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CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 25: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #84 Carvana Toyota, walks onstage during driver intros prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 2025 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by David Jensen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> champ, is strapping back into a Cup car at age 50. Nick Degroot of Motorsport report<\/a> that Johnson will compete in a groundbreaking event on June 21, 2026: NASCAR\u2019s first-ever street race held on an active military base. The location? Naval Base Coronado in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n For Johnson, the announcement hits way deeper than a return-to-racing headline. He grew up in El Cajon, just up the road from Coronado. As a kid, he used to imagine NASCAR coming close to home, then shrugged it off because there wasn\u2019t a racetrack anywhere nearby.<\/p>\n Now, NASCAR is literally building one in his backyard. Fans are fired up, and honestly, the timing feels like one of those full-circle sports moments that couldn\u2019t be scripted any better.<\/p>\n NASCAR Builds Its First Street Course on a Military Base<\/p>\n NASCAR\u2019s newest event introduces a street course routed through parts of Naval Base Coronado.\u00a0 This race replaces the Chicago Street Race on the Cup schedule<\/a>, showing NASCAR\u2019s push to shake things up and bring major events to new places, especially out West. The event also lines up with a major milestone: the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jimmie Johnson\u2019s Hometown Return Comes With Heart<\/p>\n Johnson\u2019s return isn\u2019t just professional, it\u2019s emotional. Because he will be racing on streets he grew up driving near.<\/p>\n \u201cGrowing up just miles from San Diego, I dreamed about racing here in a NASCAR vehicle someday,\u201d Johnson said in a team press release<\/a>. \u201cTo come back home, compete in front of my community, the military, my family and friends, and do it with Carvana and Legacy Motor Club, this is one of those full-circle experiences you never forget.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely a bucket-list race for me. When I think about everything this sport has given me and where it all started, being able to race in San Diego feels like coming full circle. It\u2019s going to be special.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I think about everything this sport has given me and where it all started, being able to race in San Diego at this level feels like my career has come full circle. Starting out on two wheels racing motorcycles throughout the west coast and now being able to race on four in the same region is something I never thought I would see. He said<\/a>. Additionally, my grandparents were military and are buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery nearby the base, so it\u2019s an honor to race there, this is going to be very special.\u201d<\/p>\n Even after stepping back from full-time racing, Johnson hasn\u2019t exactly been chilling on the couch. He\u2019s competed in the Daytona 24<\/a>, the Le Mans 24, and even the Indy 500<\/a>. Retirement never really slowed him down because he also swap Formula 1<\/a> ride with Fernando Alonso<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jimmie Johnson will race while also serving as co-owner of Legacy Motor Club. He\u2019ll drive the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE, with Carvana returning as the primary sponsor.<\/p>\n Earlier in 2025, Johnson hit a major personal milestone: his 700th career start<\/a> at the Coca-Cola 600.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a sports writer who covers NASCAR, Formula 1 and IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. With bylines at Total Apex Sports and Last Word on Sports, Wilberforce has built a reputation for delivering timely, engaging coverage that blends sharp analysis with accessible storytelling. Wilberforce has covered everything from major football transfers to fight-night drama, bringing readers the insight and context behind the headlines. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Image CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 25: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #84 Carvana Toyota, walks onstage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-265850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}