Denny Hamlin reacts to NASCAR San Diego announcement for 2026

Denny Hamlin is looking forward to the NASCAR Cup Series race in San Diego next year. On the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin reacted to NASCAR announcing it will have three races at the Naval Base Coronado in June 2026.

“I’m excited to go to San Diego,” Denny Hamlin said. “Certainly, if we were going to stay on the streets somewhere, I’ve advocated that I’d like Chicago. I think we should stay at Chicago. They’re going to work out whatever deal they’ve got with the city there maybe, hopefully, I wouldn’t count on it. I think it was more of a soft breakup than anything.

“San Diego is a good alternative. When you think about the cities, okay, now we’re back in Southern California again. That should be good for hopefully our sponsors, and do some activation out there. I don’t know the layout. You kind of see like somewhat what it could be. They said close to a three-mile track. That’s a really long track. I’m going to stay positive about it, because it looks like it’s going to be very cool. Certainly, the city is one that is a great place to go.”

Denny Hamlin is in favor of a NASCAR race in San Diego

The San Diego NASCAR Cup Series race will take place on Sunday, June 21, 2026, and will be the first NASCAR event on an active military base. This will tie in to the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States Navy. The race will stream on Prime Video and be the final race of the network’s five-race broadcast window for 2026.

What Hamlin said about NASCAR’s announcement is similar to what he said about the reports about the race in June. “I don’t hate it,” Denny Hamlin said on his podcast at the time.. “I certainly think that San Diego sounds like a place I’d like to go. “I mean, sure, I guess. It seems like they’re really in favor of street races out. So if they’re hellbent on it, then San Diego seems like a destination to do that.”