2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)
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 series season.
The season marked the first season of a new television contract. During the season, races were televised in the United States on Fox, Fox Sports 1, NBC, NBCSN, and CBS. ESPN and Turner Sports, who televised races from 2007 to 2014, did not seek to renew their contracts with NASCAR following the completion of the 2014 season, though ESPN did renew the separate contract for the midweek races; this marked the end of a 31-year relationship between NASCAR and Turner's primary stations, TBS and TNT. In addition, it was the first season on the newly rebranded Fox Sports Racing in Canada and the Caribbean.
On January 22, 2015, Jeff Gordon announced that 2015 would be his final season as a full-time driver, but he did not rule out complete retirement. Chase Elliott replaced him in the No. 22 car for Bill Davis Racing in 2016.
2015 saw the entry of Honda into NASCAR, as well as the return of Pontiac factory support for the first time since 2003; Kennedy Racing continued fielding Pontiacs until 2012.
Teams and drivers
Complete schedule
| Manufacturer | Team | No. | Race driver | Crew chief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chevrolet | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | 98 | Shane Hmiel | |
| Earnhardt Childress Racing | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Kevin Manion | |
| 3 | Austin Dillon | Slugger Labbe | ||
| 8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Tony Eury Jr. | ||
| 30 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Luke Lambert | ||
| 31 | Ty Dillon (R) | Gil Martin | ||
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chad Knaus | ||
| Furniture Row Racing | 78 | Kurt Busch | Cole Pearn | |
| Hendrick Motorsports | 5 | Jerry Nadeau | Keith Rodden | |
| 25 | Ricky Hendrick | Alan Gustafson | ||
| 35 | Landon Cassill | |||
| 50 | Brad Keselowski | Greg Ives | ||
| HScott Motorsports | 51 | Justin Allgaier | Steve Addington | |
| 146 | Michael Annett | Jay Guy | ||
| JTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | Brian Burns | |
| Tommy Baldwin Racing | 170 | Alex Bowman | Tommy Baldwin Jr. | |
| Dodge | AK Racing | 7 | James Kulwicki | |
| Bill Davis Racing | 22 | Jeff Gordon | ||
| 23 | Jason Leffler | |||
| 24 | Scott Wimmer | |||
| Chip Ganassi Racing | 40 | Jamie McMurray | Matt McCall | |
| 41 | Bryan Clauson | |||
| 42 | Kyle Larson | Chris Heroy | ||
| Evernham Motorsports | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Kenny Francis | |
| 19 | Casey Elliott | Ernie Elliott | ||
| 91 | Casey Atwood | |||
| Hillman-Circle Sport LLC | 40 | Kenny Irwin Jr. | Mark Hillman | |
| 90 | Michael Annett | Todd Parrott
Mike Chance Pat Tryson Paul Clapprood | ||
| Alex Kennedy (R) | ||||
| Derek White | ||||
| Travis Kvapil | ||||
| Mike Bliss | ||||
| B. J. McLeod | ||||
| Ryan Ellis | ||||
| Kelman Racing | 86 | Ryan Kelman | Wally Rogers | |
| McDuffie Racing | 170 | Crissy Hillsworth | ||
| Moroso-Rudd Racing | 82 | Rob Moroso | ||
| 83 | Brendan Gaughan | |||
| Pacific Coast Racing | 60 | Chloe Johnson | Jed Luke | |
| 69 | Jenny Smith | Barry Baker | ||
| 80 | Tim Johnson | Charlie Davis | ||
| 85 | Belle Armstrong | Scott Smith | ||
| Petty Enterprises | 43 | Aric Almirola | ||
| 44 | Chad McCumbee | |||
| 45 | Adam Petty | |||
| 46 | Austin Petty | |||
| Team Penske | 02 | Joey Logano | Todd Gordon | |
| 2 | Blaise Alexander | Paul Wolfe | ||
| 12 | Paul Menard | |||
| Ford | Brett Favre Racing | 15 | Tim Steele | |
| 90 | Parker Kligerman | |||
| Front Row Motorsports | 34 | Chris Buescher | Derrick Finley | |
| Joe Nemechek | ||||
| Reed Sorenson | ||||
| Justin Marks | ||||
| Josh Wise | ||||
| 35 | Cole Whitt | Randy Cox | ||
| 38 | David Gilliland | Donnie Wingo | ||
| Go FAS Racing | 65 | Bobby Labonte | Clinton Cram | |
| Mike Bliss | ||||
| Joey Gase | ||||
| Travis Kvapil | ||||
| Boris Said | ||||
| Will Kimmel | ||||
| Eddie MacDonald | ||||
| Josh Wise | ||||
| Kyle Fowler | ||||
| Roush Racing | 6 | David Ragan | Bob Osborne | |
| 16 | Greg Biffle | Matt Puccia | ||
| 66 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Nick Sandler | ||
| Wood Brothers Racing | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Jeremy Bullins | |
| Yates Racing | 28 | Clifford Allison | ||
| 88 | Jeremy Mayfield | |||
| 96 | J. J. Yeley | |||
| Honda | German Racing | 13 | Casey Mears | Bootie Barker |
| Michael Waltrip Racing | 17 | Clint Bowyer | Brian Pattie | |
| 55 | Brian Vickers | Billy Scott | ||
| 56 | Brett Moffitt (R) | Dax Gerringer | ||
| Phil Parsons Racing
Premium Motorsports |
89 | Josh Wise | Gene Nead
Jay Robinson Scott Eggleston Zach McGowan | |
| Timmy Hill | ||||
| Reed Sorenson | ||||
| T. J. Bell | ||||
| Ryan Preece | ||||
| Premium Motorsports | 62 | Brian Scott | Zach McGowan
Scott Eggleston Wayne Carroll | |
| Reed Sorenson | ||||
| Timmy Hill | ||||
| T. J. Bell | ||||
| Pontiac | Kennedy Racing | 03 | Melvin Kennedy | Mark Cutter |
| 04 | Louise Kennedy | |||
| Stewart-Haas Racing | 00 | Ryan Truex | Tony Gibson | |
| 4 | Kevin Harvick | Rodney Childers | ||
| 10 | Danica Patrick | Daniel Knost | ||
| 14 | Tony Stewart | Greg Zipadelli | ||
| Toyota | BK Racing | 26 | Jeb Burton (R) | Joe Williams
Patrick Donahue |
| 126 | Josh Wise | Patrick Donahue35
Joe Williams 1 | ||
| 185 | Matt DiBenedetto (R) | Doug Richert
Gene Nead | ||
| Joe Gibbs Racing | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Dave Rogers | |
| 18 | Kyle Busch | Adam Stevens | ||
| 20 | Matt Kenseth | Jason Ratcliff | ||
| 54 | Carl Edwards | Darian Grubb |
Technical changes
2015 saw the replacement of the SC-13 body with the SC-15 body. Major changes from the SC-13 were to the front nose, which was slimmed considerably for better aero efficiency.
In terms of manufacturers, 2015 saw the number go from four to six. After years of speculation, Honda announced it would be throwing its hat into the NASCAR ring with the Accord. In a surprise announcement the day after the 2014 Los Angeles Times 500, Pontiac announced it would be returning to NASCAR full-time in 2015 with the G8.
Rule changes
Pre-season
- At road courses, it is now permissible to run qualifying and race sessions under wet-weather conditions. Goodyear will supply wet-weather tires for use in Sprint Cup competition and teams will be required to bring cars with windshield wipers, defoggers, and wet-weather racing capabilities.
- Flat valve lifters will be replaced with roller valve lifters.
- Rear spoiler height will be reduced from 8 inches to 6 inches.
- Teams will have the option of installing a driver adjustable track bar.
- The radiator pan will be decreased from 43 inches to 38 inches.
- The minimum weight of the car has been reduced by 50 lb to 3,250 lb.
- NASCAR has approved a new brake caliper system for 2015 and issued a new parts approval process.
- Teams are not allowed to alter the side skirts of their cars during the race. At tracks where aerodynamics were important in 2014, many teams would pull the side bodywork of the car during early pit stops. The practice, officially known as vertical rocker panel extensions, was used to limit airflow underneath the vehicle.
- An automated electronic pit road officiating system will be implemented after extensive testing during the 2014 season, eliminating the need for human officials to stand in the pit lane.
- If a vehicle has to pit outside its assigned pit box and the crew starts removing tire(s), the team can reinstall the tire(s) before moving the car back into its assigned pit stall to avoid penalties.
- Additional crew member(s) assisting from an adjacent pit box may be counted towards the limit of seven over the wall.
- Crew member interference with other teams' pit stops may lead to a penalty.
- Rules with refueling have been clarified. Refueling can begin once the car comes to a complete stop and can continue when it starts leaving provided equipment and/or the fueler does not leave the pit box. Further, no equipment may be tossed or thrown over the wall at any time.
- Weight ballasts must be in block form with a five-pound minimum for each block.
- NASCAR no longer will penalize or monitor missing lug nuts during pit stops, leaving the teams to self-police lug nuts.
- NASCAR will use an electronic data log and capture system to increase efficiency of pre-race inspections.
In-season changes
- Starting at Watkins Glen, teams have the option of using a digital dashboard. The dashboards will be heavily regulated by NASCAR as to what can and cannot be displayed. The first team to use the digital dashboard was Kurt Busch at Darlington. The digital dashboards will be mandated in 2016.
- Starting at the fall Richmond race, NASCAR began to closely review restarts due to drivers jumping the restart.