The 2015 Bank of America 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race scheduled to be held on October 10, 2015 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina but pushed ahead to October 11 due to rain. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, fourth race of the Chase and first race of the Contender Round. Joey Logano won the race, his fourth of the season. Kevin Harvick finished second. Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.

Matt Kenseth won the pole for the race and led 72 laps before retiring from the race after slamming the wall late in the event and finished 42nd. Logano led a race high of 227 on his way to winning the race. The race had 14 lead changes among 10 different drivers, as well as nine caution flag periods for 44 laps.

This was the 12th career win for Joey Logano, fourth of the season, first at Charlotte Motor Speedway and third at the track for Team Penske. He jumped to the top of the points standings with a six–point lead over Harvick. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Ford left Charlotte trailing Chevrolet by 67–points third in the manufacturer standings.

The Bank of America 500 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 and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

Background

Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. Matt Kenseth entered tied for the points lead with Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

Restart zone The restart zone was expanded from to and lines were painted across the track to indicate the zone.

Entry list The entry list for the Bank of America 500 was released on Monday, October 5 at 11:10 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-five cars were entered for the race. All but Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell were entered in the previous week's race at Dover.

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 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC7) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 J. J. Yeley (i) 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 Alex Kennedy (R) 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 Timmy Hill (i) 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 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 98 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports FordOfficial entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional

Practice

First practice Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 27.907 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 27.907 193.500 2 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 27.995 192.892 3 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 27.996 192.885Official first practice results

Practice (post-qualifying)

Second practice Kurt Busch was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.606 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.606 188.772 2 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.629 188.620 3 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.780 187.630Official second practice results

Final practice Kyle Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.518 and a speed of .

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.518 189.354 2 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.572 188.996 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 28.646 188.508Official final practice results

Qualifying

Matt Kenseth won the pole for the race with a time of 27.759 and a speed of . He said that his team had "worked on qualifying all day. Obviously our goal was to come here and try to sit on the pole but to qualify well, and we accomplished that. They brought a real fast car here in the spring. Jason did a great job with our qualifying setup in the spring. We came here with the relatively same stuff. We’re just trying to make our stuff better.” Kyle Busch, after qualifying second, said that he liked "coming to Charlotte. This is certainly a good track for me. We look forward to Saturday night being another good night for us. Adam (Stevens) and the guys made did a great job making some good adjustments for qualifying there."

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.072 27.904 27.759 2 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.057 28.074 27.957 3 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 28.340 27.962 27.976 4 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.351 28.134 27.987 5 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.379 28.128 27.992 6 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.220 28.171 28.036 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.266 28.176 28.051 8 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.161 28.181 28.061 9 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.381 28.142 28.092 10 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.270 28.142 28.119 11 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.025 27.980 28.211 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.049 27.979 28.328 13 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 28.067 28.181 — 14 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.275 28.183 — 15 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 28.362 28.264 — 16 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.186 28.264 — 17 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 28.436 28.286 — 18 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.311 28.299 — 19 55 David Ragan Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.380 28.349 — 20 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.220 28.356 — 21 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.390 28.364 — 22 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.268 28.429 — 23 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.430 28.475 — 24 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.386 28.631 — 25 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.436 — — 26 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.449 — — 27 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 28.538 — — 28 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.626 — — 29 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.644 — — 30 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.647 — — 31 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.749 — — 32 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 28.825 — — 33 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.839 — — 34 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 28.843 — — 35 26 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 28.844 — — 36 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.915 — — 37 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.941 — — 38 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.942 — — 39 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 29.023 — — 40 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.066 — — 41 23 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.158 — — 42 98 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Ford 29.318 — — 43 33 Alex Kennedy (R) Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet 29.642 — —Failed to qualify 44 32 Josh Wise Go FAS Racing Ford 29.152 — — 45 62 Timmy Hill (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.442 — —Official qualifying results

Race

First half

Start The race was scheduled to start at 7:21 p.m., but rain forced the race to be pushed to the next day. Under clear blue North Carolina skies, Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 12:32 p.m. The field didn't make it half a lap before debris brought out the first caution of the race. The back of the field accordioned back and Jeb Burton rammed into the rear of Cole Whitt. Kyle Busch was able to take the lead before the caution flew.

The race restarted on lap 5. Matt Kenseth drove by Busch to take the lead. He pulled out to a one-second lead over Joey Logano after 10 laps. The second caution of the race flew on lap 26. This was a scheduled competition caution due to overnight rain. J. J. Yeley was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted on lap 31. Yeley was black-flagged for unapproved adjustments and forced to come to pit road and fix the adjustment. Kasey Kahne was running 12th when he made an unscheduled stop on lap 42 after brushing the wall in turn 1. He rejoined the race in 41st two laps down. The third caution of the race flew on lap 61 for a single-car wreck on the backstretch. Rounding turn 2, Kahne suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. He said that he didn't understand "why either one of those tires went down. Obviously, we were doing something wrong to have two tire failures like that. It’s discouraging, but that’s the way it goes.” He went on to finish 43rd. Greg Biffle was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.

The race restarted on lap 66. Carl Edwards tapped the back of Dale Earnhardt Jr., got him loose and sent him into the wall on lap 70. Eventually, Earnhardt cut down his right-front tire, rode the wall and brought out the fourth caution of the race on lap 75. Speaking on the incident, he said that Edwards "got a great run on us and drove down into one and got in the back of us a little bit. I don’t know if I cut him off or not. But he drove in there pretty hard and ran over the left rear quarter panel of the car and got in the fence." Joey Logano opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the lead.

Second quarter The race restarted on lap 81. Austin Dillon commenced a cycle of green flag stops pitting on lap 121. Logano hit pit road the next lap and handed the lead to Jimmie Johnson. He pitted on lap 124 and gave the lead to Kyle Larson. He pitted on lap 127 and surrendered the lead to Carl Edwards. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Joey Logano.

Debris on the backstretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 167.

Second half

Halfway