The 2015 Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard, the 22nd running of the event, was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on July 26, 2015 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Contested over 164 laps – extended from 160 laps due to a green–white–checkered finish – on the asphalt rectangular oval, it was the 20th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kyle Busch won the race, his fourth of the season. Joey Logano finished second, while Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Carl Edwards won the pole and led 20 laps on his way to a 13th-place finish. Harvick led a race high of 75 on his way to a third-place finish. The race had 16 lead changes among six different drivers, as well as nine caution flag periods for 36 laps.
This was Busch's 33rd career Sprint Cup victory, fourth of the season, third consecutive and his first at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was also the fourth win at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. His victory moved him to 32nd in the points standings, 23 points back of Justin Allgaier for the 30th-place Chase cutoff and 483 points back of Harvick. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left the Brickyard trailing Chevrolet by 80 points in the manufacturer standings.
The Crown Royal 400 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 IndyCar Radio Network and SiriusXM.
Report
Background
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana, (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis) in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. and It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately west of Downtown Indianapolis.
Kevin Harvick entered the Brickyard with a 69-point lead over Joey Logano. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered 79 back, Jimmie Johnson entered 88 back, and Martin Truex Jr. entered 106 back.
New aero package On July 7, NASCAR announced that a higher drag aero package would be used for the weekend's race. The changes to the cars included a nine-inch spoiler, one-inch wicker bill, 43-inch radiator pan and a two-inch leading edge for the splitter.
Changes to qualifying In lieu of knockout qualifying, the weekend's race used the single-car qualifying method that's also used at Daytona and Talladega.
Entry list The entry list for the Brickyard 400 was released on Friday, July 17 at 9:28 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-six cars were entered for the race. All but one was entered the previous week's race at New Hampshire. Chase Elliott attempted to make his fourth career start in the No. 25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Josh Wise drove the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford. Brian Scott returned to the seat of the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet. Michael McDowell made his first entry since Kentucky in the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Ford. Jeff Gordon, tied with Michael Schumacher for all-time winningest driver at Indianapolis, made his 22nd and final career start at the Brickyard.
Driver Team Manufacturer Best finish 1 Jamie McMurray (W) Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 12 1st 2 Brad Keselowski (PC3) Team Penske Ford 5 9th 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 2 10th 4 Kevin Harvick (PC1) (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 14 1st 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 11 2nd 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 4 17th 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 1 40th 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 4 16th 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 2 30th 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 9 3rd 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 11 6th 14 Tony Stewart (PC4) (W) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 16 1st 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 9 4th 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 12 3rd 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 2 24th 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10 2nd 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10 2nd 20 Matt Kenseth (PC6) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 15 2nd 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 0 — 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 6 5th 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 5 28th 24 Jeff Gordon (PC7) (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 21 1st 25 Chase Elliott (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 0 — 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 0 — 27 Paul Menard (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 8 1st 31 Ryan Newman (W) Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 14 1st 32 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 3 29th 33 Brian Scott (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 0 — 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 0 — 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 1 32nd 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 7 17th 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 5 20th 41 Kurt Busch (PC5) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 14 5th 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 1 7th 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 3 17th 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 31st 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 6 10th 48 Jimmie Johnson (PC2) (W) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 13 1st 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 1 27th 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 8 14th 62 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 6 5th 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 10 8th 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 0 — 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 15 4th 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 5 26th 98 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports Ford 1 42ndOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional (W) Past winner of event
Practice
First practice Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 49.394 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.394 182.208 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.506 181.796 3 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 49.517 181.756Official first practice results
Second practice Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 49.596 and a speed of . Less than three minutes into the session, the hood of Denny Hamlin's car snapped up and smashed his windshield. No significant damage was sustained and he returned to finish twelfth in the session.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.596 181.466 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 49.601 181.448 3 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.612 181.408Official second practice results
Final practice Kurt Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 49.454 and a speed of . Early in the session, Timmy Hill crashed into the barrier before the entrance to pit road.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 41 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 49.454 181.987 2 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 49.515 181.763 3 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 49.626 181.357Official final practice results
Qualifying
Carl Edwards won the pole with a time of 49.056 and a speed of . “This is really cool," Edwards said. "Just to be here racing is cool and with all the work the guys put in yesterday, we started out terribly and we were really slow. Just proud of everybody for digging deep. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) and these guys have done a great job. TRD, Toyota and everybody has put a lot of effort in and to have Stanley Tools on the pole for the Brickyard 400, this is cool.” "Overall from where we have been this weekend to what we picked up today I am proud of what my Shell Pennzoil team has done," Joey Logano said after qualifying second. "We have a good piece. I look forward to the race tomorrow. Clean air is king. If we can get a good start and settle in and click some laps off and run our strategy we can be there in the end." "Unfortunately that wasn’t the one that paid, but that got us in the second round which was the important part," Tony Stewart said after qualifying fourth. "The second round we were a little bit freer than we were the first round. I was a little busy inside the car. We got that track bar adjuster and I was moving it around quite a bit during the lap.”
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.038 49.056 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 48.830 49.143 3 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 49.033 49.211 4 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.505 49.228 5 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48.541 49.279 6 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 48.920 49.329 7 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 49.045 49.347 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.077 49.367 9 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.052 49.375 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 48.905 49.386 11 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.068 49.443 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 48.825 49.454 13 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 49.116 — 14 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 49.161 — 15 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 49.180 — 16 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 49.270 — 17 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.278 — 18 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 49.320 — 19 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.345 — 20 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.353 — 21 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 49.386 — 22 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 49.420 — 23 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 49.429 — 24 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 49.467 — 25 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 49.470 — 26 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 49.475 — 27 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.618 — 28 25 Chase Elliott (i) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 49.714 — 29 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.734 — 30 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 49.746 — 31 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 49.764 — 32 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 49.785 — 33 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 49.870 — 34 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 49.882 — 35 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 49.910 — 36 33 Brian Scott (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 49.994 — 37 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.147 — 38 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 50.164 — 39 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.174 — 40 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 50.304 — 41 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 50.625 — 42 98 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports Ford 54.211 — 43 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 0.000 —Failed to qualify 44 32 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 50.296 — 45 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 51.087 — 46 62 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 51.564 —Official qualifying results
Race
First half
Start The race was scheduled to start at 3:39 p.m. Eastern time, but started at 3:42 when Carl Edwards led the field to the green flag. He wouldn't lead the first lap, as he lost the lead to Joey Logano exiting turn 2. Edwards pulled up on Logano exiting turn 4 and took the lead for the first time on lap 12. Kevin Harvick was able to pull to within half a second of the leader several of times, but Edwards was able to pull away. Harvick hit pit road for the first time on lap 28, leading to the first round of green flag pit stops. Most of the field had made their stops while Edwards still continued to stay out. He and his teammate Kyle Busch hit pit road on lap 32 and the lead was given to Harvick. Austin Dillon was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. He was tagged again for speeding while serving and was forced to serve another penalty.
Second quarter