Nashville Superspeedway can be hard on brakes. Everyone knows that. Drivers know it, crew chiefs know it, and engineers spend entire race weekends staring at temperature data like nervous parents watching a teenager borrow the family car.
What nobody expected Sunday night was for two Trackhouse Racing teammates to suffer virtually identical failures within a span of just a few laps.
First it was Connor Zilisch.
The 19-year-old rookie had already clawed his way forward after starting 38th when disaster struck on Lap 72. Running 24th and continuing to make progress, Zilisch suddenly lost a right-front brake rotor entering Turn 1 and slammed into the outside wall. The impact ended his race immediately and left him with a frustrating 38th-place finish.
The most troubling part?
“There was no warning at all,” Zilisch said afterward. “No pedal fade. The team was telling me that we had a little bit more glow than we would like and that went away as the run went on. It just kind of came as a surprise.”
For a driver who had gained roughly 15 positions during the opening portion of the race, it was a painful way to end what appeared to be a promising evening.
Before Trackhouse could fully process one wrecked Chevrolet, another one arrived a couple of garage stalls away.
Roughly 10 laps later, teammate Ross Chastain suffered the same right-front brake rotor failure entering Turn 1. Like Zilisch, Chastain had no chance to save the car once the rotor exploded.
“We had a right-front brake rotor failure,” Chastain explained. “It came apart and I just put it against the fence. You can’t slow down once the rotor is out of it.”
The timing was especially frustrating for Chastain. The 2023 Nashville winner had started deep in the field but showed impressive speed throughout the weekend, posting the fastest 15-, 20- and 25-lap averages in practice. He was already charging forward when the failure abruptly ended his night.
“The car was okay, but it’s a rule that you can’t replace the rotors,” Chastain said. “It’s a bummer for Trackhouse Racing and our No. 1 Busch Light Country Chevrolet team. We had a really good car.”
Both drivers were evaluated and released from the infield care center.
As for what caused the failures, Trackhouse had no obvious warning signs before either incident. Chastain suggested Nashville’s increased horsepower package could be a contributing factor, putting even greater stress on components that already live a difficult life at the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
Whatever the cause, Trackhouse left Nashville with two damaged race cars, two disappointed drivers, and one very expensive mystery to solve before the series heads to Michigan.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
- Bubba Wallace Can’t Seem to Escape Being NASCAR’s Accidental Villain - May 31, 2026
- Trackhouse’s Nashville Nightmare Came Without Warning - May 31, 2026
- Daniel Suarez Gives NASCAR a Smile It Desperately Needed - May 25, 2026