NASCAR on Chicago city streets
Downtown San Diego might soon swap out its bike lanes for burnout marks and drift trails; the hum of rush hour could be drowned out by the thunder of V8-powered stock cars. According to a June 24 report from The Athletic, NASCAR is deep in communication with the city of San Diego to bring a full-blown street race to the heart of the city by 2026. And this wouldn’t be some cookie-cutter oval way out in the desert — this Cup Series race would carve its way through actual San Diego streets, flanked by palm trees, trolley tracks, beachfront views, and the city skyline.
Local business is stoked about the obvious perks — packed hotels, slammed bars and restaurants, and a mass tourism windfall — but others are seeing other, more unexpected wins in the mix.
First up: the potholes. The idea of NASCAR zipping through our cratered concrete has become its own joke online — and just maybe, the catalyst for change.
“If NASCAR will help to get our roads filled and repaved,” local racer Jerry Vee said, “then lets go!!”
Aaron Rigg added, “Maybe this will force the city of SD to actually fix our roads.”
The two’s sentiments are echoed by many people online.
Then there’s the cultural crossover. Just south of the border, motorsport fans in Tijuana all the way to Ensenada are already revved up — many of them loyal to events like the Baja 1000, like-road racing, and hill-climb races. With a San Diego street race on the calendar, border traffic could spike not just for shopping and nightlife, but for a full-blown racing weekend. Think: tailgates, tire smoke, cerveza, and beach vibes.
“Make it official, route the course through SeaWorld and have it actually ‘jump the shark’ tank,” quipped Jim Langer of the Racing Beat company.
On a deeper level, the event could breathe new life into San Diego’s fading car culture. This city used to be a haven for hot rods, lowriders, import builds, and burnout meetups by the beach. But that energy has dwindled thanks to a combination of street takeover backlash, and California’s infamous smog restrictions. Legal places to race? Basically just Barona’s 1/8-mile strip. A NASCAR event in the heart of America’s Finest City could reignite that fire.
Not everyone is sold, though. Some hardcore NASCAR fans online are grumbling about the format. A street course, unlike a classic oval, doesn’t let fans watch the full race play out in front of them. You see the cars flash by, then wait. No panoramic view. No full lap drama.
But we have our phones and giant jumbotrons to watch the action; although it’s not the same.
Jeff Wilson offered a workaround: “If they want a decent course, just use the Del Mar Fairgrounds that they used for IMSA back in the late 80s. Plenty of parking, good access, good viewing areas … Avoid downtown.” That old-school layout was about 1.6 miles long — not an oval, but a winding, irregular course stitched into the fairgrounds’ existing paths and buildings with some seating areas having a great vantage point of most of the race.
As for the ripple effects? Expect some creative chaos — more temp jobs, racing-themed art pop-ups, NASCAR-inspired menus, and a sea of folks swapping board shorts and flip-flops for pit crew jackets and Richard Petty esque cowboy hats.
But in the end, it may just come down to dollars.
“NASCAR already spends around 7 million a year to run the Chicago street course,” said Barry Burritt, a diehard race fan. “I would imagine that San Diego would be no less than 10 million per year just because it’s California and California is a very expensive state that has higher wages.” That dollar figure could be a lot more, which would help boost our economy and fix the potholes — a checkered flag win-win.