The Qualcomm Circuit at Naval Base Coronado — officially called the Coronado Street Course — is unlike anything NASCAR has raced on. At 3.4 miles and 16 turns, it became the longest circuit on the Cup schedule the moment it was confirmed for 2026, replacing the Chicago Street Course which was removed from the calendar after three seasons. Furthermore, this is the first-ever motorsport event on an active U.S. military base in NASCAR’s premier series.

The track threads through Naval Air Station North Island, running along the San Diego Bay waterfront before looping through the interior of the base and out onto the runway apron near Halsey Field. Therefore, drivers competed with an aircraft carrier docked alongside the circuit, military aircraft parked near the racing line, and the San Diego skyline as a backdrop across the bay. USS Carl Vinson was docked alongside the track and used as a broadcast studio by NASCAR on Prime Video throughout the weekend.

Drivers arriving at the circuit for the first time compared it to the Chicago Street Course in terms of corner profile, but found San Diego noticeably bumpier. Moreover, the track alternated between wide sections — where multiple-wide racing was possible — and narrow passages that forced drivers into single-file queues. This mix created the kind of compressed, aggressive racing that produces the cautions and reshuffled running orders NASCAR’s street course events have always delivered.

The weekend broadcast deal placed the Cup Series finale on Prime Video — the last of its five-race window — while the Xfinity race aired on The CW and Trucks on FOX Sports. Consequently, Sunday’s showpiece reached both traditional broadcast viewers and streaming audiences simultaneously. For more on how NASCAR approaches its diverse schedule of circuit types, see our overview of how car racing works and the full NASCAR San Diego hub.

If you had asked every person in the NASCAR paddock before lights out who would win the Anduril 250, Corey Heim might have been 20th or lower on most lists. Shane van Gisbergen was on pole. Connor Zilisch was fast in practice. Kyle Larson was the defending road course force at Hendrick Motorsports. Tyler Reddick had won at COTA earlier in the season. Heim was starting 13th, in his sixth Cup start of 2026, for a team running him on a part-time basis.

However, street courses are chaos reducers — and Heim rode that chaos better than anyone. He began working his way through the field methodically after the green flag, staying out of trouble as the frontrunners ahead of him took each other out or hit the barriers. Furthermore, his 23XI Racing team made smart strategy calls that kept him in clean air and away from the multiple safety car restarts that triggered the key incidents that eliminated the favourites.

The decisive moment came with three laps remaining. Tyler Reddick, his 23XI teammate, had been leading and appeared to be closing out the win. Then Reddick made the mistake that opened everything up — Heim was immediately through and into first, with Reddick suffering a flat tyre shortly after losing the position, dropping him all the way to 25th. Therefore, what could have been an internal team battle for the win became an immediate gift to Heim, and he made no mistake over the closing laps to hold off Wallace in second.

The Opening Stage: SVG Leads, The Chaos Begins

Shane van Gisbergen, who had bounced off the wall twice during Saturday’s qualifying session yet still posted the fastest time for pole, led into Turn 1 cleanly. Carson Hocevar, on the front row alongside him, briefly snatched the lead before SVG reclaimed the position into the Coronado Chicane. The early laps appeared to be shaping into the van Gisbergen-led demonstration many expected — the Kiwi had won at every road course he’d contested in the Cup Series and the Qualcomm Circuit appeared to suit his car-control style perfectly.

Christopher Bell added an early curveball. Racing with a broken wrist, Bell struggled immediately and exited the car at the first caution, with development driver Brent Crews stepping in as substitute. That kind of driver change mid-race is rare at the Cup level, and it set the tone for an afternoon where conventional predictions would consistently be proven wrong.

The Stage 1 Wreck and the Restart That Reshuffled Everything

The race’s defining incident came as the leaders hit a restart in Stage 2. Pole winner van Gisbergen was directly involved in a wreck that included Connor Zilisch and Austin Hill — three of the race’s biggest pre-race names removed from contention in a single incident. Meanwhile, Bubba Wallace was penalised separately when his pit crew let him leave the box with an unsecured wheel, sending him back two laps and apparently ending his own podium ambitions before they could materialise.

However, 23XI Racing’s speed was undeniable across all four of their cars. With SVG gone and Wallace managing his way back through the field after the penalty, Tyler Reddick emerged as the team’s standard-bearer. Kyle Larson, meanwhile, was carving through from his own mid-pack starting position, leading 11 laps in the race’s middle section and demonstrating that Hendrick Motorsports had the raw pace to contend. For an explanation of how racing strategies and pit stop timing work in these compressed street course formats, see our pit stop strategy guide and the piece on how qualifying sets up race strategy.

The Final Stint: Reddick, Heim, and a Mistake that Costs Everything

As the race entered its final 20 laps, Reddick held the lead and appeared to be comfortably managing Heim in his mirrors. The pair were separated by a few car lengths, running clean and fast through the Carrier Corner section alongside the docked aircraft carriers. Then, with three laps remaining, Reddick made the mistake — the exact details of whether it was a mechanical failure beginning to manifest or a pure driver error remain unclear from the available footage — but Heim capitalised immediately, the lead changed hands, and Reddick’s race unravelled entirely as a flat tyre dropped him to 25th. Furthermore, the timing meant there were no more restarts to save him.

Heim came home ahead of Wallace’s recovering No. 23 car, and Larson rounded out the podium. Zane Smith took fourth for Front Row Motorsports, while AJ Allmendinger added a strong fifth for Kaulig Racing — both results considerably better than their pre-race expectations.

The San Diego weekend confirmed what many inside the NASCAR paddock had been quietly acknowledging all season: 23XI Racing, co-owned by NBA legend Michael Jordan and full-time driver Denny Hamlin, is now operating at a level that puts genuine daylight between it and the fourth-best team in the sport. Three of their drivers — Heim, Wallace, and Reddick at various points — led laps on Sunday. Fourth team member Riley Herbst finished eighth and scored stage points. All four cars left the circuit with results that reflected genuine organisational speed, not circumstance.

Wallace’s recovery from a two-lap penalty — caused by a pit crew error that sent him out with a loose wheel — to finish second is particularly striking. It required exceptional pace, intelligent strategy, and the kind of team-wide execution that defines championship-level operations. Moreover, the win itself, secured by a development driver in a non-chartered entry, demonstrated the depth that separates 23XI from the organisations immediately below them in the standings pecking order.

Shane van Gisbergen — P38

There is almost no way to contextualise a DNF at a street circuit for SVG that doesn’t read as a massive missed opportunity. The New Zealander came to San Diego as a better-than-minus-250 favourite with sportsbooks, had dominated road course qualifying, and had the track pace to win by a margin. Instead, involvement in a Stage 2 wreck ended his day, costing him not just a potential win but more than 60 points in stage bonuses and race points he was widely expected to collect. Consequently, his championship picture heading into Sonoma takes a significant hit compared to what Sunday’s result could have been.

Connor Zilisch — P37

The 19-year-old Trackhouse Racing rookie continues to have one of the most difficult debut campaigns in recent NASCAR memory. Zilisch is undeniably fast — he set a NASCAR record during the race for a statistical metric (exact nature unconfirmed in available sources) — but the results have not followed. His San Diego weekend ended in the same wreck that collected SVG, producing his latest early exit and adding to a 2026 season that has been defined more by pace than results.

Christopher Bell — P39

Bell’s decision to start the race despite racing with a broken wrist showed competitive spirit, but the physical demands of the Coronado Street Course made it untenable. He exited the car at the first caution and handed over to development driver Brent Crews. For Joe Gibbs Racing, it was another frustrating race weekend in a 2026 season that has not matched their historical standards at this point in the calendar.

Tyler Reddick — P25

Reddick’s final-three-laps collapse from the race lead to 25th is the defining lowlight of the afternoon and the one that will be replayed most often in the weeks that follow. He had done everything right to earn that race lead, and the mistake — whatever its precise cause — cost him both the win and a significant points gain in the championship standings. Moreover, Reddick and his team now face Sonoma next week without the momentum a San Diego win would have provided.

*Bell exited due to broken wrist at first caution; Brent Crews substituted. Red-highlighted rows indicate DNF/early exit. Full 39-car results available at NASCAR.com.