Iowa Speedway turned into an early nightmare for Joe Gibbs Racing, with brake problems threatening to derail multiple Toyota entries before the race even began. Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe both faced brake concerns in the JGR camp. This left the team’s co-owner Heather Gibbs caught between supporting her family’s team and worrying about every JGR driver on the track. Behind the scenes, that anxiety became deeply personal as she and Coach Joe Gibbs resorted to an unexpected ritual before the race.

“It definitely is hard, and I was so worried about, you know, with Chase and Denny, and we had the brake rotor situation early in the day and, you know, it was funny. I was like, I told James Small before the race, I’m like, I just want you to know, Coach and I were in the bus praying over the brake rotors. So he, at the end texted me on the way home and was like, your prayers worked.” Heather Gibbs said in an interview with Claire B Lang.

And the concern by Heather Gibbs was hardly exaggerated. Joe Gibbs Racing drivers, Hamlin and Briscoe dealt with severe brake fade and pedal-drop issues throughout the Iowa Speedway weekend, right from the practice session.

Briscoe’s situation appeared particularly serious. Crew chief James Small described his brake pads as “destroyed” at one point. This highlighted just how badly the components were suffering under Iowa’s demands.

Before the race, teams were allowed to ‘bleed’ their brake lines. Now, that gave the crews an opportunity to address some of the inconsistencies without incurring a penalty. However, their options became extremely limited after that.

NASCAR’s rules restricted teams from changing brake pads before the race. That left drivers such as Hamlin and Briscoe having to manage compromised braking performance for much of the event.

The situation was also complicated by the fact that the brake problems stemmed from setup decisions among other factors. The JGR and 23XI technical alliance provided teams with data, but each individual organization and crew chief ultimately made its own calls. Those decisions were partly designed to gather information ahead of the Chase for the Championship next month.

That meant the Iowa race became an unintended test of how aggressively the teams could push their braking packages. For Heather Gibbs, however, the technical experiment became a source of genuine anxiety.

She knew both Hamlin and Briscoe were dealing with potentially dangerous brake problems. Her prayers with Joe Gibbs before the race reflected just how uncertain the situation had become. Fortunately, both drivers managed to bring their cars home.

Hamlin finished fifth, while Briscoe followed closely in sixth. The results were impressive given what they had endured. But for the Gibbs family, the biggest relief was simply seeing both JGR cars make it through the race.

Heather Gibbs’ two roles make race days even more complicated

“I stay quiet,” she said. “Even on the pit box when Ty’s running, I probably hold my breath more than I should be breathing. I am not the yelling one, but I do think it in my head.”

Heather Gibbs has learned that silence can sometimes be the safest option when her son is racing. Her role at Joe Gibbs Racing puts her in an executive position, but being Ty Gibbs’ mother adds an entirely different layer to race weekends.

That competitive instinct has not always stayed quiet, though. Heather Gibbs recalled an ARCA race at Iowa Speedway years earlier when she gave Ty advice that quickly proved costly. She told her son to go low through Turn 3, only for the move to work against him. Ty made sure his mother knew about it afterward.

“Later, Ty was like, ‘That’s the wrong move! Why would you do that? Don’t ever get on there again.'” Heather said Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Heather admitted that she wishes she could approach races with a little more calm.

“I was like, ‘OK, fine.’ I wish I could be more laid back and enjoy it. I’m not. I probably have an unhealthy balance of being competitive.”

That competitive side is understandable given Ty’s breakout 2026 campaign. He has already won twice this season and currently sits second in the Cup Series standings.

But Heather Gibbs now knows that giving instructions from the sidelines can create more problems than it solves. So, when Ty climbs into the No. 54 Toyota, she mostly keeps her thoughts to herself.