The 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on November 22, 2015, at Homestead–Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) oval, it was the 36th and final race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kyle Busch won the race and the championship, his fifth of the season and first of his career. Kevin Harvick finished second. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five. Jeff Gordon finished sixth in his 797th and final scheduled career start and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the Chase drivers in 14th.
Denny Hamlin won the pole for the race and led zero laps on his way to a 10th-place finish. Keselowski led a race high of 86 laps on his way to a third-place finish. The race had 18 lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as seven caution flag periods for 30 laps.
This was the 34th victory for Busch, fifth of the season, first at Homestead–Miami Speedway and sixth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. It clinched his first career Sprint Cup Series championship. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota finished the season 68-points back of Chevrolet who had clinched the manufacturers championship the week prior at Phoenix.
With the introduction of NASCAR's team charter program in 2016, this race marks the final race with a 43-car field.
The Ford EcoBoost 400 was carried by NBC Sports on the broadcast NBC network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
This was the final race for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Report
Background
Homestead–Miami Speedway is a oval-shaped intermediate speedway in Homestead, Florida.
Championship drivers Jeff Gordon was the first of the four drivers to clinch a spot in the championship four, winning the first race of the Eliminator Round at Martinsville. Gordon, running in his final full-time season of Sprint Cup Series racing, seeks his fifth Sprint Cup championship and first since 2001. Entering his 797th Sprint Cup race, he had six consecutive top-10 finishes, including a sixth-place at Phoenix; altogether, he had recorded 20 top-10s in 2015, along with four poles, which include three at the schedule's four restrictor plate races. Gordon struggled during the early portion of the season, being involved in crashes in the first two races and was as low as 35th in points. However, he managed to gain positions in the standings with eight consecutive top-10s after the Kobalt 400. During the remainder of the regular season, he was between ninth and 13th-place in the points. In the first six Chase races, he finished in the top-10 in all but two races (at Chicagoland and Dover). At Martinsville, he clinched a spot in the final four by taking advantage of Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski's accidents to claim his 93rd career victory.
Kevin Harvick, the defending Cup champion, finished second behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Phoenix to clinch his place in the championship race. Harvick, who had won the 2014 Ford EcoBoost 400, had dominated the regular season, leading the points for 23 straight races (from Las Vegas to Darlington), while also winning at Vegas and Phoenix. However, Harvick struggled in the first two races of the Chase, crashing at Chicago and running out of fuel while leading at Loudon. Being required to win to advance to the Contender Round, he capitalized on Jimmie Johnson's mechanical failure to win at Dover. At Talladega, Harvick – once again faced with the possibility of being eliminated from the Chase and a struggling car – was involved in a controversial restart crash on the green–white–checker finish when he collided with Trevor Bayne and caused a crash with intentions of defending his Chase spot.
Kyle Busch finished fourth at Phoenix to clinch his spot in the championship race. He did not start the first 11 races of the season due to breaking his right leg and left foot when he crashed in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway. He returned to racing at the All-Star Race, with his first points race return being an 11th-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. For Busch to qualify for the Chase, he had to record at least one win and make the top 30. The next three races were marred by crashes in two, but scored his first win of the season in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. He then proceeded to win three consecutive races, making him the first driver since the 2007 season to accomplish the feat. The following week, he won his first pole of the year at Pocono. The week after, he entered the top-30 in points. In the first nine Chase races, Busch finished in the top-20 in all but one race (Loudon).
Martin Truex Jr. was the last driver to click his spot in the championship race after the Phoenix race was stopped, beating Carl Edwards by five-points with his 14th-place finish. Truex, considered as the underdog of the championship four, had a strong regular season under new crew chief Cole Pearn. He recorded top-10 finishes in the first seven races. From Kansas to Dover, Truex led a combined 239 laps, but failed to win. The following race at Pocono, Truex was able to claim his first victory of the season, third of his career and first since the 2013 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Despite being as high as second in points, Truex's finishes during the remainder of the regular season dropped him down to ninth. During the Chase, he finished in the top-20 in every race, with a best finish of third at Charlotte.
Drivers making final start with team A number of drivers made their final start with their respective 2015 team.
While nothing was officially announced, Richard Petty Motorsports team owner Richard Petty said that he didn't expect Sam Hornish Jr. to return to the No. 9 Ford in 2016. He said that the team has "to look at sponsorship as much as anything else. It's a combination deal. We can't just go with the driver and then not have the money. We can't go with the money and not have a driver."
On August 22, 2015, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that the team would terminate operations at the end of the 2015 season. On September 28, 2015, HScott Motorsports announced that Clint Bowyer would drive the No. 51 car in 2016. This displaced Justin Allgaier who returned to the Xfinity Series in 2016 to drive for JR Motorsports.
David Ragan – who drove for Front Row Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and MWR in the 2015 season – was without a ride going into the offseason. He said that a few "teams have reached out to me. I've reached out to a few teams. Ultimately I don't have anything in the works or coming together right now. I'm trying to be as patient as I can just to see what happens. A lot of times things change that are unexpected with some of these top teams in the last months of the season. We've had guys get fired after Homestead before. Drivers have issues, different things happen, so I'm patiently waiting for the right opportunity." Eventually, he would be with BK Racing for 2016, in the #23 J.J. Yeley (later Jeb Burton) were in.
Entry list The entry list for the Ford EcoBoost 400 was released on Monday, November 16 at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-five drivers were entered for the race. All but Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell were entered in the previous week's race at Phoenix. After serving a two-race suspension, Matt Kenseth returned to the seat of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Josh Wise drove the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford. Ty Dillon returned to the seat of the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet. Reed Sorenson drove the No. 62 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) (CC) 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 (CC) 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) (CC) 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 Ty Dillon (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. (CC) 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 Ryan Preece Premium Motorsports FordOfficial initial entry listOfficial updated entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional (CC) Championship Contender
Practice
First practice Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.832 and a speed of . The session was red-flagged 39 minutes in when Ryan Preece went up in smoke and started leaking power steering fluid.
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 30.832 175.143 2 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 30.954 174.452 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 30.968 174.374Official first practice results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 30.680 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime142Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet30.680176.01024Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet30.823175.194319Carl EdwardsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota30.968174.374Official second practice results
Final practice Joey Logano was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.786 and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime122Joey LoganoTeam PenskeFord30.786175.40425Kasey KahneHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet30.843175.080388Dale Earnhardt Jr.Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet30.851175.035Official final practice results
Qualifying