2015 Ford EcoBoost 400

Background

Homestead-Miami Speedway is a motor racing track located in Homestead, Florida. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including NASCAR, the Verizon IndyCar Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and the Championship Cup Series.

Since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has hosted the final race of the season in all three of NASCAR's series: the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Ford Motor Company sponsors all three of the season-ending races; the races have the names Ford EcoBoost 400, Ford EcoBoost 300 and Ford EcoBoost 200, respectively, and the weekend is marketed as Ford Championship Weekend. The Xfinity Series (then known as the Busch Series) has held its season-ending races at Homestead since 1995.

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-10's 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-10's 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 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 this weekend.

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, Michael Waltrip Racing announced that the team would terminate operations at the end of the 2015 season. On September 28, 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.

First practice

Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 30.832 and a speed of 175.143 mph (281.865 km/h). The session was red-flagged 39 minutes in when Ryan Preece went up in smoke and started leaking power steering fluid.

Qualifying

Denny Hamlin won the pole for the race with a time of 30.568 and a speed of 176.655 mph (284.299 km/h). He said afterwards that he wished his team "were a part of it (championship four)...unfortunately[,] a couple mechanical things took us out of this Chase, but we're going to hopefully go out with a bang." Joey Logano, who qualified second, said that he wasn't "quite fast enough. It felt like after practice we didn’t get a qualifying run before the rain and it was an unknown to us. My team did a good job with the changeover to qualifying trim though and I am proud of what my team was able to do there, just wish we were a little faster in that third round.” Kyle Busch, who qualified third, said that where you qualify at Homestead "doesn't matter much. Nothing to hang our heads about right now.” Jeff Gordon, who qualified fifth for his 797th and final career start, said he's "having a blast. It's a win-win no matter what happens. When it goes the way it went in qualifying…man that’s fun. How could I not be having the time of my life? We have a very strong race car in this Axalta Chevrolet, obviously, because to be able to do that the next couple of runs; I’m pretty proud of those laps. I had to make up to this team what I did on the first run, so I was glad I was able to make it up. It’s pretty awesome to get top five. I’m really happy and proud of that.”

Second practice

Kyle Larson was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 30.680 and a speed of 176.010 mph (283.261 km/h).

Final practice

Joey Logano was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 30.786 and a speed of 175.404 mph (282.285 km/h).

Start

The race was scheduled to start at 3:15 p.m., but was delayed by rain. The track was dried and under mostly sunny Florida skies, Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag at 5:15 p.m.. It would be Joey Logano, however, who would lead the first lap. Hamlin followed closely to not lose ground on him. Fluid in turn 1 brought out the first caution of the race on lap 13. The fluid came from the No. 11 Toyota. Logano opted not to pit while most of the field came down pit road.

The race restarted on lap 19. Kyle Busch on four new tires had little trouble passing Logano for the lead on lap 21. The second caution of the race flew on lap 31. It was a scheduled competition caution for overnight and pre-race rain showers.

The race restarted on lap 36. Jeff Gordon drove underneath Busch and Carl Edwards to take the lead the next lap. The third caution of the race flew on lap 40 for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Kasey Kahne suffered a right-rear tire blowout and hit the wall.

The race restarted on lap 45. Kevin Harvick drove by Gordon exiting turn 2 to take the lead the next lap. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 47 for a multi-car wreck on the backstretch. Exiting turn 2, Clint Bowyer bounced off Ty Dillon overcorrected, turned up the track, clipped Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and sent him into the inside wall. Aric Almirola slammed into the rear of Bowyer. Casey Mears got clipped by Earnhardt and hit the inside wall. David Ragan hit Earnhardt and damaged his car. After being released from the infield care center, Bowyer said that exiting "two, my car got loose, and I couldn’t catch it. We lost the handling on the car big-time. I hate for it to end this way. I wanted to end on a strong note for MWR. I appreciate everybody’s hard work over the years, but unfortunately it’s over." He would go on to finish 43rd. Jimmie Johnson was running fourth when race control called him onto pit road to fix the right-side of the car after the jackman inadvertently pushed in the right-rear side skirt when he was making a wedge adjustment to the car. He was also forced to serve a drive-through penalty when the race went back to green.

Second quarter

The race restarted on lap 54. Martin Truex, Jr. kicked off a round of green flag stops on lap 89. Harvick pitted from the lead on lap 91 and handed it to Kyle Larson. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled to Logano.

Truex started the next round of green flag stops when he pitted on lap 138. During his stop, a fire started in his pit stall that forced his gas man to cease fueling the car before it was completed. Logano stopped from the lead on lap 139 and handed it to Kyle Busch. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled to Edwards.

Halfway

Debris on the backstretch brought out the fifth caution of the race on lap 148. The debris came from the back of the No. 88 Chevrolet of Earnhardt, Jr. Kyle Busch exited pit road with the race lead.

The race restarted on lap 155. The sixth caution of the race flew on lap 167 for a single-car wreck in turn 1. Josh Wise suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall. Truex exited pit road with the race lead after taking just right-side tires.

The race restarted with 96 laps to go. Brad Keselowski passed Truex with ease on the backstretch and took the lead with 95 to go. Truex started the final round of green flag stops with 54 laps to go. Keselowski pitted with 53 laps to go and handed the lead to Kyle Busch. He pitted the next lap and the lead cycled back to Keselowski.

Fourth quarter

After the final stop, Kyle Busch continued to run in second until he was passed by Larson with 14 laps to go. Harvick continued to run in fourth. Gordon ran in 10th and Truex ran between 12th and 14th in the running order. After passing Busch for second, Larson began to reel in race leader Keselowski. Debris on the front stretch brought out the seventh caution of the race with 12 laps to go. It was for a piece of metal lying under the flag stand while NBC mistakenly showed what appeared to be a plastic bottle on the apron as the debris that brought out the caution. Keselowski's crew chief Paul Wolfe told FoxSports.com after the race that he was "trying to understand what it was for. I didn't ever really see what it was for, but I guess that's just the way it goes. I figured we obviously had a nice lead there and should have been able to cruise into Victory Lane, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

The race restarted with seven laps to go. Kyle Busch powered by Keselowski exiting turn 2 to take the lead with six to go. He would go on to win the race and the Sprint Cup Series championship.

Driver comments

Busch said afterwards that winning the title was "pretty unbelievable. It’s a dream of a lifetime, a dream come true, it’s something that happens only every so often. I just can’t believe with everything that happened this year, all the turmoil that I went through, my wife went through, my family went through and people around me went through. This championship is for these guys, my wife, my family and everyone who sacrificed to get me here.”

Harvick's 13th runner-up finish in 2015 broke a tie with Bobby Allison for most second-place finishes in a single season. He joked after the race that second was "the theme of our season." He also added that he was "just really proud of everybody on our team. We were definitely a little bit off tonight, and we just kept throwing stuff at it, and we never really found anything that really helped the car that was like, oh, man, that's what we needed right there. I thought there at the end that the restart, we might do a little better than that, but obviously either the splitter was on the ground or the car was just tighter than it probably needed to be, and just I couldn't hustle it and got it tight and got it up the racetrack and got behind.”

Following a third-place finish, Keselowski said that he "led a lot of laps. The last four races, we have run pretty strong, maybe not as strong at Phoenix as we wanted, but three of the four races, we were really strong, and we just didn't have enough to close it at the end. I was really proud of my team tonight, really happy with what they were able to give me, and we were able to take a run at it, we just didn't quite have enough at the end on that final restart to hold those guys off."

Following a fourth-place finish, Logano said that he, unfortunately, "didn’t win and that’s what we wanted to do. We had a few good runs and made an adjustment that just took it out of the track and by the time we got it back we lost too much track position. We had a bad pit stop under green and lost more there, so it was too little, too late. We couldn’t redeem ourselves after a couple mistakes.”

After a fifth-place finish, Larson said that he "didn’t need that last caution. It probably cost me or Brad (Keselowski) a win, but it did make it somewhat exciting at the end. Disappointed that we didn’t get the win because I really thought we were about two to three laps away from passing Brad for the lead. We will just go back next season and try and fight for some more wins."

A sixth-place finish wasn't enough to deliver Gordon a fifth Sprint Cup Series championship. He said afterwards that he was ""a little disappointed," but all in all, a good way to go out. It doesn't mean I had to win a championship or even compete for a championship, but I wanted to win a race, at least. I wanted to show that I still had what it takes, and I think the Chase showed that. I'm extremely proud of my driving and our effort these last 10 races. That's something that's going to stick with me for a long time - in how I made the announcement and how we approached this season and how we finished it."

Following a 12th-place finish, Truex said that it was "a little disappointing where we ended up. We definitely didn’t come in here saying we’d be OK with fourth. We tried our best, but it just wasn’t in the cards for us tonight. It’s frustrating to have a day like this because everything was on the line.”

Race statistics

Race awards

Television

NBC covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled pit road on the television side. While the race itself aired on NBC, NBCSN aired NBCSN NASCAR Hot Pass, a simultaneous live feed dedicated to each of the Chase drivers, with commentary by Leigh Diffey and Dale Jarrett. Also, three different angles from in-car cameras and a track map tracked the driver's position and changes throughout the field.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the frontstretch. Dave Moody called the race from a billboard outside turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Mike Bagley called the race from a billboard outside turn 3 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post handled pit road on the radio side.