2015 AAA Texas 500
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The 2015 AAA Texas 500 was a
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Sprint Cup Series race held on November 8, 2015, at Texas Motor Speedway in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
. Contested over 334 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) intermediate quad-oval, it was the 34th race of the
2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 67th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 44th modern-era Cup season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race, th ...
season, eighth race of the Chase and second race of the Eliminator Round.
Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
won the race, his fifth of the season. Brad Keselowski finished second. Kevin Harvick,
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five. Keselowski won the pole for the race and led a race high of 312 laps on his way to a runner-up finish. The race had 15 lead changes among eight different drivers, as well as nine caution flag periods for 47 laps. This was the 75th career victory for Johnson, fifth of the season, sixth at Texas Motor Speedway and eighth at the track for
Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 291 Cup Seri ...
. The win moved him up to 12th in the points standings.
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
left Texas with a 63–point lead over
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
in the manufacturer standings. The AAA Texas 500 was carried by
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
on the broadcast NBC network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the
Performance Racing Network The Performance Racing Network (PRN) is a radio syndication network controlled by Speedway Motorsports (SMI) founded in 1981. PRN airs NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series events held at Speedway Motorsports and Penske Corporation-owned and manag ...
and
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NASCAR Radio.


Report


Background

Texas Motor Speedway is a
speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...
located in the northernmost portion of the
U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
city of
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
 – the portion located in
Denton County, Texas Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was establish ...
. The track measures around and is banked 24 degrees in the turns, and is of the oval design, where the front straightaway juts outward slightly. The track layout is similar to
Atlanta Motor Speedway Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly known Atlanta International Raceway from 1960 to 1990) is a 1.54-mile entertainment facility in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Cup Series ...
and
Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including th ...
(formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway). The track is owned by
Speedway Motorsports Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, IndyCar Series, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has i ...
, Inc., the same company that owns Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedways, as well as the short-track Bristol Motor Speedway.
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
entered with an eight–point over
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
and
Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
Kevin Harvick entered fourth 10–points back. Carl Edwards entered fifth 17–points back. Brad Keselowski entered sixth 34–points back.
Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
entered seventh 36–points back.
Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...
entered eighth 38–points back.


Driver suspension

On the Tuesday after the 2015 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500, NASCAR suspended Matt Kenseth for two races for his role in the incident that took out Joey Logano. According to NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell, Kenseth "eliminated the No. 22 car’s opportunity to continue to compete in the race. Additionally, we factored aspects of safety into our decision, and also the fact that the new Chase elimination format puts a premium on each and every race. These actions have no place in NASCAR.” Shortly after the announcement, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that they would appeal the decision and "challenge the severity of the penalty which is believed to be inconsistent with previous penalties for similar on-track incidents. There will be no further comments from JGR personnel during the appeal process." On the Thursday before this weekend's race, the National Motorsports Appeals Panel upheld the original penalty levied by NASCAR. Later that day, National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer Bryan Moss upheld the two race suspension, but amended the probation penalty to conclude on December 31 instead of in six months. Erik Jones drove in place of Kenseth this weekend. He said that being "part of that next wave that people think fis pretty cool and a pretty big honor. I never thought I’d be in that position. A few years ago, I kind of wondered where is my opportunity going to come from, where is my spot going to be in the sport? But everything works out at the end of the day, and it’s working out more and more every day.” This marked the first race since the
1999 NAPA 500 The 1999 NAPA 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event held on November 21, 1999, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the American community of Hampton, Georgia. It was the 34th and final race of the 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Backg ...
that Kenseth didn’t compete in, snapping a 571 race starting streak.


Hauler fire

On the Thursday before the race, the hauler carrying the primary and backup cars for
HScott Motorsports HScott Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, the K&N Pro Series East and the ARCA Racing Series. The organization was owned by North Carolina bus ...
's
Michael Annett Michael W. Annett (born June 23, 1986) is an American retired professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. Racing career Early career Save for a few ...
caught fire on
Interstate 20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with Interstate 10, I-10 in Scroggins Draw, Texas, and ending at an interchange with Interstate 95, I-95 in Flo ...
west of Longview, Texas. A team spokesperson said nobody was injured and the team sent a spare hauler from their shop in
Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...
. However, it was unable to make it to the track prior to the garage opening at 8:00 a.m. Eastern time Friday, so Annett used the backup car of teammate
Justin Allgaier Justin M. Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He is the 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series champion a ...
to race this weekend. The spare cars served as both drivers' backups.


Entry list

The entry list for the AAA Texas 500 was released on Monday, November 2 at 12:21 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-five cars were entered for the race. All but
Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ...
and Michael McDowell were entered in the previous week's race at Martinsville.
Joey Gase Joseph Robert Gase (born February 8, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 35 and 53 Ford Mustang and Toyota Supra for Emerling-Gase Motorsp ...
returned to the seat of the No. 32
Go FAS Racing Go Fas Racing (doing business as Circle Sport-Go Fas Racing LLC, and often stylized as Go FAS Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Founded by long-time crew chief Frank Allen ...
Ford. Brian Scott returned to the seat of the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet. Reed Sorenson drove the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet. With Kenseth being parked by NASCAR, Erik Jones made his second career Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 20 Toyota.


First practice

Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the first and only practice session with a time of 27.403 and a speed of . The other two practice sessions scheduled on Saturday were cancelled because NASCAR had difficulties drying the track due to a combination of overnight rain, high humidity and weepers (water seeping out of the surface of the track which happens largely at tracks with older asphalt surfaces).


Qualifying

Brad Keselowski won the pole with a time of 27.421 . He said that his "Wurth Ford Fusion has been really good since we unloaded. Very similar to where we were at Kansas - really fast in practice and really fast in qualifying. But we just need that to stay with us in the race and we didn't get that in Kansas." He also joked that his team will "have the first pit stall and we get to keep it this time. We are really excited about the race Sunday.” Kevin Harvick, who qualified second, said that he practically "ran the same speed in all three rounds there. Didn’t quite have the raw speed in the first round, but this is a racetrack where you want the car to keep going as long as you can. Felt like we had a good start to our race trim practice today and going to have a good spot to start on Sunday.”
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
, who qualified third, said that while his team doesn't "need to win...we would love to win. I feel like this is a good opportunity for us to have a really good day and for us to score a victory. We come to every race trying to win and this one’s no different. I hope that Texas will bode well for us and we can score that win. If not, a solid top-five finish is exactly what we need. That’s where we need to be at the end of the day and carry on that momentum and go into Phoenix and hope for another solid day there.”
Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...
, who qualified fourth, said while he doesn't "think we are bad in race trim...I do think we have a little bit of work to do there, so I am anxious to get at that tomorrow and get to work on it and find a little bit more speed for Sunday." Erik Jones, who qualified sixth driving in place of the suspended Matt Kenseth, said that his qualifying run was "a really good effort for us. We made the final round at Kansas as well so it’s cool to make the final round in both our starts. We’ll see where it goes from here, obviously we’ve got a long ways to go yet for Sunday – 500 miles. This definitely helps everybody’s confidence a little bit for that.”
Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
, who qualified 23rd, said that his car "never really clicked in qualifying trim today and that's why we're starting in the middle of the pack. But we've been there before and fought our way to the front. As I keep on saying this team never quits. We're always working hard to find the right combination and I am hopeful that our car will perform better in race trim during tomorrow's two practice sessions."


Qualifying results


Race


First half


Start

Under clear blue
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
skies, Brad Keselowski led the field to the green flag at 2:21 p.m. After the first 10 laps, he pulled to a second and a half lead over Kevin Harvick. The first caution of the race flew on lap 11 for a single–car wreck in turn 4. Halfway down the backstretch, the left-rear tire on
Joey Logano Joseph Thomas Logano (born May 24, 1990), is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 22 Ford Mustang for Team Penske, and part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Seri ...
's car went flat. He couldn't control the car rounding turn 3 and spun out. The damage to his fender was significant and he went a number of laps down while his crew tried to repair it. Eventually, crew chief Todd Gordon told him to take the car to the garage. Logano said afterwards that the left-rear tire "just blew apart off of Turn 2. tcame apart and shredded everything inside the car. It did a lot more damage than just the tire blowing apart." He also said that this race "was a must-win situation as well. If we finished second today we would be in the same boat going into Phoenix. I feel great about our chances at Phoenix. It has been a great race track for us in the past. I felt like this track was a great one for us as well. It is unfortunate that we finished how we did.” The race restarted on lap 18. Harvick and Keselowski dragged raced down the front stretch with the former take the lead on lap 19. The second caution of the race flew on lap 25 for a single-car wreck in turn 1.
Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ...
suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 1 and would go on to finish 43rd. Because this happened a lap before the scheduled competition caution,
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
race control decided to treat this as the competition caution. This meant teams could refuel the cars.
Matt DiBenedetto Matthew Guido DiBenedetto (born July 27, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet Silverado for Rackley WAR. Racing career Early care ...
opted not to pit and assumed the lead. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead back to Keselowski.
A. J. Allmendinger Anthony James "A. J." Allmendinger (born December 16, 1981) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 16 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing. Allmendinger's professi ...
was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.
Aric Almirola Aric Michael Almirola (born March 14, 1984) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 10 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing. A graduate of Hillsborough High School in T ...
was tagged for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. Denny Hamlin took his car to the garage for issues with his fuel pump. The race restarted on lap 30. The third caution of the race flew on lap 36 for a single-car incident in turn 1. Rounding the front stretch, Harvick's left-rear tire went down and he dove down onto the apron. After the race, crew chief
Rodney Childers Rodney S. Childers (born June 7, 1976) is an American NASCAR Cup Series crew chief and former professional stock car racing driver. He is currently employed at Stewart-Haas Racing as the crew chief for the No. 4 Ford Mustang, driven by Kevin Harvi ...
said that the car "had that left-rear go down and automatically you panic and think it was self-inflicted like maybe we didn’t have enough air in it, that kind of thing. As soon as I got down off the (pit) box, I saw a piece cut right in the tread. It was probably out of one of the cars that was tore up earlier." The race restarted on lap 42.
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
edged Keselowski for the lead the next lap, but he lost it to the No. 2 car the next lap.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...
made an unscheduled stop for a flat right-front tire. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 51 for a single-car spin on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4,
Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...
got loose and spun out into the grass. Keselowski exited pit road with the lead. Almirola was tagged again for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. The race restarted on lap 58. Debris on the front stretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 100. The debris was a shredded left-rear tire from
Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champ ...
's car.


Second quarter

The race restarted on lap 107. Ryan Newman made an unscheduled stop at lap 146 after cutting down his left-rear tire exiting turn 2. This left debris on the backstretch and brought out the sixth caution of the race on lap 149. Kasey Kahne was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. The race restarted on lap 155. Dale Earnhardt Jr. tagged the wall with his right-rear corner. This affected the handling of his car and he began to fall back through the field. He spun in the turn 3 apron and brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 167. A. J. Allmendinger was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.


Second half


Halfway

The race restarted on lap 173. Debris in turn 2 brought out the eighth caution of the race on lap 196. The debris came from the shredded right-rear tire of Trevor Bayne's car. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was tagged for having too many crew members over the wall and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. Joey Logano was tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field. The race restarted on lap 204. Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards kicked off a cycle of green flag stops with 84 laps to go. Brad Keselowski pitted with 83 laps to go and handed the lead to
Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Keselowski.


Fourth quarter

Kevin Harvick made an unscheduled stop with 53 laps to go for a flat right-rear tire. He fell to 20th–place in the running order and down a lap. Carl Edwards kicked off the final cycle of pit stops with 38 laps to go. Keselowski hit pit road with 37 laps to go and the lead cycled to Harvick. Denny Hamlin was tagged for speeding on pit road and was forced to serve a drive-through penalty. On 16-lap older tires, he was no match for Keselowski as he was passed with ease with 35 laps to go. Debris in turn 2 brought out the ninth caution of the race with 24 laps to go. The debris was a shredded right front tire from Erik Jones. The race restarted with 18 laps to go.
Martin Truex Jr. Martin Lee Truex Jr. (born June 29, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. He is the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Serie ...
edged out Keselowski to take the lead with 17 to go, but Keselowski took it back the next lap. Jimmie Johnson kept the pressure on him for the next 12 laps. He took the lead with three laps to go and scored his 75th career win.


Post-race


Driver comments

After the race, Johnson said that he "just kept pressure on him (Keselowski). I could see that he was really tight and that was the first I had seen him that vulnerable all day. I just kept the pressure on him, kept searching for line. He saw me coming on the top and protected it. I just kept trying to put pressure on him hoping for a mistake. He got real loose off of Turn 2 and I had a big run down the backstretch and drove it in really far into Turn 3 hoping to hear clear. Once I did I knew I was home free.” Keselowski said that Johnson's "car had mega turn that last run and I couldn’t keep the turn and it kept pushing real bad. I did everything I could to hold him off but he was way faster that last run." Despite sitting 19–points out of the fourth–place Chase cutoff, he said he wasn't "sure exactly how to feel about it at the moment. The 48 car had so much speed them last 10 laps. Maybe I'll change my mind utI don't know what I would have done differently or could have done differently. There's always something you can do better. But not knowing what that might be at this moment makes it a little bit easier to digest." Following a third–place finish, Harvick said that his team has "had to overcome things week after week after week. I guess those are character-building moments as you go through those weekend, but we’ve managed to survive and advance and that’s what we’ve got to do next week.” With the next race being Phoenix, he also said that the track is "definitely a good place for us to go. It’s been very successful but that doesn’t mean we’re going to go there and run good this time. We’ve got to go and try and have our ducks in a row. We’ve done a good job managing the Chase so far with all the adversity we’ve had. We’ve only really had one smooth weekend, so we’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully the smooth weekend is the next week and the week after.” Kyle Busch said of his fourth–place finish that it ended up being "a really good day for us. Obviously, just being able to run our own race and to perform the way we did, I felt like it was pretty good. I wish we had a little bit faster car on the short runs for sure. I think that was kind of where we lost most of our time here today. Once things got single filed out, spread out, our car was a little better on the long runs. At least we did have some speed in our car on one side of the run where we could make up some ground and maintain our position on the racetrack. Can’t say enough on Adam Stevens, everyone on the team did a great job. Our Toyota Camry was awesome. TRD did a great job with the engines. Look forward to Phoenix next week, maintaining our position. If we can go out there and win, sure, we’d love to win.” After finishing seventh, Kurt Busch said that his race "was good, hard fought battle with limited practice. We had to go with our best effort to get the set-up. We battled through it. It just wasn’t the winning car we needed to try to advance. The way that we had been running we knew we could get close to fifth. We got seventh today so we will take it.” Following an eighth–place finish, Martin Truex Jr. said that he "thought we had a shot at it (the win) and the right-front wheel started shaking real bad and got tight. It's a damn shame. It's a good run. ... We had a really good race car." Sitting fourth in the standings six–points back of the lead, he said it certainly helped that " e 2 didn't win the race...I was cheering for Jimmie Johnson pretty hard. We did what we needed to do. It would have been nice to have those five or six spots -- that's five or six points next week. It could be the difference. But we'll just have to wait and see and we'll go race hard again." Speaking on a ninth–place finish,
Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...
– who's locked into the championship race following his win at Martinsville the week before – said he "thought we learned a lot this weekend. I think we certainly know that our cars are fast because our teammate won. Congrats to him. I think that's awesome he beat the No. 2 (Brad Keselowski). That is spectacular, I'm going to give him a big hug for that. At the same time I think that we were here to execute and push hard, try to win, but also to just learn what we could. I thought we learned some stuff." Following a 12th–place finish in only his second career Sprint Cup Series start, Erik Jones – who also finished fourth in the Xfinity Series race the previous day and won the
Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
race two days prior – said that he was "ready to take the day off. I don’t think I’ve ever run more than two races – a Truck and Xfinity race – in more than one weekend. At this point, I’m feeling fine, but I can definitely feeling it coming on. I’ll be worn out tonight.” He also said that he wished his car "could have been a little stronger there at the end. We had that right front go down and it tore the nose up pretty good, so kind of took us out of a shot at a top-10. To still come home 12th is a good day for us. We worked hard all day to really keep the thing balanced and good and strong.”


Race results


Race statistics

*15 lead changes among 8 different drivers *9 cautions for 47 laps *Time of race: 3 hours, 38 minutes, 38 seconds *Average speed: *
Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Kenneth Johnson (born September 17, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver. A seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, he competes part-time in the series driving for Petty GMS Motorsports. Johnson's seven Cup championships, ...
took home $462,976 in winnings


Race awards

* Coors Light Pole Award: Brad Keselowski (27.421, * 3M Lap Leader: Brad Keselowski (312 laps) *
American Ethanol American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
Green Flag Restart Award: Brad Keselowski * Duralast Brakes "Bake In The Race" Award: Brad Keselowski * Freescale "Wide Open": Carl Edwards * Ingersoll Rand Power Move:
Kurt Busch Kurt Thomas Busch (born August 4, 1978) is an American professional auto racing driver. He last competed full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for 23XI Racing. He is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and the ...
(5 positions) * MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Roush-Yates Engines, #2 *
Mobil 1 Mobil 1 is a brand of synthetic motor oil and other automotive lubrication products. Originally developed by the Mobil oil company, it is now globally marketed and sold by ExxonMobil. Mobil 1 engine oil was introduced in 1974. The brand range no ...
Driver of the Race: Brad Keselowski (145.0 driver rating) * Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of The Race: Jamie McMurray (crew chief Matt McCall (0.164 seconds)) *
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Sprint Cup Leader Bonus: No winner: rolls over to $20,000 at next event * Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap:
Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
(Lap 2, 28.097, ) *
Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware state laws and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that is a wholesale distributor of motor fuels. It distributes fuel to more than 5,500 Sunoco-branded gas stations, ...
Rookie of The Race: Brett Moffitt


Media


Television

NBC covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, two–time Texas winner
Jeff Burton Jeffrey Tyler Burton (born June 29, 1967), nicknamed The Mayor, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and current racing commentator. He scored 21 career victories in the NASCAR Cup Series, including two Coca-Cola 600s in ...
and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns,
Mike Massaro Michael Massaro (born 1970) is an American sportscaster and journalist who covers auto racing as a pit reporter for MAVTV's ARCA Menards Series coverage. He was previously a studio host and pit reporter for NASCAR on ESPN and NASCAR on NBC. He ...
, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled pit road on the television side.


Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and
Wendy Venturini Wendy Venturini (born January 30, 1979 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American reporter for the Performance Racing Network (PRN). She works as broadcaster for NASCAR Cup Series races and sometimes as a pit reporter for races on PRN. She had been a ...
called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the frontstretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop the turn 2 condo when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Pat Patterson called the race from atop the turn 4 suites when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards handled pit road on the radio side.


Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings ;Manufacturers' Championship standings *Note: Only the first sixteen positions are included for the driver standings.


Note


References

{{2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup
AAA Texas 500 The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The inaugural race took place on November 6, 2005. The race has always started in the late afternoon, gone throu ...
AAA Texas 500 The Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The inaugural race took place on November 6, 2005. The race has always started in the late afternoon, gone throu ...
NASCAR races at Texas Motor Speedway