The 2015 5-hour Energy 301 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on July 19, 2015 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. Contested over 301 laps on the 1.058 mile (1.703 km) speedway, it was the 19th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kyle Busch won the race, his third of the season. Brad Keselowski finished second while Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounded out the top five.

Carl Edwards won the pole for the race and led 19 laps on his way to a seventh-place finish. Brad Keselowski led a race high of 100 laps on his way to a runner-up finish. The race had nine lead changes among seven different drivers, as well as seven caution flag periods for 34 laps.

This was the 32nd career victory for Kyle Busch, his third of the 2015 season, second consecutive race win, second at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and seventh at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. This win moved Busch up to 33rd in the points standings, 58 behind David Gilliland for the 30th place Chase cutoff and 487 behind points leader Kevin Harvick. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left Loudon trailing Chevrolet by 84 points in the manufacture standings.

The 5-hour Energy 301 was carried by NBC Sports on the cable/satellite NBCSN network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

Background

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire.

Kevin Harvick entered New Hampshire with a 68-point lead over Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered 76 back and Martin Truex Jr. entered 96 back.

Entry list The entry list for the 5-hour Energy 301 was released on Monday, July 13 at 11:42 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. All 44 were entered for the previous week's Quaker State 400. The driver changes for this week's race included Eddie MacDonald in the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, Derek White attempted to make his first career Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet, Reed Sorenson in the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet and Timmy Hill in the No. 98 Premium Motorsports Ford.

Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski (PC3) Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick (PC1) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Tony Stewart (PC4) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC6) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC7) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Eddie MacDonald Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Derek White Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 41 Kurt Busch (PC5) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC2) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 62 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 98 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports FordOfficial initial entry listOfficial final entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional

First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.486 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.486 133.708 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.495 133.666 3 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.537 133.469Official first practice results

Qualifying

Carl Edwards won the pole with a time of 28.179 and a speed of . "I’ve struggled at this racetrack so this is big for me," Edwards said. "We need to get another win." "We hope we’ll keep this speed on race day," said Connecticut native Joey Logano after qualifying second. "We all know how special Loudon is to me, to try to make something happen here, so it’s nice to know we’ve got a fast racecar. It’s good in race trim, as well. We weren’t very good in qualifying trim in practice. We changed a lot of things and lit it up a little bit" "It's not been a good day for us," said three-time New Hampshire winner Jeff Gordon after qualifying 23rd. "We've been struggling. It's disappointing we didn't qualify better."

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.581 28.266 28.179 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 28.463 28.120 28.209 3 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.413 28.255 28.209 4 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.537 28.307 28.271 5 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.557 28.349 28.297 6 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.450 28.280 28.298 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.494 28.321 28.318 8 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.493 28.316 28.333 9 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.406 28.315 28.340 10 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 28.519 28.314 28.419 11 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.402 28.308 28.424 12 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.420 28.283 28.511 13 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 28.494 28.387 — 14 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.591 28.408 — 15 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 28.362 28.415 — 16 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.345 28.422 — 17 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.577 28.466 — 18 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.421 28.469 — 19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.627 28.538 — 20 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.629 28.541 — 21 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.598 28.551 — 22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 28.547 28.598 — 23 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.607 28.623 — 24 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.547 28.654 — 25 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.664 — — 26 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.699 — — 27 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.719 — — 28 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.722 — — 29 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.739 — — 30 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.740 — — 31 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.770 — — 32 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.817 — — 33 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet 28.832 — — 34 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.930 — — 35 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 28.993 — — 36 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.081 — — 37 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.127 — — 38 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 29.231 — — 39 23 J. J. Yeley BK Racing Toyota 29.438 — — 40 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 29.502 — — 41 32 Eddie MacDonald Go FAS Racing Ford 29.527 — — 42 33 Derek White (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 30.189 — — 43 98 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports Ford 37.333 — —Failed to qualify 44 62 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.431 — —Official qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.834 and a speed of . In the closing minutes of the session, Clint Bowyer collided with Jeff Gordon just as Gordon was backing out of his garage stall. “You can’t see out of the pit stall,” Bowyer told Motorsport.com. “He just came out and I was a comin’. That poor ol’ boy that was backing him out, I bet he feels like (crap). But you know, it’s a wonder it don’t happen more often. To be honest with you, I was pulling out of my stall, I went to come back out and the guy never moved. I was like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa.’ But it’s so tight in here. You hate to see that, but damn, especially with the 24 (laughs) and everything we have going on. It didn’t seem to hurt our car too bad. It hurt his bad — it hit in a bad spot. But that’s why we have guys that back us up.” “Hopefully all this hard work and stuff we’re going through will pay off tomorrow," said Gordon, who will start 23rd. "We’ve got a pit cart over there that kind of blocks what you can see of the back of my car backing out there. The guy that backs me out looked over, guess he was just starting to back me out; and I crept out there and he cleared me, but the No. 15 (Bowyer), probably couldn’t really see me because of that pit cart and I don’t know if he kind of glanced away or what, but when he looked back, I was just right there and couldn’t go anywhere. Its kind of a combination of, I guess, both of us could take fault in that. But our team did an amazing job of fixing quite a bit of damage (to the right rear). I love seeing my crew chief (Alan Gustafson) get in there and get dirty, but not for that reason. And, that practice went a little bit better than the other one. So, we’re gaining on it. I don’t want to say it can’t get worse, but I know it can. So, I’m not going to say that. But hopefully this will all pay off for us tomorrow.”

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 28.834 132.094 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.860 131.975 3 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.879 131.888Official first practice results

Final practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.614 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.614 133.110 2 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 28.768 132.397 3 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.808 132.213Official final practice results

Race

First half

Start

The race was scheduled to start at 1:45 p.m., but the threat of inclement weather prompted NASCAR to move the start up to 1:35. It started at 1:38 when Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag. By lap 20, teammate Kyle Busch ran him down, passed him going into turn 3 to take the lead. Debris in turn 1 brought out the first caution of the race on lap 22. Most of the field ninth on back opted to pit under the caution.

The race restarted on lap 27. By lap 64, Brad Keselowski ran down the leader to within half a second. He went underneath Kyle Busch going into turn 1 to take the lead on lap 68. Carl Edwards was the first of the eight drivers that didn't pit under the first caution to hit pit road at lap 77. He was followed by Jamie McMurray on lap 78 and David Ragan on lap 79. Matt Kenseth hit pit road on lap 81. Kurt Busch pitted from fourth on lap 82. Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the pit cycle. Matt Kenseth was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty.

Second quarter