NASCAR to allow brake rotor and pad changes after Phoenix qualifying

No doubt with feedback provided by teams, NASCAR is going to allow teams to change front brake pads and rotors after practice and qualifying on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.

Specifically, the following policy change was issued to teams on Wednesday.

At Phoenix Raceway, Teams will be given the option to remove and replace Front Brake Rotors and Pads only, following P/Q on Saturday. No other brake system components are permitted to be changed during this process.

Note: Teams will be permitted to inspect rear rotors, per normal procedures, during the pre-race adjustments period on Sunday. Any subsequent rotor issues found at that time will managed on a case-by-case basis.

There were numerous brake issues at Nashville, Iowa New Hampshire and Gateway with several crew chiefs telling Motorsport.com over those last two weekends that they wished NASCAR would allow ‘like-for-like’ pad changes.

Because like-for-like would be too difficult to officiate, with many pads looking the same, NASCAR is actually allowing teams to make whatever changes they want on this front.

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On SiriusXN NASCAR Radio on Wednesday, Cup Series managing director Brad Moran indicated that the high pressure on brakes at Phoenix made this a reasonable policy shift.

“We've elected that we're going to let the teams at least look at their brakes and if they need to make a pad change, which is uncommon for us to do on an impound practice, but we've got a procedure set up to do that,” Moran said. “So that's going to be a little different. But again, first time going back to Phoenix, which is a high energy brake race track and with the lower downforce and the more power, that's going to be a change. And so should be exciting to see how these cars work there with the additional horsepower.”

And again, teams can choose whether or not they want to make an approved change after qualifying.

“There's no limit,” Moran said. “If a team chooses to change their brake pads, it's on them to do so. The rotors, we've always allowed rotor changes if they've been damaged. That's been since 2022.

“So there's no real change there, but some teams prefer not to change them. Other teams, everybody's got their own way of controlling their brake systems and it's a team. The teams are allowed to do quite a bit of work in the brake area. So we're just giving the opportunity to make sure they get it right and hopefully we don't have any brake issues at Phoenix.”

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