Anduril 250 sold out roughly 50,000 seats at Naval Base Coronado, and Ben Kennedy took a high-speed spin in a Next Gen car on the 3.4 mile, 16-turn course. The race also put NASCAR’s San Diego street race in front of a crowd that looked unlike its usual one.
Ben Kennedy on new fans
“I would say in general, events like this they’re important for a lot of new fans that come into this sport,” Kennedy said on Saturday after the ride. That was not a throwaway line. Sixty-seven percent of the ticket buyers had never attended a NASCAR event, and attendees came from 50 states and 17 countries.
“They bring in more partners,” he said on Saturday in response to SBJ. “And I think, ultimately, a little bit of it is changing the perception of who NASCAR is. You know, we’re for everyone. We’re a bad ass sport.”
Naval Base Coronado crowd
The event created gridlock on the Coronado Bridge during the weekend. The crowd also included 40% out-of-state fans, 40% female fans, and three-times more Hispanic attendees than normal.
That mix gives NASCAR a cleaner read on whether street races can reach beyond the sport’s core ticket base. It also shows why the San Diego event was treated as more than a one-off race day.
Chicago, San Diego, 2030
Kennedy said street races are a business novelty not likely to go away soon, but no street races had been officially greenlit for 2027 even as his team was already ideating out to 2030. “I hope so,” he said when asked about possible future return trips to Chicago and San Diego.
He also widened the frame for future concepts. “The possibilities are really as far as your imagination goes until someone tells you ‘no.’” He added, “We’ve talked about Central Park before” and “Central Park would be epic.”
NASCAR’s next step is a conversation with the Navy and the military about whether there could be a second year in San Diego. One unanswered piece is whether Anduril is the sponsor, naming partner, or another type of backer for the Anduril 250.
