The 2015 Coca-Cola 600, the 56th running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on May 24, 2015, at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Contested over 400 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.42 km) asphalt speedway. It was the 12th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Carl Edwards won the race, his first of the season and first with Joe Gibbs Racing. Greg Biffle finished second. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third. Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top five.
Matt Kenseth won the pole for the race and led 26 laps on his way to a fourth-place finish. Martin Truex Jr. led the most laps for the second consecutive race with a race high of 131 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish. The race had 22 lead changes among nine different drivers, as well as eight caution flag periods for 39 laps.
This was the 24th career victory for Carl Edwards, first at Charlotte Motor Speedway and fifth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. This win moved Edwards up to 16th in the points standings. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left Charlotte trailing Chevrolet by 71 points in the manufacturer standings.
The Coca-Cola 600 was aired by Fox Sports on its broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Report
Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the Sprint All-Star Race, as well as the Bank of America 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
The 2,000 acres (810 ha) complex also features a state-of-the-art quarter mile (0.40 km) drag racing strip, ZMAX Dragway. It is the only all-concrete, four-lane drag strip in the United States and hosts NHRA events. Alongside the drag strip is a state-of-the-art clay oval that hosts dirt racing including the World of Outlaws finals among other popular racing events.
Kevin Harvick entered Charlotte with a 46-point lead over Martin Truex Jr. following his runner-up finish. Jimmie Johnson entered 48 back following winning at Kansas Speedway. Joey Logano entered 62 back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered 77 back following a third-place finish at Kansas.
For the weekend's race, the names on the windshield of the cars — in lieu of the drivers last names — had those of United States Armed Forces members who have died in the line of duty. “The NASCAR community rallying to honor the U.S. Armed Forces, past and present, has long been part of our sport’s heritage,” said Brent Dewar, NASCAR chief operating officer. “As part of NASCAR: An American Salute, 600 Miles of Remembrance represents a special moment in time as we pay tribute to service members who have sacrificed dearly for our freedom.” The Toyota pace car for the race will follow suit.
Entry list The entry list for the Coca-Cola 600 was released on Monday, May 18 at 3:41 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-eight drivers were entered for the race. Kyle Busch, who has missed the first eleven races of the season following being injured in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway, made his first Sprint Cup Series start since the 2014 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Ryan Blaney made his first start since the 2015 GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. Jeff Gordon, whose first career win came in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600, made his 23rd and final Coca-Cola 600 start. Chase Elliott attempted and made his third career start in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jeff Green attempted to make the race in the No. 30 Chevrolet for The Motorsports Group which hadn't been entered in a race since the 2015 Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Mike Bliss returned to the seat of the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford that was las driven by Joey Gase in the 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway. Alex Kennedy drove the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet that had been driven by Ty Dillon the previous week at Kansas. Travis Kvapil attempted to make his first start of the season in the No. 39 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet.
Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 12 2nd 2 Brad Keselowski (PC3) Team Penske Ford 5 5th 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 1 16th 4 Kevin Harvick (PC1) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 14 1st 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 11 1st 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 3 16th 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 1 33rd 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 2 13th 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 3 29th 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 9 2nd 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 12 1st 14 Tony Stewart (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 16 2nd 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 9 7th 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 12 2nd 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 3 11th 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 11 3rd 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10 3rd 20 Matt Kenseth (PC6) Joe Gibbs Racing Ford 15 1st 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 0 — 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 6 3rd 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 6 2nd 24 Jeff Gordon (PC7) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22 1st 25 Chase Elliott (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 0 - 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 0 — 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 8 8th 30 Jeff Green (i) The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 7 11th 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 14 2nd 32 Mike Bliss (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 4 15th 33 Alex Kennedy (R) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 0 — 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 0 — 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 2 27th 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 8 20th 39 Travis Kvapil (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 7 22nd 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 4 18th 41 Kurt Busch (PC5) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 14 1st 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 1 18th 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 3 11th 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 28th 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 7 5th 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC2) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 13 1st 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 37th 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 8 2nd 62 Brendan Gaughan (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 1 33rd 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 10 7th 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 0 — 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 16 4th 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 6 30th 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 3 26thOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional
Practice
First practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.085 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.085 192.273 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.173 191.673 3 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.178 191.639Official first practice results
Qualifying
Matt Kenseth won the pole with a time of 27.799 seconds and a speed of . “I thought we had some speed in practice, just never really had the balance or the perfect lap,” he said. “Everyone at JGR has been working honestly around the clock to get all these cars done and get us better stuff. It's one lap. It's 600 miles Sunday, but it's a good place to start. A good way to start the weekend." “Second is nice, but look at the difference and how much I needed to pick up,” said Joey Logano. “That was a very fast lap by the 20, congratulations to them. I don’t know how to go that fast. We’ve got a couple weeks to figure out how to beat the 20 car. He’s very, very fast obviously. That was an amazing lap they ran there at the end.” “Just trying to have confidence,” Greg Biffle said after qualifying fourth. “We haven’t seen it in race trim yet, whether it’s us taking the tape off the front of it or what it might be – the change between our qualifying and race trim. We’re struggling a bit right now, so we’re just gonna work hard in practice and see what we can do.” None of the five Hendrick Motorsports drivers made it to the final round of qualifying for the first time since Sonoma last June. "I'm just disappointed in that second run out," said Gordon, who would start 18th. "The car never got down to the white line. It was real tight." Mike Bliss, Jeb Burton, Brendan Gaughan, Jeff Green and Travis Kvapil all failed to make the race.
Qualifying results