As a native of San Diego County, it’s not surprising that driver Sheldon Creed’s family has a Navy background.

“Both my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather served in the Navy here,” Creed said Wednesday after flying west from North Carolina. “So, I was already excited about coming back home for this event.

“But I think what it actually means is just reaching me.”

Shortly after arriving in San Diego, Creed appeared at an event at the Navy Museum. The 28-year-old native of Alpine will race in Saturday’s O’Reilly Series secondary feature at Naval Base Coronado, part of NASCAR’s San Diego Weekend that culminates in Sunday’s Anduril 250.

“There’s a lot of excitement, pride that the Navy and NASCAR is doing this together,” said Creed, “You can feel it. This is pretty special.”

Creed is currently fourth in the O’Reilly standings after scoring his first series win earlier this season in Atlanta. He has seven top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 17 starts for the Haas Factory Team Chevrolet.

“I’m excited about having the chance to race in San Diego,” said Creed. “It’s not really something I ever even thought about until they announced this race.

“It’s going to be a very challenging circuit. It’s long with a lot of different turns. And we race across five different surfaces.”

But Creed has a bit of an edge on every other NASCAR driver. He’s actually raced on Naval Base Coronado before, driving a truck during a vintage race during the now-defunct Coronado Speed Festival a decade ago. OK, so the section of this track that he raced on during the Speed Festival was about 40 feet long.

“This weekend is going to be a challenge for every driver,” said Creed. “That’s been the common theme. And we’ve got one 50-minute practice session to get it dialed in.”

Creed has one of NASCAR’s more varied backgrounds.

Like seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, a native of El Cajon, Creed’s racing roots developed in the motocross track at Barona Oaks. Like Johnson, Creed moved to closed-course off-road trucks, where he won a series championship. He was also the 2020 champion of NASCAR’s Craftsman Trucks Series, where he won seven races in 76 starts over seven seasons.

He’s now in his eighth year on the O’Reilly tour.

Creed is one of three San Diego drivers competing this weekend. Johnson is racing in Friday’s Craftsman Trucks race as well as Sunday’s Cup feature. And Coronado native Austin Varco will try to qualify for Friday’s truck race.