“I feel the need…. the need for Speed.” The NASCAR Cup Series heads to the brand-new Anduril 250 at Naval Base Coronado. This is NASCAR’s first-ever race on an active military base and only the second street course in Cup Series history after Chicago. The circuit is a 3.4-mile, 16-turn street course winding through Naval Air Station North Island. It should be fun to see which driver can be the “Top Gun” at the race at the base.
Here is the schedule for the on-track activity in Navy Base Coronado this weekend…
Friday (June 19th) Noon ET: Truck Series Practice 1
Friday (June 19th) 1 p.m. ET: Truck Series Practice 2
Friday (June 19th) 2 p.m. ET: Truck Series Qualifying
Friday (June 19th) 3:30 p.m. ET: O’Reilly Series Practice
Friday (June 19th) 5 p.m. ET: Cup Series Practice
Friday (June 19th) 7 p.m. ET: Truck Series Race
Saturday (June 20th) Noon ET: O’Reilly Series Qualifying
Saturday (June 20th) 2:30 p.m. ET: Cup Series Qualifying
Saturday (June 20th) 5 ET: O’Reilly Series Race
Sunday (June 21st) 4 p.m. ET: Cup Series Race
FANTASY STATS FOR NAVY BASE CORONADO
So, how do we handicap a race on a military base? The road course at Navy Base Coronado is a 3.4-mile track, making it the longest track on the schedule. The road course has 16 turns and they are tight. The best track to use to handicap the race Sunday is the street course race last year. Both track are very tight, will little run off if the drivers make a mistake. I will also use the races at Sonoma and Watkins Glen to help navigate the Navy Race.
Here are the stats from the races at Pocono on the technical road course tracks over the last three seasons, sorted by Driver Rating…
NAVY BASE CORONADO TRACK PREVIEW
This is the portion of the article where I usually analyze the “Race Rewind” from the previous race at the current track. This is NASCAR’s first trip to Navy Base Coronado, so this week I will provide a track preview. NASCAR released a video last week using IRacing to show a lap around Navy Base Coronado. You can see the video here: Navy Base Coronado Track Preview
EARLY WEEK DRIVER RANKINGS
It is tough to rank drivers for a track that the Cup Series is seeing for the first time, but it is a little easier when the track is a road course. There are drivers in the Cup Series who are really good at getting around these tight road course tracks and those who are simply in the way. The drivers who ran well on the streets of Chicago get the spots at the top of the rankings this week. I also looked at the drivers skills from the other road course tracks too.
Here is the early week Driver Rankings for the race at Navy Base Coronado….
* These rankings will be updated after the qualifying session is completed Saturday.
STRATEGY FOR NAVY BASE CORONADO
SEASON-LONG GAME STRATEGY: The strategy for the race at Navy Base Coronado is the same as the strategy for the other road course races. We only get 9-10 allocations with our drivers in most of our season-long Fantasy NASCAR games. We need to use the drivers who are “road course experts” (Shane van Gisbergen, AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Connor Zilisch, Chris Buescher….) and save out top drivers (Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick…) for the more predictable tracks. The hardest driver to make a decision with this week should be Reddick. He is typically really good on the road courses, but he is also a top-three driver on the intermediate tracks. It would be a good idea to save Reddick for the more predictable races, unless you have many allocations left with the No. 45 car.
DFS GAME STRATEGY: The race Sunday is scheduled for 75 laps (255 miles). That means there are 18.75 points available for leading laps and 33.75 points available for fastest laps (52.5 dominator points).
Shane van Gisbergen is going to have a great chance of dominating the race Sunday. There is also a great chance that his price is going to be very high. Should we pay up for SVG, or fade him and build a more balanced lineup? Fuel strategy also comes into play on the road course. It doesn’t matter how good SVG is, if his team forces him to give up his track position to gain an advantage with their fuel strategy. This will bring more dominators into the race. I plan to build 50% of my lineups with SVG and 50% with a balanced lineup with drivers who have a history of finishing in the top-10 on the road course. I will have to see what the price is for SVG and what the practice speeds look like before I make my final decision.
EARLY WEEK BEST BETS FOR NAVY BASE CORONADO
The odds for Shane van Gisbergen are -160. Is that enough meat on the bone to make you interested in the best road course racer in the Cup Series? If you are not betting on SVG to win this race, you are simply betting against him. I wish DraftKings had a “winner without” market, like they do for golf. There are a few drivers with some longer odds who I am willing to bet 30% of my bankroll on this week. I will save the other 70% for SVG or for other drivers after practice and qualifying.
TYLER REDDICK (9-1): Can Reddick outrun SVG on a road course? Yes he can. Reddick did it this year when he went to Victory Lane at COTA. Can he do it on a track where he doesn’t have an experience advantage over SVG? I am not so sure, but I am willing to put a few dollars on Reddick now because his odds will drop if he dominates practice or qualifies on the pole.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL (14-1): McDowell has always been one of the best road course racers but he never had the speed that that well funded drivers had. That is changing this year. Spire Motorsports is closing the gap between their team and Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports. McDowell finished 5th at COTA and 2nd at Watkins Glen this year. He has the talent to compete for the win. McDowell should have the car to do it too.
TY GIBBS (16-1): The most similar track to the Navy Base Road Course is the Street Course in Chicago. That track is also one of the best for Gibbs. He finished 2nd at Chicago last year and 3rd in 2024. He also finished 4th at COTA and 3rd at Watkins Glen this year. Gibbs will have a good chance to win if aliens abduct SVG this weekend.
* I will add a one or two drivers to the card that I think are Best Bets after qualifying Saturday.
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