is icing on the cake.”
“It was a fantastic event,” echoed driver Ryan Blaney, who finished ninth on Sunday. “I had a blast all weekend. The Navy was great to us. The base was great to us, and personally I would love to come back.”
Blaney is not alone in that sentiment.
— NASCAR Wire Service —