Ryan Preece has visited a lot of tracks during his nine seasons driving on NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series.<\/p>\n
But as he looked around Naval Base Coronado on Wednesday afternoon, Preece admitted he had entered a different element.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an eye-opening experience,\u201d said Preece, who was part of NASCAR\u2019s latest visit to the site of June\u2019s historic three-race weekend on the base to celebrate the nation\u2019s 250th\u00a0birthday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you think NASCAR, you think American \u2014 and what could be more American than a Navy base? Drivers are talking about the Coronado race. Racing on a military base on this historic occasion, sharing our sport with military personnel, every driver I know, every crewman I know is excited.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing out here today, meeting with servicemen, seeing the aircraft, looking across the bay at San Diego and the ships, it\u2019s an amazing experience \u2026 and we\u2019re not racing yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preece and fellow drivers Christopher Bell and Ty Dillon all visited the base on Wednesday. Preece and Bell also visited with patients at Rady\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
Since NASCAR announced the inaugural race over a road course at Naval Base Coronado last October, more than a dozen drivers have visited the site and shared time with servicemen.<\/p>\n
The latest link between the Navy and NASCAR was established Wednesday, when 38 Cup drivers were assigned spots with Navy commands at Coronado.<\/p>\n
Each driver will spend time with sailors at his assigned command during the June 19-21 races. The drivers will also display their commands\u2019 insignias on their cars.<\/p>\n
Seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson drew the Black Jacks of Helicopter C Combat Squadron 21. Other drivers were assigned to amphibious construction units, demolition teams, \u00a0air wings and carrier deck commands.<\/p>\n
\u201cNASCAR and the drivers love this coming event,\u201d Bell said. \u201cAnd from talking to other drivers who have visited the base and experiencing what I\u2019m seeing today, the servicemen love the idea of what is happening, too. Everyone is excited. It\u2019s a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell said he plans to arrive in San Diego at least a day early to spend time with his new unit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to the entire week,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Navy and the servicemen have embraced us. People have been supportive and super welcoming. I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ve ever had a race weekend like this one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another contingent of NASCAR drivers will visit Coronado on May 26 for the groundbreaking on the track\u2019s construction.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hope is that they don\u2019t change the roads too much,\u201d said Chastain. \u201cKeep it bumpy, demanding. And I love the plans that have our cars racing past aircraft carriers, helicopters and fighter jets. It\u2019s going to be an iconic experience for everyone \u2013 drivers, fans, servicemen, guys working in the pits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe drivers recognize this as another connection that NASCAR is developing with our military community,\u201d said Preece. \u201cThis is a great step to take.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Preece has visited a lot of tracks during his nine seasons driving on NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,76,75,127],"class_list":["post-215721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}