Denny Hamlin endured a grueling day at Iowa Speedway as brake issues plagued his race. The problem was so severe that Hamlin was ready to settle for a top-25 finish.
Hamlin and his teammate Chase Briscoe had a shocking realization during Saturday’s practice: their brake pressure was insufficient. Crew chiefs Chris Gayle and James Smalls concluded that changes were needed, and proceeded to drain their brake lines.
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Since these are safety issues, NASCAR doesn’t penalize such actions and also allows teams to change a rotor if cracked. The No. 11 team, however, drew a rear-of-the-field penalty for replacing their brake coolant ducts.
Despite the setback, Hamlin finished fifth. Reflecting on the day, he said,
“This is the worst mindset I’ve had going into a race. I never felt beat before I started ever and I knew I was done like I just knew, yeah, it was a chance that it could been fixed. But I knew all the facts. I knew that you know, you’ve still got the same components, it’s not going to be fixed.”
“I switched my goals to okay if I don’t have any breaks, I think that if I can get some cars to wreck, I stay on the lead laps, somehow I can finish in the top 25 and that honestly was the goal,” Hamlin added.
23XI Racing drivers Riley Herbst and Bubba Wallace also faced the same issues. Wallace survived the ordeal, while Herbst had a rough go at it.
Briscoe finished right behind Hamlin in sixth, marking a good points haul for JGR. Ty Gibbs capped off the 350-lap event with his second win of the season.
Denny Hamlin talks retirement after Iowa brake issues
Aug 9, 2026; Newton, Iowa, USA; Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin (11) drives during the IOWA CORN 350 POWERED BY ETHANOL at Iowa Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images
Denny Hamlin had to ‘white-knuckle’ through every corner on Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. He made his way from a P29 start to finish among the top 10 by Stage 2.
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Speaking to reporters post-race, Hamlin offered a grim assessment of the day.
“Obviously you want to have brakes. That was a crazy race to have to do it the whole time without it…..I’d retire at the end of the year if I had to do that every week for sure. Lesson learned on our part,” Denny Hamlin said via NBC Sports.
JGR’s Christopher Bell led more than 100 laps and wound up chasing his teammate Ty Gibbs for the final stint. The two drivers finished 1-2 and didn’t face any issues, unlike Denny Hamlin.
Second-ranked Gibbs is now 103 points adrift of Hamlin in the standings. With three races left, the No. 11 driver stands a strong chance of clinching the regular-season title. Previous runner-up Tyler Reddick dropped two spots after wrecking out in Iowa.
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