The 2015 Kobalt 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 8, 2015, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas. Contested over 267 laps on the asphalt tri-oval, it was the third race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Kevin Harvick won the race, his first of the season, while Martin Truex Jr. finished second. Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Jeff Gordon set a new track record time on his way to winning the pole for the race. He started the race from the rear of the field after an incident in practice and never led a single lap in his final race at the track. The race had 18 lead changes among nine different drivers, as well as six caution flag periods for 28 laps.

Harvick's 29th career victory was his first at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the second at the track for Stewart–Haas Racing. With the win, he leapfrogged Joey Logano for the points lead and left the track with a nine-point lead over Earnhardt. Chevrolet increased their lead over Ford to eleven points in the manufacturers' standings.

The race was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast of the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report Background

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada about northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Joey Logano entered Las Vegas with a one-point lead over Jimmie Johnson who scored his 71st career win the previous week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kevin Harvick came into Vegas third in the points two back of Logano, having led 116 of the 325 laps at Atlanta. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered fourth in the points four back, while Martin Truex Jr. entered fifth in the points 13 back.

Entry list The entry list for the Kobalt 400 was released on Monday, March 2, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-eight drivers are entered for the race. All 48, except Ryan Blaney and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford and Ty Dillon, were entered to race the previous week in Atlanta. Dillon drove the No. 33 Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet. No driver was on the initial entry list to drive the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford in place of David Ragan who drove in place of the injured Kyle Busch. On Wednesday, March 4, Brett Moffitt, coming off an 8th-place finish at Atlanta, was named to drive the No. 34 car. Moffitt stated that he was "excited about the opportunity to run some races for Front Row", and that he was "grateful to Bob Jenkins and his team for giving me the chance to do that". Brian Vickers, the driver who Moffitt was driving in place of – at Michael Waltrip Racing – was in the No. 55 Toyota, having missed the first two races while recovering from corrective heart surgery.

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) 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 David Ragan Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth (PC5) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 24 Jeff Gordon (PC6) Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 29 Reed Sorenson RAB Racing Toyota 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Mike Bliss Go FAS Racing Ford 33 Ty Dillon (i) Hillman–Circle Sport 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 Chevrolet 41 Regan Smith (i) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 44 Travis Kvapil (i) Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 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 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 62 Brendan Gaughan (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 66 Mike Wallace Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 78 Martin Truex Jr. 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 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing FordOfficial initial entry listOfficial updated entry list Key Meaning (R) Rookie (i) Ineligible for points (PC#) Past champions provisional

First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.177 and a speed of . Brian Vickers, making his first start since undergoing heart surgery in December, was 33rd fastest in the session. Vickers described his return as "awesome" and that he was "really excited to be back".

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.177 191.646 2 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 28.239 191.225 3 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 28.267 191.035Official first practice results

Qualifying

Jeff Gordon won his 79th career pole with a new track record time of 27.738 and a speed of . Gordon took pole by 0.052 seconds ahead of Joey Logano, and ultimately described the margin as "real close". Gordon added that he was "just so proud of this team and keeping their heads up". Logano himself repeated Gordon's point on the close margin, adding that his Ford "ha[d] some speed in it which is cool". Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified fourth, which pleased him, stating that his recent performances on the intermediate tracks gave him "hope it is a sign of things to come". Following a multi-car crash in qualifying at Daytona and 13 cars not making it through inspection at Atlanta, the only hiccup in qualifying belonged to Brad Keselowski. Just as he was about to get in his car to qualify in round 1, a NASCAR official ordered his team to take the car back to the inspection line after witnessing the team pulled out the wheel wells which had been outlawed during the offseason. Reed Sorenson, Mike Bliss, Travis Kvapil, Mike Wallace, and Matt DiBenedetto all failed to qualify for the race.

Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 1 24 Jeff Gordon Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.245 27.885 27.738 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 27.966 27.908 27.790 3 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.097 27.928 27.794 4 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.105 27.928 27.822 5 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 27.994 27.880 27.841 6 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.057 27.937 27.888 7 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.292 27.996 27.906 8 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet 28.132 27.996 27.932 9 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.128 27.984 27.931 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 28.236 27.859 27.963 11 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 28.124 28.005 28.044 12 14 Tony Stewart Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.196 28.011 28.083 13 18 David Ragan Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.236 28.025 — 14 19 Carl Edwards Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.144 28.048 — 15 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.352 28.056 — 16 16 Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.326 28.063 — 17 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.194 28.082 — 18 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.345 28.084 — 19 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 28.313 28.157 — 20 15 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.340 28.159 — 21 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.274 28.195 — 22 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 28.350 28.222 — 23 33 Brian Scott (i) Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 28.332 28.337 — 24 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.355 28.422 — 25 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 28.368 — — 26 51 Justin Allgaier HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.426 — — 27 7 Alex Bowman Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet 28.429 — — 28 55 Brian Vickers Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 28.448 — — 29 9 Sam Hornish Jr. Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 28.462 — — 30 21 Ryan Blaney (i) Wood Brothers Racing Ford 28.504 — — 31 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.518 — — 32 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Ford 28.524 — — 33 46 Michael Annett HScott Motorsports Chevrolet 28.537 — — 34 41 Regan Smith (i) Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.539 — — 35 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 28.571 — — 36 34 Brett Moffitt (R) Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.649 — — 37 38 David Gilliland Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.865 — — 38 35 Cole Whitt Front Row Motorsports Ford 28.948 — — 39 98 Josh Wise Phil Parsons Racing Ford 28.970 — — 40 23 J. J. Yeley (i) BK Racing Toyota 29.008 — — 41 26 Jeb Burton (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.076 — — 42 40 Landon Cassill (i) Hillman–Circle Sport Chevrolet 29.441 — — 43 62 Brendan Gaughan (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.518 — —Did not qualify 44 32 Mike Bliss (i) Go FAS Racing Ford 29.092 — — 45 29 Reed Sorenson RAB Racing Toyota 29.201 — — 46 44 Travis Kvapil (i) Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet 29.247 — — 47 66 Mike Wallace Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 29.794 — — 48 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) BK Racing Toyota 29.889 — —Official qualifying results

Practice (post-qualifying) Second practice Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.141 and a speed of . Aric Almirola spun off of turn 2 and slid down the track with nine minutes remaining in the session. He stopped a few feet short of the inside wall on the backstretch and drove the car back to the garage.

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 28.141 191.891 2 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 28.455 189.773 3 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Chevrolet 28.471 189.667Official second practice results

Final practice Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.779 and a speed of . In the final minute of the session, Danica Patrick spun out exiting turn 2 and was hit by Jeff Gordon. The resultant damage from the collision forced Gordon's team to switch to their backup car, and as a result, Gordon started from the rear of the field. The collision came just seconds after David Ragan hit the wall in turn 1. He also switched to his backup car and also started from the rear.

Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 28.779 187.637 2 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 28.890 186.916 3 13 Casey Mears Germain Racing Chevrolet 28.961 186.458Official final practice results

Race

First-half Start