The 2026 Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix saw a high number of tire failures, with issues that emerged in the second stage raising serious concerns about Goodyear\u2019s products and the sport\u2019s overall quality control. But Denny Hamlin ruled out the idea that the failures were due to a quality issue. Instead, he blamed the teams.<\/p>\n
There is a recommended level of tire pressure that cars need to have during a race, which for Phoenix, was 14 psi in the left front, 30 psi in the right front, 14 psi in the left rear, and 26 psi in the right rear. But teams generally opt to lower this, particularly on the right side, to gain a speed advantage. The lower the pressure on the right side, the better the mechanical grip and downforce. But the risk of tire failure increases in tandem with that.<\/p>\n
Hamlin said<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s the teams. We\u2019re just pushing it. We certainly know that the\u00a0lower the air pressure, the faster you\u2019re going to be in the long run. These teams just keep pushing it. So what they do is they get somewhat comfortable in practice. <\/p>\n \u201cThey run the first run of the race, see where things are. Then all of a sudden they\u2019re like, \u201cAll right, well, let me take another tenth or two out of the tire,\u201d\u00a0the Joe Gibbs Racing<\/a> driver added.\u00a0<\/p>\n