Nobody had ever raced a NASCAR Cup car around a United States military base before Sunday. By the time it was over, a 23-year-old part-time driver had pulled off one of the bigger upsets of the season, the points leader had driven into a wall and blown a tire, and the title race had flipped from comfortable to razor-thin in the span of 75 laps.
Corey Heim wins the Andruril 250 at Naval Base Coronado. His first career Cup Series victory. In just his 13th Cup start.
The Race and the Venue
The Andruril 250 marked the first time NASCAR had ever raced on an active U.S. military installation. The 3.4-mile, 16-turn temporary street circuit was laid out on the roads of NAS North Island in San Diego, winding alongside San Diego Bay and the base's airfield. Drivers passed by the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in Turns 3 and 4. The event was tied to the U.S. Navy's 250th anniversary and the country's semiquincentennial celebration — a one-of-a-kind setting that produced a one-of-a-kind race.
The circuit was tight, technical, and unforgiving. Teams requested more spotters than ever before. Over three dozen corner workers were deployed due to blind spots throughout the layout. Nobody knew quite what to expect — and the race delivered accordingly.
Shane van Gisbergen — the New Zealander who built his reputation on street courses — took pole with a lap of 90.809 mph. He bounced off the wall twice during his qualifying run and still took pole. That should have told everyone something about how this weekend was going to go.
Corey Heim Steals the Show
Heim, driving the No. 67 Toyota for 23XI Racing, was not the name anyone was talking about before the race. He is a part-time Cup driver, still building his full-time résumé. But street circuits are equalizers — they reward car control and instinct over pure horsepower, and Heim had both on Sunday.
He held off Bubba Wallace — his own 23XI teammate — to win by 10.365 seconds, giving the team owned by Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan its first-ever 1-2 finish. Heim becomes the 200th different winner in NASCAR Cup Series history. Kyle Larson, Zane Smith, and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top five.
It was one of the more stunning individual performances of the 2026 Cup season, and it came on a track that had never hosted a race before. That is exactly the kind of story NASCAR was hoping this event would produce.
Reddick's Nightmare — Hamlin Just 8 Points Back
Tyler Reddick entered Coronado as the points leader. He left in 25th place, and the title race is suddenly a lot more interesting.
Reddick was running well — in contention, threatening for the lead — when he slipped in Turn 2 on Lap 73 and made contact with Heim's car, pushing him toward the wall. Reddick did the right thing and yielded the position. Then, as if the racing gods wanted to emphasize the point, he suffered a flat left-front tire late in the race and fell all the way back to 25th at the finish.
One bad afternoon. That is all it took.
Denny Hamlin — whose three-race win streak came to an end, as he finished 14th in a race that fits his career road-course struggles (he is 1-for-63 on road courses, with that lone win coming at Watkins Glen in 2016) — gained 12 points on Reddick in a single afternoon. The gap that stood at 19 points after Pocono is now 8 points with nine races left in the regular season.
The Championship Picture
| Driver | Points | Gap to Leader |
|---|---|---|
| Tyler Reddick | 716 | — |
| Denny Hamlin | 708 | -8 |
| Ryan Blaney | ~580 | -136 |
Three weeks ago Hamlin was 97 points back. Now he is 8. The regular season ends in September. There are nine races left. Hamlin is riding a stretch of racing that has been the best of his career, and even on a bad day — on his worst track type — he moved closer to first place.
Reddick leads. But it does not feel that way right now.
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