Shane van Gisbergen has eye-opening take ahead of historic race at Naval Base Coronado

The New Zealander is a seven-time winner at the Cup level on road and street courses, including a massive 11.1-second win over Christopher Bell earlier this season at Watkins Glen.

The last two times the series visited a new road/street layout at Chicago (2023) and Mexico City (2025), van Gisbergen won both races. The 2023 Chicago Street Race was his first NASCAR race, and he wasted no time getting acclimated to the sport's top level and showing why he is arguably the best road racer in NASCAR history.

So when van Gisbergen is quick to point out how challenging a new venue could be, there is some real cause for concern for the rest of the field.

"Every corner I see on the track is different, unique, bumpy, challenging," van Gisbergen continued. "I think you saw that at Chicago. Like, the first year, a lot of cars were high and soft like the 91 car and then everyone's gotten greedy. Like, it's gotten lower and lower and stiffer because that's how the car makes grip. There's a huge compromise between getting the floor on the ground and ride quality, so you're going to see some bad handling cars."

Granted, no one has turned a single lap on the actual course, so it remains to be seen how the cars handle on the naval base. With that said, iRacing and the simulators the teams use are as close as drivers can get to the real thing, so there is a good chance Sunday's race will test everyone in the field.

With that said, it would be a surprise if the race win still does not go through van Gisbergen. There will be plenty of challenges in store on the series' longest track of the season, but expect van Gisbergen to figure it out quicker and be the one to beat again.