2015 NASCAR RCA Cup Series (Johnsonverse)

Note: This article uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia.

The 2015 NASCAR RCA 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 Sonoma Raceway with the Toyota/Save Mart 350, followed by the Busch Clash, the Gatorade 125's, and the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. The season ended with the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick won the championship. Alana Burleson, sister of USAC Gold Crown Series driver Wendy Burleson, was named Rookie of the Year. Chevrolet won the Manufacturers' Championship; Pontiac, in its first season back, finished second, Dodge finished third, Toyota finished fourth, and Ford finished a distant fifth after another dismal year.

2015 also marked the entry of Honda into NASCAR, and the return of Pontiac for the first time since 2003.

On January 22, 2015, four-time champion Jeff Gordon announced that 2015 would be his final season as a full-time driver, but he did not rule out complete retirement; Kyle Larson replaced him in the No. 24 car for Hendrick Motorsports in 2016, while Gordon became an analyst at WBC. Jerry Nadeau also announced that 2015 would be his final full-time season.

Teams, drivers, and manufacturers

Manufacturers

Marquee	Company	Model	Status
General Motors	Chevrolet	Camaro	Full factory support
		Impala	Full factory support
		SS	Full factory support
Ford Motor Company	Ford	Fusion	Full factory support
		Taurus	Full factory support
		Mustang	Full factory support
		Roush Mustang	In-house variant
		Shelby Mustang	Full factory support
Johnson Motors	Dodge	Charger	Full factory support
		Challenger	Full factory support
		Dart	Full factory support
	Pontiac	Trans-Am	NEW, full factory support
		G8	NEW, full factory support
Toyota Motor Corporation	Toyota	Camry	Full factory support
		Corolla	Full factory support
Honda Motor Company	Honda	Accord	Full factory support
		Civic	Full factory support

Manufacturer notes

2015 was a big year for manufacturers. Johnson marquee, Pontiac made its first appearance in NASCAR since 2003. Also, after years of speculation, Honda finally bit the bullet and entered NASCAR.

Pontiac entered two models for its return: the Trans-Am and G8. The Trans-Am, being a pony car, was Pontiac's entry into the Horsepower Wars, while the G8 was part of a smaller Fourth Aero War, competing with the Chevrolet SS, Ford Fusion, Dodge Dart, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord; this aero war was overshadowed by the Horsepower Wars, as it had been since 2008.

Complete schedule

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Race driver	Crew chief	Model	Primary Sponsor
Chevrolet	Earnhardt-Childress Racing *	01	Brad Keselowski		2015 Impala	U.S. Army
		3	Jeffrey Earnhardt			Wrangler
		8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.			National Guard
		38	Kelley Earnhardt			Pennzoil
		81	Martin Truex Jr.			Bass Pro Shops
	Hendrick Motorsports	5	Kyle Larson	Alan Gustafson	2015 Camaro	Farmers
		24	Jeff Gordon	Steve Letarte		Axalta
		25	Shane Hmiel			Lowe's
		52	Casey Atwood	Chad Knaus		M&M's
	Tommy Baldwin Racing	36	Landon Cassill	Tommy Baldwin Jr.	2015 SS	various
Dodge	AK Racing	7	James Kulwicki		2015 Avenger	Zerex by Valvoline
		11	Jamie McMurray			Microsoft
	Bill Davis Racing	22	Renee Walters		2015 Charger	Caterpillar
		23	Scott Wimmer			Google
	Chip Ganassi Racing	1	Jimmie Johnson		2015 Challenger	UAW-Delphi
		41	Emily Senn			Target
		46	Bryan Clauson			Tums
	Elliott-Evernham Motorsports	9	Kasey Kahne		2015 Dart	Coors Light
		13	Jerry Nadeau			Nickelodeon
		94	Casey Elliott			Flonase
	Furniture Row Racing	78	Emi Charendoff (R)	Cole Pearn	2015 Charger	5-Hour Energy
	Moroso-Rudd Racing	82	Denzel Lane		2015 Charger	Mountain Dew
		83	Michelle Basone			Tide
		84	Boston Reid			RCA
	Petty Enterprises	43	Adam Petty	Mike Shiplett	2015 Challenger	STP
		44	Chad McCumbee	Kevin Buskirk		McDonald's
	Team Penske	02	Joey Logano		2015 Challenger	Verizon
		2	James Buescher			Miller Lite
	Team SABCO	40	Jane Brewer		2015 Charger	Kmart
		42	Blaise Alexander			Juicy Fruit
		45	Alana Houston			UPS
Ford	Allison-Yates Racing	28	Robbie Allison (R)	Jimmy Fennig	2015 Fusion	Texaco/Havoline
		88	Stephen Leicht			Citi Financial
		98	Ryan Newman			AT&T
	Brett Favre Racing	15	Parker Kligerman		2015 Taurus	Nike/Sony
		90	Katrina Goode			FujiFilm
	FAS Lane Racing	32	Jane Ritter	Frank Stoddard	2014 Fusion	Federated Auto Parts
	Front Row Motorsports	34	David Ragan	Jay Guy	2015 Mustang	various
		35	David Gilliland			Love's Travel Stops
	Roush Racing	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Drew Blickensderfer	2015 Roush Mustang	Best Buy
		16	Greg Biffle	Donnie Wingo		3M
		99	Trevor Bayne	Bob Osborne		Office Depot
	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ryan Blaney (R)	Donnie Wingo	2015 Shelby Mustang	Motorcraft
Honda	Andretti Autosport	27	Kurt Busch		2015 Accord	DHL
	Germain Racing	30	Aric Almirola	Bootie Barker	2015 Civic	GEICO
	JTG Daugherty Racing	47	Brett Moffitt (R)	Todd Berrier	2015 Accord	Kroger
	Michael Waltrip Racing *	00	Brian Vickers	Rodney Childers	2015 Civic	Aaron's Dream Machine
		17	Clint Bowyer			NAPA Auto Parts
Pontiac	Combos Racing	73	Alana Burleson (R)		2015 G8	Facebook
	HScott Motorsports	51	Alex Bowman	Nick Harrison Jimmy Elledge	2015 G8	Marvel Comics
	Stewart-Foyt Racing	4	Kevin Harvick		2015 Trans-Am	Budweiser
		10	Kyle Busch	Tony Gibson		Valvoline
		14	Tony Stewart	Greg Zipadelli		Home Depot
Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing *	18	Matt Kenseth	Mike Ford	2015 Camry	DeWalt Tools
		19	Kelly Watson			Circuit City
		20	Denny Hamlin	Steve Addington		FedEx
		80	Carl Edwards	Darian Grubb		Rheem
	Swan Racing	37	Johanna Long	Steve Lane	2015 Avalon	Petco
	Team Red Bull	85	Ryan Truex	Jimmy Elledge	2015 Avalon	Red Bull
		86	Michael McDowell	Ryan Pemberton		Red Bull

Limited schedule

Manufacturer	Team	No.	Race driver	Crew chief	Model
Chevrolet	Team XTREME Racing	144	Reed Sorenson	Peter Sospenzo	2014 SS
			Travis Kvapil
Dodge	Leavine Family Racing	95	Michael McDowell	Wally Rogers Kevin Walter	2015 Challenger
	Premium Motorsports	66	Mike Wallace	Scott Eggleston	2014 Dart
			Tanner Berryhill
Honda	Rahal Letterman Lannigan Racing	115	Graham Rahal		2015 Accord
Pontiac	RAB Racing	29	Justin Marks	Matthew Lucas	2015 G8
			Reed Sorenson

Schedule

The final calendar was released on August 26, 2014, comprising 36 races, as well as two exhibition races. The schedule also includes two Gatorade 125's, which are the qualifying races for the Daytona 500.

Key changes from 2014 include:

• The Auto Club 400 was removed from the schedule entirely. This came following complaints that there were too many races in California (besides Auto Club, NASCAR also raced at Riverside International Raceway, Ontario Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway, and San Jose Motorplex). The decision to remove Auto Club Speedway from the schedule came from a study that found it was the least-popular of the California tracks due to its "cookie-cutter" design that mimicked Michigan and Texas World (Ontario is also considered a "cookie-cutter" track due to mimicking Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but the track has seen consistent sellouts since it was added back to the schedule in 1988). Auto Club remained a very popular stop on the USAC schedule.
• The race at Atlanta Motor Speedway moved from October to March, while the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway (often plagued by bad weather) moved from March to April. This created a three-race "west coast swing" for the third through fifth races of the season, wherein the events at Las Vegas, Phoenix and Auto Club (Fontana) now happened consecutively (as opposed to being broken up by a trip back east to Bristol).
• The Coors 400 at Pikes Peak International Raceway was reinstated between the Irwin Tools Night Race and Southern 500.
• Charlotte and Kansas swap fall race dates.
• The mandate of standardized start times was quietly abolished, with some races (especially in the second half of the season) occurring later in the afternoon than normal.

No.	Race title	Track	Date	TV
1	Honda/Save Mart 350	Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma	January 25	WBC
	Busch Clash	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach	February 7	WBC
	Gatorade 125's		February 12	WBC
2	Daytona 500 by Pontiac		February 15	WBC
3	Subway Fresh Fit 400	Rockingham Speedway, Rockingham	February 22	WBC
4	San Jose 500	San Jose Motorplex, Gilroy	March 1	WBC
5	Kobalt 400	Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas	March 8	ESPN
6	Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500	Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton	March 15	ESPN
7	TranSouth Financial 400	Darlington Raceway, Darlington	March 22	ESPN
8	STP 500	Martinsville Speedway, Ridgeway	March 29	TNN
9	Harley-Davidson 250	Road America, Lake Elkhart	April 5	WBC
10	Duck Commander 500	Texas World Speedway, College Station	April 12	WBC
11	Food City 500	Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol	April 19	TNN
12	Pontiac Excitement 400	Richmond International Raceway, Richmond	April 26	TNN
13	GEICO 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln	May 3	WBC
14	Wells Fargo 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro	May 10	ESPN
	RCA Open	Orange County Speedway, Rougemont	May 15	TNN
	RCA All-Star Challenge XXXI		May 16	WBC
15	Coca-Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord	May 24	WBC
16	FedEx 400	Dover International Speedway, Dover	May 31	TNN
17	Pabst Blue Ribbon 400	The Milwaukee Mile, West Allis	June 7	ESPN
18	Motorcraft 400	Nazareth Speedway, Nazareth	June 14	WBC
19	Budweiser 400	Riverside International Raceway, Riverside	June 21	WBC
20	Music City USA 420	Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville	June 28	TNN
21	Coke Zero 400	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach	July 5	WBC
22	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 500	Walt Disney World Speedway, Lake Buena Vista	July 11	ESPN
23	5-Hour Energy 400	New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon	July 19	WBC
24	Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway	July 26	WBC
25	Windows 10 400	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond	August 2	ESPN
26	Cheez-It 355 at The Glen	Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen	August 9	ESPN
27	Pure Michigan 400	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn	August 16	TNN
28	Irwin Tools Night Race	Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol	August 22	TNN
29	Denver Post 400	Pikes Peak International Raceway, Fountain	August 30	TNN
30	Southern 500	Darlington Raceway, Darlington	September 6	WBC
31	Federated Auto Parts 400	Richmond International Raceway, Richmond	September 12	TNN
32	myAFibRisk.com 400	Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet	September 20	ESPN
33	Tyson Holly Farms 400	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro	September 27	WBC
34	AAA 400	Dover International Speedway, Dover	October 4	TNN
35	Bank of America 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord	October 11	WBC Speed
36	Hollywood Casino 400	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City	October 18	TNN
37	CampingWorld.com 500	Talladega Superspeedway, Lincoln	October 25	WBC
38	Iowa Corn 400	Iowa Speedway, Newton	November 1	TNN
39	ACDelco 400	Rockingham Speedway, Rockingham	November 8	TNN
40	Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500	"Jeff Gordon Raceway", Avondale	November 15	TNN
41	Ford EcoBoost 400	Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead	November 22	ESPN
42	Apple Watch 500	San Jose Motorplex, Gilroy	November 29	WBC
43	Sprite 500	Denver International Speedway, Denver	December 6	WBC
44	Los Angeles Times 500	Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario	December 13	WBC

Media coverage

In the United States, coverage was divided between WBC Sports, TNN Motor Sports, and ESPN; much of the season was aired by WBC, including all of the restrictor-plate races (this includes the Daytona 500 and all Speedweeks coverage, including the Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series, and ARCA races), most road courses, both Charlotte races, the races at Pocono, the Southern 500, the Brickyard 400, and the season-ending race at Ontario. Fifteen events were aired on TNN, while ESPN aired nine races. The Bank of America 500 was aired on WBC, but due to a rain interruption, the rest of the event was broadcast on Speed.

Results

No.	Race title	Pole position	Most laps led	Winner	Make/Model
1	Honda/Save Mart 350	Denny Hamlin	Danica Patrick	Danica Patrick	Pontiac Trans-Am
	Busch Clash	Paul Menard	Martin Truex Jr.	Matt Kenseth	Chevrolet Camaro
	Gatorade 125's	Jeff Gordon	Matt Kenseth	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
		Jimmie Johnson	Jimmie Johnson	James Kulwicki	Dodge Challenger
2	Daytona 500 by Pontiac	Jeff Gordon	Jeff Gordon	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet Camaro
3	Subway Fresh Fit 400	Joey Logano	Kevin Harvick	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet Camaro
4	San Jose 500	Kasey Kahne	Brad Keselowski	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
5	Kobalt 400	Jeff Gordon	Kevin Harvick	Adam Petty	Dodge Challenger
6	Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500	Kevin Harvick	Kevin Harvick	Kevin Harvick	Pontiac Trans-Am
7	TranSouth Financial 400	Kurt Busch	Kurt Busch	Brad Keselowski	Dodge Charger
8	STP 500	Joey Logano	Kevin Harvick	Denny Hamlin	Toyota Camry
9	Harley-Davidson 2500	Jeff Gordon	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Michael Annett	Dodge Challenger
10	Duck Commander 500	Tony Stewart	Tony Stewart	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
11	Food City 500	Matt Kenseth	Kevin Harvick	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
12	Pontiac Excitement 400	Joey Logano	Kurt Busch	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet Impala
13	GEICO 500	Joey Logano	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
14	Wells Fargo 400	Joey Logano	Martin Truex Jr.	Alana Burleson	Pontiac G6
	RCA All-Star Challenge XXXI	Denny Hamlin	Brad Keselowski	Danica Patrick	Pontiac Trans-Am
15	Coca-Cola 600	Matt Kenseth	Martin Truex Jr.	Carl Edwards	Toyota Camry
16	FedEx 400	Denny Hamlin	Martin Truex Jr.	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet Camaro
17	Pabst Blue Ribbon 400	Kurt Busch	Martin Truex Jr.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
18	Motorcraft 400	Kasey Kahne	Kevin Harvick	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
19	Budweiser 400	A.J. Allmendinger	Jimmie Johnson	Mark Martin	1994 Ford Probe
20	Music City USA 420	Jamie McMurray	Adam Petty	Adam Petty	Dodge Challenger
21	Coke Zero 400	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
22	Star Wars: The Force Awakens 500	Kyle Larson	Kyle Busch	Kyle Busch	Toyota Camry
23	5-hour Energy 301	Carl Edwards	Brad Keselowski	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
24	Crown Royal Presents the Jeff Kyle 400	Carl Edwards	Kevin Harvick	Alana Burleson	Pontiac G6
25	Windows 10 400	Kyle Busch	Joey Logano	Matt Kenseth	Chevrolet Camaro
26	Cheez-It 355 at The Glen	A.J. Allmendinger	Kevin Harvick	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Grand Prix
27	Pure Michigan 400	Matt Kenseth	Matt Kenseth	Matt Kenseth	Chevrolet Camaro
28	Irwin Tools Night Race	Denny Hamlin	Kyle Busch	Danica Patrick	Pontiac Trans-Am
29	Denver Post 400	Tony Stewart	James Kulwicki	James Kulwicki	Dodge Challenger
30	Southern 500	Brad Keselowski	Brad Keselowski	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
31	Federated Auto Parts 400	Joey Logano	Matt Kenseth	Matt Kenseth	Chevrolet Camaro
32	myAFibRisk.com 400	Kevin Harvick	Kyle Busch	Denny Hamlin	Toyota Camry
33	Tyson Holly Farms 400	Carl Edwards	Kevin Harvick	James Kulwicki	Dodge Challenger
34	AAA 400	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Kevin Harvick	Kyle Larson	Dodge Challenger
35	Bank of America 500	Matt Kenseth	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
36	Hollywood Casino 400	Brad Keselowski	Matt Kenseth	Danica Patrick	Pontiac Trans-Am
37	CampingWorld.com 500	Jeff Gordon	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
38	Iowa Corn 400	Joey Logano	Jeff Gordon	Alana Burleson	Pontiac G6
39	ACDelco 400	Jeff Gordon	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
40	Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500	Jimmie Johnson	Kevin Harvick	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
41	Ford EcoBoost 400	Denny Hamlin	Brad Keselowski	Tim Steele	Ford Mustang
42	Apple Watch 500	Adam Petty	Adam Petty	Tony Stewart	Pontiac Trans-Am
43	Sprite 500	Ryan Truex	Tony Stewart	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet Camaro
44	Los Angeles Times 500	Kasey Kahne	Kevin Harvick	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet Camaro

Cars Used in 2015 (incomplete)

Chevrolet Camaro

Chevrolet Impala

Ford Mustang

Ford Fusion

Shelby GT (only used by Wood Brothers Racing)

Dodge Charger

Dodge Challenger

Dodge Dart

Toyota Camry

Honda Accord