The 2015 Pure Michigan 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on August 16, 2015, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. Contested over 200 laps on the 2 mile (3.2 km) D–shaped oval, it was the 23rd race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Matt Kenseth won the race, his third of the season. Kevin Harvick finished second. Martin Truex Jr. finished third. Austin Dillon and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.
Kenseth won the pole for the race and led 146 laps on his way to victory lane. There were 16 lead changes among eight different drivers as well as eight caution flag periods for 31 laps.
This was the 34th career victory for Matt Kenseth, third of the season, third at Michigan International Speedway and eighth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota left Michigan trailing Chevrolet by 70–points in the manufacturer standings. However, they usurped second in the standings from Ford.
The Pure Michigan 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 Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
Report
Background
Michigan International Speedway is a D-shaped oval superspeedway in Cambridge Township, Michigan, just south of the village of Brooklyn. Kevin Harvick entered Michigan with a 42–point lead over Joey Logano. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered 73 back. Jimmie Johnson entered 76 back. Brad Keselowski entered 104 back.
Aero package For the weekend's race, NASCAR used the same high–drag package that was used at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One change from the Indy package included an additional air duct mandated on the right–side window of the car. Previously, this was an option left up to the teams. What led NASCAR to mandating this was the excessive heat buildup in the cars caused by the high–downforce package. "I would not be surprised to see a lot of car failures this weekend, specific to heat relation as it pertains to the aero package and its kind of cause and effects," Brad Keselowski said during a teleconference Tuesday. "And inside the car I would not be surprised to see a lot of hot and worn out drivers after the race. We all know we’re in for a handful of the race."
Entry list The entry list for the Pure Michigan 400 was released on Monday, August 10 at 10:31 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. All but the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford were entered in the previous week's race at Watkins Glen. The four driver changes for this race were Josh Wise returning to the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford, Travis Kvapil driving the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet, Brett Moffitt returning to the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford and Reed Sorenson returning to the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet.
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 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Travis Kvapil (i) 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
Practice
First practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 36.726 and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.726 196.046 2 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 36.950 194.858 3 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 36.984 194.679Official first practice results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 36.964 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime14Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet36.964194.784220Matt KensethJoe Gibbs RacingToyota37.035194.411342Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet37.111194.013Official second practice results
Final practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 37.553 and a speed of . In the first five minutes of the session, Kyle Busch's car got loose exiting turn 4, slid down through the grass and destroyed the splitter. This forced the No. 18 team to roll out his backup car. As a result, he started the race from the rear of the field. “I was just running along, everything was fine and I was actually feeling pretty good about it,” Busch said. “Just started to get a little free up off of (turn) four. It started stepping out like it did here in the spring. I over-corrected and hit the wall so this time around I just kind of made it keep rotating and head down towards the infield. I think we need more grass at these race tracks, I think the apron should be full of grass.” In the final few minutes of the session, Austin Dillon reported that his engine had "No RPM's" and was forced to change engines. As a result, he too started the race from the rear of the field. PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime178Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingChevrolet37.553191.729222Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord37.654191.215319Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota37.659191.189Official final practice results
Qualifying Matt Kenseth won the pole with a time of 36.458 and a speed of . "We’ve had a fast racecar here this weekend," said Kenseth. "Hopefully, we can work on it in practice and get it ready to race. Having the No. 1 starting spot is great." "We aren’t first so we aren’t satisfied," said Joey Logano. "Qualifying here is very interesting. I had my hands full, I can tell you that much. I was sawing away at it but we'll be close enough to the front to get a good pit stall, so the guys have that going for them. We'll go to work on dialing it in some more during practice." "Tomorrow (Saturday), we'll run more around other cars and learn more about what the (aero) package is going to be like for the race," Jeff Gordon said of the new rules package. "We won’t truly know until they drop the green and there are 43 cars going into Turn 1."
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.737 36.458 2 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.822 36.550 3 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.757 36.683 4 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 36.995 36.750 5 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 36.900 36.833 6 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 36.804 36.838 7 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 36.976 36.876 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 37.083 36.880 9 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 37.159 36.945 10 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 37.011 37.036 11 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 37.159 37.088 12 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 37.176 37.189 13 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 37.184 — 14 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 37.199 — 15 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 37.214 — 16 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 37.246 — 17 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 37.246 — 18 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 37.277 — 19 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 37.281 — 20 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 37.300 — 21 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 37.304 — 22 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 37.321 — 23 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 37.350 — 24 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 37.379 — 25 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 37.499 — 26 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 37.534 — 27 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 37.581 — 28 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 37.624 — 29 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 37.753 — 30 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 37.790 — 31 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 37.885 — 32 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 37.885 — 33 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 38.018 — 34 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 38.049 — 35 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.077 — 36 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.110 — 37 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 38.145 — 38 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 38.193 — 39 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 38.302 — 40 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 38.599 — 41 32 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 38.705 — 42 33 Travis Kvapil (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 39.200 — 43 98 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports Ford 39.335 —Failed to qualify 44 62 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 38.631 —Official qualifying results
Race
First half
Start Just as the field began rolling off pit road, Timmy Hill blew his engine and went to the garage before the green flag flew.
The race was scheduled to start at 2:46 p.m., but started nine minutes later when Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag. The first caution of the race flew the same lap when David Ragan got sideways and spun through the infield grass while heading into turn 1.
The race restarted on lap 6. The second caution of the race flew on lap 10 for debris in turn 3. The debris was an oil pan that came off Hill's car, which recently returned to the race.
The race restarted on lap 14. The third caution of the race flew on lap 21 as a scheduled competition caution. Austin Dillon opted not to pit and assumed the lead. Kasey Kahne was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted from the tail-end of the field.