Coronado Inaugural Pole
Shane van Gisbergen Secures Pole Position for Inaugural NASCAR Coronado Street Race Despite Wall Contact
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Key Points
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Van Gisbergen said he “left a lot of time on the table” despite winning pole and added that “so yeah, it’s amazing,” after scraping the wall during his qualifying run—blaming the difficulty of corners appearing “for the first time of the day.”
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Kyle Larson set the early “benchmark in practice” Friday but qualified only 14th, while the clean-air pole start went to van Gisbergen—factors analysts expected to matter on a race that will “punish traffic” and small wall-brush errors.
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Project 91’s Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for his NASCAR Cup debut, adding additional interest to a weekend highlighted by a deep-field fight beyond the front row.
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Tyler Reddick—the championship points leader—spun during his qualifying lap and reached 17th anyway, illustrating how even front-runners were affected; NASCAR later noted deep-field incidents without session red flags.
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Coverage details: NASCAR’s inaugural Naval Base Coronado Cup race (Anduril 250) is scheduled for Sunday, June 21 at 4 p.m. ET with broadcast coverage provided by Amazon Prime Video.
Shane van Gisbergen grabbed pole for NASCAR's first-ever Cup Series race at Naval Base Coronado on Saturday, posting a lap of 2:14.788 on the 3.4-mile, 16-turn San Diego Street Course. The Trackhouse Racing driver edged Carson Hocevar by just 0.0156 seconds — the width of a few sheets of paper — to earn his sixth career pole Fresno Bee.
The Anduril 250 goes green Sunday, June 21 at 4 p.m. ET, broadcast live on Amazon Prime Video. Van Gisbergen will lead a 39-car field into what is the first NASCAR Cup points race ever held on an active U.S. military base SI.
Van Gisbergen Scrapes the Wall, Still Goes Fastest
Van Gisbergen touched the wall during his qualifying lap and still won pole. He said afterward he "left a lot of time on the table." When told he had taken pole despite the contact, he replied: "So yeah, it's amazing." He blamed corners that seemed to appear "for the first time of the day" as sunlight and barrier placement shifted through the session SI.
Hocevar starts second for Spire Motorsports. Ryan Blaney lines up third, Zane Smith fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth. The top 10 also includes Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and Austin Hill. Notably, no Toyota finished inside the top 10 — a rare miss for one of NASCAR's strongest manufacturers Fresno Bee.
Heavyweights Struggle on the Coronado Layout
Several big names had rough qualifying days. Jimmie Johnson — a San Diego native and seven-time Cup champion — starts 36th in what was billed as a homecoming race. Christopher Bell, managing a wrist injury, qualified 37th. Tyler Reddick, the current championship points leader, spun during his qualifying lap and still managed to reach 17th The Olympian.
Kyle Larson set the pace in Friday practice and was expected to contend for pole. He qualified only 14th. Analysts noted that clean air — running without traffic — will be a major advantage on a course where narrow chutes and heavy braking zones make passing very difficult Herald Sun.
Tire Wear and Traffic Will Decide Sunday's Winner
Goodyear's tire compound is expected to wear heavily over 75 laps on Coronado's high-abrasion surface. Analysts project significant grip loss after just 12 to 15 laps. That means drivers who stay clean and manage their rear tires could climb from deep in the field, while front-runners who brush walls or get stuck in traffic could fall back fast SI.
The stakes are high for the championship picture. Bell starts 37th and Reddick starts 17th. If either gets caught in a multi-car incident — common on tight street courses — the points gap could shift dramatically after one afternoon. Van Gisbergen's pole start gives him the best chance to escape early traffic and control his own race Fresno Bee.
F1 Veteran Magnussen Makes His Cup Debut at Coronado
Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for Project 91, making his NASCAR Cup Series debut. Magnussen is the latest international star brought in by team owner Justin Marks through Project 91, an initiative aimed at bringing global motorsport names into NASCAR Head Top Topics.
Teenage Trackhouse driver Connor Zilisch qualified eighth, out-running several former champions. The event is one of the first premier NASCAR races carried exclusively by Amazon Prime Video, marking a broader shift toward streaming for the sport. San Diego's tourism authority estimates the weekend could bring over $85 million in local economic activity SI.
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