MADISON, Ill. — Brake rotors were top of mind for every crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series garage entering World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. It turned out to be one of the primary talking points leaving the 1.25-mile oval, too.
No blow was bigger than Ryan Blaney’s brake rotor disintegrating at Lap 155 of Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300, the second race of The Chase presented by Mobil 1.
“Didn’t feel great about them the run before and finally expired,” Blaney told reporters at the infield care center.
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Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, was in position to capitalize at the flatter track, tallying 14 points through the opening two stages while Team Penske teammate Joey Logano led a race-high 95 laps. The No. 12 car was running sixth and closing in on Denny Hamlin for fifth when, crossing the start/finish line, its right-front brake rotor exploded through the hood. Blaney then bounced off the outside wall entering Turn 1.
Blaney limped the No. 12 Ford around to his garage stall for the Jonathan Hassler-led bunch to assess the damage. He was credited with a 35th-place finish, earning 16 points.
“Gateway has always been a place that’s tough on brakes,” crew chief Hassler told NASCAR.com from the No. 12 team’s stall. “We’ve been on the good side of it before, but we knew there was a little more demand with this (higher-horsepower) package. We certainly were trying to be conservative, but still didn’t give it enough cooling, I don’t think.”
The incident was Blaney’s second DNF in the last three races, dating back to the regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway. He entered the race among the pre-race favorites for the victory, having finishes of sixth or better in three of the previous four visits to Gateway, and his 24th-place finish in 2024 was a result of running out of fuel coming to the white flag as the leader.
MORE: Blaney discusses Gateway wreck | Watch NASCAR video highlights
Blaney thought he would contend once again, showing that usual long-run pace that could hunt down his toughest competitors.
“I felt like we were in contention,” Blaney said of the No. 12 before the issue. “I never really got the lead, and I never really got to get a head-to-head [comparison] with me, the 5 [Kyle Larson] and Joey, which I thought us three were really good. I definitely thought it was a contending car, and I would have liked to have seen how the race played out.”
With 13 other Chase competitors experiencing their own gremlins according to Racing Insights, including points leader Denny Hamlin, the damage was limited for Blaney. He lost 17 points to Hamlin and now trails the points leader by 33 markers with eight races remaining in the 2026 campaign.
“Just got to keep going,” Blaney stated. “Go to the next week and try to have a good day. It’s a shame. I thought we did a good job today. The car was good and had good stage points and was looking forward to the end of the race. We will just go race next week.”
MORE: Chase standings | Cup Series schedule
Said Hassler: “Fortunately, we were in a decent spot with the points coming in. We’ve got a lot of good tracks coming up, so we will move on and do the best we can every week.”
Next up is Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Blaney led 190 laps in April and finished runner-up by 0.055 seconds to Ty Gibbs, who held off the No. 12 car to score his first Cup victory.