Carl Edwards stretched his fuel to the flag at Charlotte, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its first win of the season while Martin Truex Jr. led 131 laps and still finished fifth.
Carl Edwards took the 2015 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway after saving fuel to the finish, passing the leaders who ran short in the closing laps. Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr. followed him home in second and third, and it was Edwards' 24th career victory and the first for Joe Gibbs Racing that year.
Carl Edwards won the 2015 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2015, stretching his fuel to the flag while the leaders around him ran short. It was his first win of the season and the first of his career at Charlotte, and it gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first win of the year. Greg Biffle finished second, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third, and Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five.
What was the 2015 Coca-Cola 600?
The 2015 Coca-Cola 600 was the 56th running of the event and the 12th race of the 2015 Sprint Cup season. It was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of 400 laps on the 2.42 km (1.5 mile) asphalt speedway at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.
The race was aired by Fox Sports on the Fox network, and the radio broadcast was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. The race is held on Memorial Day weekend.
A windshield tribute, a fuel-mileage gamble and a late stop gave Carl Edwards the win that Martin Truex Jr. had led most of the race to earn.
What was the Charlotte complex like in 2015?
Charlotte Motor Speedway is 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina, and was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith. The complex covers 2,000 acres (810 ha) and includes a quarter-mile (0.40 km) drag strip called ZMAX Dragway, which is the only all-concrete four-lane drag strip in the United States.
Alongside the drag strip is a clay oval that hosts dirt racing, including the World of Outlaws finals. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc., with Marcus G. Smith, son of Bruton Smith, serving as track president.
Who came into the race leading the points?
Kevin Harvick entered Charlotte with a 46-point lead over Martin Truex Jr. after his runner-up finish the week before. Jimmie Johnson was 48 points back after winning at Kansas, Joey Logano was 62 back and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 77 back following a third-place finish at Kansas.
Kyle Busch had missed the first eleven races of the season after an injury in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
What was different about the windshields that weekend?
For this race the names on the windshields of the cars, in place of the drivers' last names, were those of members of the United States Armed Forces who had died in the line of duty. The initiative was part of NASCAR's An American Salute programme, which was titled 600 Miles of Remembrance.
NASCAR's chief operating officer, Brent Dewar, said the community rallying to honour service members had long been part of the sport's heritage. The Toyota pace car followed the same approach.
Who was in the field and who returned?
The entry list was released on Monday, May 18, at 3:41 p.m. Eastern, and 48 drivers were entered. Kyle Busch made his first Sprint Cup start since the 2014 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and Ryan Blaney returned in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford after his last start at the 2015 GEICO 500.
Jeff Gordon made his 23rd and final Coca-Cola 600 start, and it was the race where he had taken his first career win in 1994. Chase Elliott made his third career start in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and Jeff Green tried to qualify the No. 30 car for The Motorsports Group, which had not raced since the 2015 Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond.
How did qualifying and practice go?
Carl Edwards was fastest in the first practice session at 28.085 seconds, or 192.273 mph (309.433 km/h). Kurt Busch was fastest in the second practice session at 28.031 seconds and in the final session at 28.624 seconds. Matt Kenseth's pole time came later in the day.
Matt Kenseth claimed the pole at 27.799 seconds, which is 194.252 mph (312.618 km/h). Joey Logano qualified second and Greg Biffle fourth. Jeff Gordon was 18th, and Mike Bliss, Jeb Burton, Brendan Gaughan, Jeff Green and Travis Kvapil failed to make the race.
None of the five Hendrick Motorsports drivers reached the final round of qualifying, the first time that had happened since Sonoma the previous June. Gordon said afterwards that the car never got down to the white line and was very tight.
How did the race start?
The race was scheduled for 6:20 p.m. and started one minute late, with Kenseth leading the field to the green flag. Edwards took the lead on the first lap, and Kenseth found his way back to the front on lap 4.
The first caution came on lap 26 as a scheduled competition caution, after Charlotte's general manager Marcus Smith had turns 1 and 2 washed down overnight. Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola were sent to the back of the field after pit road infractions.
Joey Logano passed Kenseth on lap 32, and Denny Hamlin moved into the lead on lap 44. Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 65, and he gave it up on lap 79 when he pitted and handed it to his teammate Kurt Busch, who was also on pit road. Keselowski then led briefly before Harvick regained the front.
What happened in the second quarter?
The second caution came on lap 90 when Jimmie Johnson got loose in turn three and spun off the banking in turn four. He saved the car and brought it to pit road, while Keselowski chose not to stop and took the lead.
On the restart Keselowski could not keep pace with fresher tyres, and Logano took the lead on lap 96 before Kurt Busch, who had taken four tyres during the earlier caution, moved ahead with ease on lap 98. The third caution came on lap 136 when Justin Allgaier hit the turn three wall.
A second round of green-flag pit stops started on lap 185, about halfway through the race. Busch handed the lead to Johnson and the lead then cycled through Edwards and Truex Jr. Kasey Kahne was given a drive-through for speeding on pit road.
What happened in the second half?
The fourth caution came on lap 229 when Trevor Bayne hit the turn three wall and left debris on the track. Ryan Newman was penalised for speeding and restarted from the back. Kurt Busch regained the lead on lap 238, and Truex took it back on lap 263.
The fifth caution came on lap 273 when Johnson hit the wall near the pit road entrance. Johnson said the car had been very loose, and that they had come in with an aggressive setup that had not had time to work. He also said he had been lucky that the SAFER barrier was there when he slid toward the opening.
The sixth caution followed on lap 282 when Ryan Blaney hit the wall, and the seventh came on lap 327 when Michael Annett spun on the backstretch. Hamlin then took the lead from Truex with 67 laps to go.
How was the finish decided by fuel?
The eighth caution came with 64 laps to go when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hit the turn four wall and left debris. Hamlin made an unscheduled stop with 38 laps to go for a loose wheel, and Truex regained the lead. He pitted with 22 laps left and handed the lead to Harvick, who also pitted and gave it to Edwards.
Edwards had been managing his fuel. He pitted on lap 338 for fuel and stretched it to the finish, while others ran dry in the closing laps. He said crew chief Darian Grubb had called the shots well, and that there was no one else he would want on the radio when fuel mileage mattered.
What were the final results?
Edwards won, Biffle was second and Earnhardt third, with Kenseth fourth and Truex fifth. The race had 22 lead changes among nine drivers and eight cautions for 39 laps. The race time was 4 hours, 3 minutes and 34 seconds, and the average speed came to 147.803 mph (237.866 km/h).
| Finish | Driver | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Winner | Carl Edwards | 24th career win and first at Charlotte; won $363,390 |
| Second | Greg Biffle | Second place finish |
| Third | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Gambled on fuel mileage and moved up 11 positions |
| Fourth | Matt Kenseth | Started from pole and led 26 laps |
| Fifth | Martin Truex Jr. | Led a race-high 131 laps |
| Eleventh | Kyle Busch | First points race since his injury |
What did the drivers say after the race?
Edwards said Joe Gibbs Racing was back and so was Toyota. He said the team's strategy had been about fuel mileage, and that it was a huge win for everyone involved. Edwards also praised the team's fuel calls during the final stint.
Earnhardt said he had hoped the cars ahead would run too hard and run out of fuel. He said the team had to try for a win and had gambled, because they did not have a car fast enough to beat Kurt Busch or Truex.
Truex said he had never thought fuel mileage was an option, and that he had only needed to pass Hamlin. He said the car had been fast from the start and that it hurt to have the fastest car and not win. He praised his crew chief, Cole Pearn, and his engineers for the calls they made.
Kyle Busch finished 11th in his first points race since his injury. He had been able to run the whole race, and Erik Jones had been ready to take over if he could not finish.
What penalties were handed out?
On the Wednesday after the race, NASCAR penalised three Sprint Cup teams. The No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was penalised for modifying the right rear quarter-panel wheel opening after qualifying inspection, a P2 penalty. The violation was a body surface that did not conform to the approved specifications.
Crew chief Matt McCall was placed on probation for the rest of the 2015 calendar year. The No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and the No. 51 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet both received P1 penalties for written warnings in consecutive events, and both teams lost the last two choices in pit stall selection for the Dover race.
What awards and recognition came with the race?
Truex took the 3M lap leader award for his 131 laps and the American Ethanol green-flag restart award. He also won the Mobil 1 Driver of the Race award with a 132.8 driver rating. The awards were presented after the race.
Earnhardt took the Ingersoll Rand Power Move award for climbing 11 positions and the Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver award with crew chief Greg Ives. Kenseth won the Freescale Wide Open award, and Denny Hamlin took the Sherwin-Williams fastest lap award at 28.797 seconds on lap 293.
Toyota Racing Development's engine number 20 was named the MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race. The Sunoco Rookie of the Race was Brett Moffitt, and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus rolled over to $90,000 at the next event.
