Brakes blow up, Busch blows up Gateway

Not a lot of people were thrilled at the end of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. The race had been delayed after just two laps by lightning, four drivers were forced to retire after their brake rotors exploded and sent them into the wall, teams lost their wi-fi capabilities when an off-site fibre connection failed, and eleven cautions occurred that set up overtime.

Kyle Busch was one of the few happy faces as he led 121 of 243 laps including the final sixty for his third win of the year. He faced a challenge from Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in overtime but kept them at bay to secure the win.

Overtime was activated when Bubba Wallace‘s brake rotor failed and sent him into the turn one wall with four laps remaining. The same fate befell his 23XI Racing team-mate Tyler Reddick on lap 176, as did Noah Gragson and Carson Hocevar that ended their days. Reddick was also spun by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. just two laps into the race before a series of lightning strikes prompted a red flag that lasted an hour and forty-five minutes.

“I obviously don’t know what package they ran,” Busch added. “I’m sure they would run the short track package here for brakes. I never felt any vibration, never had any issue, never had any long pedal or nothing with mine. I was confident in our stuff and what we had going. I felt like that was actually a really strong suit for me today, was on the brakes, get in the corner, get whoa’d up in time for the rest of the corner.”

While he did not have the issues, Michael McDowell suggested the brake failures could be due to Gateway having “really hard braking and really strong straightaways, so you’re heating and cooling, and a lot of times that creates fractures and those cracks sometimes explode. I think that’s what you saw today. I don’t know, I’m not an engineer, but typically too much tape on the grille will get them hot and then too cold.”

Gragson’s accident on lap 199 resulted in a nine-minute red flag due to fluid leaking from his car. His team-mate Erik Jones lost his front tyre changer during the previous caution after being hit by Austin Dillon, resulting in hospitalisation though he was reportedly awake and alert.

A third delay running four and a half minutes occurred after Austin Cindric clipped Dillon, a move that the latter decried as intentionally attempting to wreck him.

Brakes were not the only anomaly of the day as networks FOX Sports (television) and Motor Racing Network (radio) both briefly lost their broadcasts, while teams were unable to connect to wi-fi or access their scoring and timing information. Gateway has occasionally suffered technical issues such as power outages in the 2010 and 2021 Truck Series races. According to a NASCAR statement, the problem stemmed from AT&T’s connection fibre outside of the track.

“During today’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, there was an off-site fiber connectivity failure that briefly interrupted the television and radio broadcasts, as well as impacting internet for teams on pit road,” the sanctioning body explained. “There was not a failure with any track or NASCAR equipment at the facility during today’s event.”

Hocevar’s retirement marked a disappointing end to his Cup début, having taken over for Corey LaJoie in substitute duty while LaJoie was driving the #9 for Hendrick Motorsports while Chase Elliott served his one-race suspension. LaJoie struggled throughout the day and finished twenty-first.

Race results