Rain pushed the Charlotte race into a new day, and Joey Logano led 227 laps to take his first win at the track for Team Penske.
Logano claimed the Charlotte event after rain postponed it a day, on October 11, 2015. The victory was his 12th career win and his first at the track, and Kevin Harvick finished second to leave Logano at the top of the points.
Joey Logano won the 2015 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after rain pushed the race from October 10 into the following day. It was the 30th race of the 2015 Sprint Cup season, the fourth race of the Chase and the first race of the Contender Round. Logano led 227 laps on the way to the win, his fourth of the season and his first at Charlotte.
What was the 2015 Bank of America 500?
The 2015 Bank of America 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It was scheduled for October 10, 2015, but the rain moved it to October 11. The race covered 334 laps on the 2.4 km (1.5 mile) intermediate speedway.
The track was known as Lowe's Motor Speedway between 1999 and 2009 because of sponsorship. The race was carried on NBCSN on television, and the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio carried the radio call.
A rain-delayed Charlotte race, a late restart and an oil controversy gave Joey Logano his first win at the track.
Why was the race moved to the following day?
The original start time on October 10 was 7:21 p.m., but rain meant the event could not go ahead that evening. The sky was clear and blue the next day when Kenseth took the green flag at 12:32 p.m. to begin the race.
NASCAR also expanded the restart zone from 90 ft (27 m) to 180 ft (55 m) and painted lines across the track to mark it.
Who was on the entry list?
The official list of entries came out on Monday, October 5, at 11:10 a.m. Eastern time. A field of forty-five cars was set for the event, and all but Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell had also raced the previous week at Dover.
Matt Kenseth entered tied for the points lead with Joey Logano, which made the race a chance for several drivers to close on the top of the standings.
How did practice and qualifying go?
Harvick posted the quickest first-practice lap at 27.907 seconds, which was 193.500 mph (311.408 km/h). Kurt Busch was quickest in the second session at 28.606 seconds, and Kyle Busch was fastest in the final session at 28.518 seconds. The times were close across the field before qualifying.
Matt Kenseth claimed the pole with 27.759 seconds, a lap at 194.532 mph (313.069 km/h). He said the team had worked on qualifying all day and had come to Charlotte with a similar setup to the one that had worked in the spring. Kyle Busch qualified second and said Charlotte suited him well.
How did the race start?
Debris brought out the first caution before the field had covered half a lap, and Kyle Busch took the lead while the yellow flag was out. The race restarted with Kenseth driving back past Busch to lead, and he pulled out to a one-second advantage over Joey Logano after ten laps.
The second caution was a scheduled competition caution because of overnight rain. J. J. Yeley was penalised for having his crew over the wall too soon and restarted from the back of the field.
Kasey Kahne was running 12th when he brushed the wall in turn 1 on lap 42, and he rejoined the race in 41st, two laps down. He then suffered a right-front tyre blowout on the way out of turn 2 and slammed the wall, bringing out the third caution on lap 61. He went on to finish 43rd. Kahne said he did not understand why either tyre had gone down, and he found the pair of failures discouraging.
What happened in the middle stage?
Carl Edwards tapped Dale Earnhardt Jr. from behind, which sent him loose and into the wall. Earnhardt cut down his right-front tyre, rode the wall and brought out the fourth caution on lap 75. Joey Logano chose not to pit under that caution and took the lead.
The race restarted on lap 81, and Austin Dillon began a cycle of green-flag stops on lap 121. Logano pitted on the next lap and handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson, who pitted two laps later and gave the lead to Kyle Larson. Carl Edwards then led, and the lead cycled back to Logano after a run of stops.
Debris on the backstretch brought out the fifth caution on lap 167. The race restarted on lap 174, and a sixth caution came on lap 177 after Matt Kenseth made contact with the turn 4 wall. Kenseth said his situation had snowballed after he was caught behind during a pit stop and missed his pit stall.
Why did the oil on the track matter?
The race had a seventh caution on lap 182 when Justin Allgaier blew an engine in turn 1. The restart came on lap 190, and fluid in turn 2 then brought out the eighth caution on lap 195. The oil on the track became the main talking point after the race.
Larson decided to pit at the last second, and Kyle Busch, who had chosen to stay out, turned him as they went through the corner. Both drivers hit the commitment cone and were forced to restart at the back of the field. Busch said his team did not deserve to be put in those situations year in and year out.
Busch and Earnhardt Jr. were critical of NASCAR's clean-up of the oil. Busch sarcastically thanked the series for its work. Steve O'Donnell, NASCAR's executive vice-president and chief racing development officer, said officials in the tower had not seen the oil and that the drivers had been the ones to report it. He said staff had been out on the track checking the surface by hand.
How did the final stage unfold?
The race restarted on lap 201 with Kenseth involved in another contact on the restart. He made an unscheduled stop to fix the right-front wheel well and was then black-flagged for too many crew members over the wall, which cost him a drive-through penalty.
Kenseth later said he was taking the Contender Round one race at a time and that his own mistakes had cost the team. The ninth caution came with 95 laps to go, when Kenseth suffered a right-front tyre blowout and slammed the wall in turn 3. Kevin Harvick then began reeling in Logano, and Jimmie Johnson's engine blew on the backstretch with 77 laps to go. Johnson had been running in the top five at the time.
With 52 laps to go, Truex Jr. began the last cycle of green-flag stops. Logano pitted for the final time with 50 laps remaining and gave the lead to Sam Hornish Jr., and the lead returned to Logano after Hornish's own stop. Logano then held a 1.5 to two second lead over Kevin Harvick in the closing laps and took the win.
What were the final results?
Joey Logano won the race, Kevin Harvick finished second and Martin Truex Jr. was third. Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch completed the top five, while Jeff Gordon finished eighth. The race ran 3 hours, 35 minutes and 5 seconds at an average speed of 139.760 mph (224.922 km/h).
| Finish | Driver | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Joey Logano | 12th career win and first at Charlotte; led a race-high 227 laps |
| Second | Kevin Harvick | Closed in late on Logano after a cycle of stops |
| Third | Martin Truex Jr. | Called it the worst weekend of the season for how the car felt |
| Fourth | Denny Hamlin | Fourth place finish |
| Fifth | Kurt Busch | Fifth place finish |
| Eighth | Jeff Gordon | Said he was happy with the team's effort |
| 42nd | Matt Kenseth | Retired after slamming the wall late in the race |
What did the drivers say after the race?
Logano said his team had a great car and that Todd Gordon and the Shell and Pennzoil team, all of Team Penske, had done a fine job. He said Charlotte was everybody's home turf and that the win made Talladega feel easier.
Harvick said things had gone well, and that the pit crew had done a great job of gaining track position. He said the car had not been great all weekend but the team had made headway over the course of the day. Truex said the weekend had been the worst of the season for how he felt about the race car, and he praised crew chief Cole Pearn and the engineers for sticking with it.
Gordon said he could not be happier with the effort, and that the team had made strong adjustments to get back into the race. He noted that several of the title contenders were ahead of him, but felt the team had not lost much ground to them.
What did the result mean for the standings?
Logano moved to the top of the points, six points ahead of Harvick. The win was Team Penske's third at the track, and Logano's first at Charlotte. For the organisation it was another strong result on home turf, and it helped Logano step into the Contender Round with momentum.
Logano collected the NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus of $20,000, and his winnings totalled $347,373. Ford, the winning manufacturer, still left Charlotte 67 points behind Chevrolet in the manufacturers' standings.
The race had 14 lead changes among 10 different drivers, and nine cautions covered 44 laps.
Who called the race on television and radio?
NBCSN covered the race on television with Rick Allen on play-by-play, three-time Charlotte winner Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte in the booth. On pit road for the television coverage, Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported. Its radio call also reached listeners on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
The Performance Racing Network handled the radio call, which was also streamed on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. The booth team was Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini, who covered the front stretch. Rob Albright worked from a platform outside turn 2, and Pat Patterson called the action from the top of the turn 4 stands.