2015 GEICO 500: Earnhardt Jr. Wins at Talladega After a Lap 47 Pile-Up

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the 2015 GEICO 500 on 3 May 2015 at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. The race was the tenth of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and it was his first win of the year. A 15-car pile-up on lap 47, a red flag and a late backstretch wreck all shaped the afternoon.

Where is Talladega Superspeedway?

Talladega Superspeedway is a 4.28 km (2.66 mi) asphalt superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, built on the former Anniston Air Force Base. It is the longest NASCAR oval, known for its steep banking and for a start/finish line placed just past the exit to pit road. The track was originally called Alabama International Motor Superspeedway.

International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family, built the track in the 1960s. The venue is a Tri-oval, and at its peak it could seat 175,000 spectators. Today the capacity is 80,000 seats,.

The track hosts the Sprint Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series.Drivers in those series race in close packs here, where one mistake can involve many cars.

A 15-car pile-up at Talladega, a red flag, and a late wreck that left drivers asking why no caution flew.

How did the qualifying format change for 2015?

NASCAR changed the restrictor-plate qualifying format on 30 March 2015, after a series of accidents during pole qualifying at the Daytona 500. Each car now made two rounds of qualifying with one timed lap in each round, and the top twelve from the first round advanced to the second.

Positions 13 and beyond were set by first-round speed, and the twelve fastest from that round had their speeds reset for the final round. A ten-minute break separated the two rounds, and race vehicles were impounded after each lap. Only cars advancing to the final round could adjust tape and use a cool-down unit during the break.

Steve O'Donnell, who holds the title of executive vice president and chief racing development officer at NASCAR, said the sanctioning body would likely run two cars at a time, rather than put one car on track at once. He discussed the reasons for the change on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio's The Morning Drive, which is where the new format was explained to fans.

Who won the pole and how did qualifying go?

Jeff Gordon won the pole with a time of 49.160 seconds, a speed of 313.489 km/h (194.793 mph). It was the 80th pole of his career and his fourth at the track. Kasey Kahne qualified second and Ryan Blaney third, while defending winner Denny Hamlin was 17th.

Gordon said he was proud of the pole because it came under a very different format from the one at Daytona. He credited the engine shop and the body and chassis work, which gave his team a fast car in a new setup. Kahne said his Chevrolet was fast and that a front-row start was a good place to be.

Blaney was pleased to be back in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford and said the team had needed a good finish after an early engine failure at Texas. Jeb Burton and Michael McDowell failed to qualify for the race, which had forty-five cars entered. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. led first practice at 323.124 km/h (200.780 mph), and Greg Biffle was fastest in the final session.

How did the race start?

The start was set for 1:20 p.m., but the green flag waved at 1:21 p.m. with Gordon on the pole. Gordon held the front for three laps, then handed the lead to his teammate Kasey Kahne on lap four. Tony Stewart then got by Kahne, and Earnhardt passed Stewart for the lead on lap 13.

Gordon slingshotted past his teammate down the backstretch, which the drivers call the Alabama Gang Superstretch, to lead on lap 17. The first caution came on lap 19 after a two-car wreck in turn 1 that involved Brian Scott and Michael Waltrip. Scott's engine expired as he came across the start/finish line, and Waltrip could not avoid the trouble that followed.

Several drivers took the lead during the early caution, with Kevin Harvick, Justin Allgaier and Bobby Labonte each leading briefly under the pit cycle. Gordon regained the lead when Labonte made his stop. The race restarted on lap 25, and Gordon got a push from Johnson to jump ahead of Earnhardt.

What was the lap 47 crash?

The lap 47 crash involved fifteen cars and became known as the Big One. It started in turn 2 and carried down the backstretch, bringing out the second caution of the race. The wreck began when Trevor Bayne's car, unsettled by its aerodynamics, climbed into the wall as it left turn 2.

Joey Logano tried to avoid Bayne, but he was rear-ended and turned by Kasey Kahne. Logano then turned down into Landon Cassill, who had come up in front of Kyle Larson and damaged the front of Larson's car. Greg Biffle overcorrected after dropping onto the apron and hit the outside wall, and David Ragan was caught when Biffle's car turned back down towards the runoff.

Danica Patrick spun at the start of the wreck, but she continued after suffering minimal damage. Matt DiBenedetto drove through the centre of the crash and spun trying to avoid Larson, and he also kept going. Bayne said the Menard car had been tight on his door, which pushed his car around, and that a lot of cars had been torn up as a result.

Larson said he had seen Bayne get sideways in front of him and had tried to miss the wrecks before clipping Cassill. Ragan said that running in the wrong place at the wrong time at Talladega was enough to bring a driver into a wreck. The red flag then came out, and the field was stopped down the backstretch.

How long was the red flag and how did the field restart?

The red flag lasted 11 minutes 15 seconds while the crash was cleared. The field restarted on lap 52 after four laps under caution, and it ran in three lines for the next stretch of racing. Sheet metal lying on the backstretch led to the third caution, on lap 55.

The race restarted on lap 59, and by lap 70 the first seven cars had broken clear of the rest of the field. The chasing pack reeled them back in, and most cars moved to the outside line to pull up towards the leaders. Matt Kenseth led the outside line as it pushed towards Brad Keselowski.

The fourth caution came on lap 91, when Brendan Gaughan suffered a right-front tyre blowout that sent his car straight into the wall in turn 2. Casey Mears was penalised for an uncontrolled tyre and restarted from the back of the field. Jeff Gordon exited the pits leading after the stops.

Who took the lead in the second half?

The lead changed repeatedly after the restart on lap 96. Johnson took the outside line to lead on lap 97, and Gordon went to the inside to retake the lead on lap 98. Earnhardt moved to the top line on lap 99 and pushed Johnson to the front, before Hamlin and Earnhardt went to both sides and sent Gordon backwards.

Hamlin took the lead on lap 105, and Earnhardt got underneath him in turn 2 on lap 108. J. J. Yeley was black flagged for a window net that was down and was then given a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Gordon went outside Earnhardt in the tri-oval to lead on lap 111.

Debris in turn 3 forced the fifth caution, on lap 115. Kevin Harvick was tagged for his crew going over the wall too soon and was sent to the tail of the field. Harvick's penalty was one of several that shuffled the order during the middle of the race.

Who led the final 40 laps?

Earnhardt took the lead with 64 laps to go after going underneath Gordon as the field fanned out into three lanes. Tony Stewart briefly led with 40 laps left before Earnhardt powered back ahead, and Earnhardt gave up the lead for his final stop with 33 laps to go. Denny Hamlin took the lead from that point.

The sixth caution came with 31 laps left, after Austin Dillon's car caught fire in the tri-oval. The blaze began in the right-front tyre area. Gordon and Josh Wise were both penalised for speeding on pit road, and Biffle was also penalised for speeding. Cole Whitt chose not to pit and restarted the race as the leader.

Earnhardt passed Whitt easily to take the lead with 25 laps left. In the last 20 laps, the leading ten cars pulled clear of the rest of the field. Hamlin broke out of line with two laps to go in an attempt to win, and Carl Edwards was bumped in turn 1 as the field came to the finish.

A backstretch wreck then collected Gordon, Casey Mears, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and J. J. Yeley. The race stayed green to the finish, and Earnhardt took the checkered flag. He said afterwards that he had not known what Hamlin had planned, and that he had been overcome with emotion after a long wait for a win at Talladega.

Why did Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth complain?

Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth criticised NASCAR for not throwing a caution on the final lap, when the late backstretch wreck left debris and crashed cars on the track. Edwards said cars were still passing the accident scene at speed and that drivers needed to brake when there was a wreck. Kenseth said he had been forced to lift to avoid sending Edwards to hospital.

Kenseth said he was dumbfounded that NASCAR did not throw a caution, adding that cars had driven past the wrecked machines for half a lap at full speed. Steve O'Donnell explained the decision on the following Monday's Sirius XM show.

What were the race statistics?

The race had 27 lead changes among 15 different drivers, and six cautions covering 23 laps. The race time was 3 hours, 8 minutes, 8 seconds, and the average speed was 256.669 km/h (159.487 mph). The table below summarises the key figures and the awards from the race.

Earnhardt led a race-high 67 laps, which earned him the 3M Lap Leader award. Kurt Busch gained 18 positions for the Ingersoll Rand Power Move award, and Matt DiBenedetto was named Sunoco Rookie of the Race. Hendrick Engines' No. 88 car took the Engine Builder of the Race honour, and the NASCAR leader bonus rolled over to $70,000 for the next event.

Why did the result matter for the championship?

The win moved Earnhardt up to fifth in the points standings. It was his sixth win at Talladega and his first at the track since 2004, and it was the twelfth Talladega win for Hendrick Motorsports.

After Talladega, Chevrolet led Ford by 37 points in the manufacturer standings. Harvick entered the race 33 points ahead of Logano after a runner-up finish at Richmond, and Truex entered 42 points back. Johnson, who finished second, was 58 points back before the race.