2015 STP 500

2015 STP 500
Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
Race 6 of 36 in the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Layout of the track
Layout of the track
Date March 29, 2015 (2015-03-29)
Location Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia
Course Permanent racing facility
0.526 mi (0.847 km)
Distance 500 laps, 263 mi (423.257 km)
Weather Sunny, clear blue skies with a temperature of 45 °F (7 °C); wind out of the west/northwest at 1 mph (1.6 km/h)
Average speed 68.843 mph (110.792 km/h)
Pole position
Driver
Team Penske
Time 19.232
Most laps led
Driver Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing
Laps 154
Winner
No. 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing
Television in the United States
Network Fox Sports 1
Announcers Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip
Nielsen Ratings 2.5/4 (Overnight)[11]
2.8/5 (Final)[12]
4.061 Million viewers[12]
Radio in the United States
Radio MRN
Booth Announcers Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Announcers Dave Moody (Backstretch)

The 2015 STP 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 29, 2015, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the 0.526 miles (0.847 km) paperclip shaped short track, it was the sixth race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Denny Hamlin won the race while Brad Keselowski finished runner-up. Joey Logano, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan rounded out the top five.

Joey Logano won the pole for the race and led 91 laps on his way to a third-place finish. Kevin Harvick led the most laps – leading 154 – on his way to an eighth-place finish, ending an eight consecutive race streak of finishing first or second. The race had 31 lead changes among 13 different drivers, as well as 16 caution flag periods for 112 laps.

Hamlin's 25th career victory was his fifth win at Martinsville Speedway and the eighth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing. The win moved Hamlin up to eighth in the points standings, which were still headed by Harvick; he left Martinsville with a 24-point lead over Logano. Despite being the winning manufacturer, Toyota still trailed Chevrolet by 37 points in the manufacturers' standings, in third place.

The STP 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the cable/satellite Fox Sports 1 network for the American television audience – the first scheduled points race to air on the channel. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

  1. ^ "2015 NASCAR Schedule" (PDF). NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. August 26, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 4, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  2. ^ "Martinsville Speedway". NASCAR.com. NASCAR Media Group, LLC. January 3, 2013. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  3. ^ "Entry List". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 23, 2015. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved March 23, 2015.
  4. ^ "First Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 27, 2015. Archived from the original on March 30, 2015. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  5. ^ "Qualifying Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 27, 2015. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  6. ^ "Second Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 28, 2015. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  7. ^ "Final Practice Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 28, 2015. Archived from the original on March 31, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  8. ^ "STP 500 Results". MRN.com. Motor Racing Network. March 29, 2015. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  9. ^ "Points standings" (PDF). jayski.com. NASCAR Statistics. March 29, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  10. ^ "Manufacturer standings" (PDF). jayski.com. NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications. March 29, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  11. ^ Paulsen (March 30, 2015). "First Ever NASCAR Race on FS1 Earns 2.5 Overnight". SportsMediaWatch.com. Sports Media Watch. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  12. ^ a b Paulsen (March 31, 2015). "Fewer Viewers, But Record Audience, For FS1's Sprint Cup Debut". SportsMediaWatch.com. Sports Media Watch. Retrieved April 1, 2015.