This weekend is a massive one for NASCAR, and the build-up shows it clearly. The stock car racing series is treading uncharted waters, with its second-ever street race and its first on an active military base. As it happens, the military base in question is the Naval Base Coronado, which will host a NASCAR street race. Naturally, there was a lot of careful planning for this NASCAR San Diego race. Among those preparations were drivers and team personnel visiting the base and scoping things out.

Recently, Trackhouse Racing spotter Josh Williams spoke about his recent experience at the venue. As a spotter, he has a hugely important job to try to guide his driver during a race. Owing to this, he needs to have intimate knowledge of the race track and scout a perfect place for him to see all the action.

He told Claire Lang, “I went on behalf of all the spotters, basically back in January. Just to try and get ahead of that. We didn’t get there this week, nobody had communication. I took a day back in January, and there was good and bad in that.

Some things, once it gets built up, it’s probably going to be great. We made a lot of progress in being there, that I think, at least get on the same page that we all know what we’re fighting with… Pit road, where our spotters are going to be, so you know how many you need. In January we didn’t know if we needed one or eight, find what we needed. We’re actually going to use four, that’s my number right now. I would honestly like to have more. Then exactly what’s off limits to where you can even get to be able to see. We’re going to start with four, and I think we can probably stick a truck somewhere if we need to have five.”

At most oval tracks, teams have a dedicated spotter on the roof who provides real-time information to the driver about the position on the track. However, on the road and street course, the team usually brings out additional spotters, scattered throughout the circuit to offer guidance at areas where the main spotter cannot get a proper visual.

Then there is another issue of radio signals breaking up due to the sheer length of street courses. Miscommunication between drivers and the spotters can lead to crashes. Last year, we saw something similar when Carson Hocevar sparked a 7-car wreck at the corner of turn 11. Given the nature of these races, a potential blind spot at Coronado could lead to similar results.

Will Shane van Gisbergen be the favorite to win?

SVG is the class of the field whenever the Cup Series goes to a track where they have to turn both left and right. Despite 7 Cup wins, all on road courses, he doesn’t like being called the outright favorite to win this weekend’s race at Naval Base Coronado.

“It pisses me off a bit,” the racer reportedly said. “I feel like it disrespects my competition. I hold my competition at a really high level. So, I feel like I’ve spent the last little while talking myself down because I know there are probably 10 guys that can win on pure pace, and in NASCAR, so much stuff can happen in strategy and stages that there are even more guys that can win. So, I don’t think it’s going to be easy, that’s for sure.”

There’s always a possibility of a freak crash that could take out one of the top contenders from the race. Not to forget, the likes of Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, and Christopher Bell are talented road racers. And on a track where no one has raced, it can be difficult to pick a clear favorite.