The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season got started this weekend with Jeff Gordon winning the Pole for his final Daytona 500 and Matt Kenseth winning the Sprint Unlimited.
The official 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season kicked off with the non-points Sprint Unlimited race Saturday night (2/14) at Daytona International Speedway. There were 25 drivers that qualified to race in the 75-lap dash-for-cash.
The cars raced for the chance to take home almost $200,000 purse and bragging rights. That meant that there was only one real goal in the minds of the drivers and their teams, WIN. That mentality resulted in a couple of wrecks that left around half of the field ending the race with at least some damage to their cars.
In the end it was Matt Kenseth in his #20 Dollar General Toyota that survived the shoot-out style race to claim victory. While the win does not produce any points toward the 2015 championship or lock him into the 2015 Chase Grid, it had to feel great to get back to Victory Lane for Matt and his team since they were unable to win a single race in the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. See the complete results for the 2015 Sprint Umlimted race here.
(Photo courtesy of NASCAR.media/304920Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Sunday afternoon (2/15) brought all of the Sprint Cup teams back to Daytona International Speedway for Pole Qualifying for the 57th Daytona 500. This was the first year that the group qualifying style was used for the Great American Race.
The teams drew numbers to determine the order in which they would be lined up on pit row. Two groups of cars (25 then 24) were given five minutes to head out on the Daytona International Speedway and run the fastest lap they could. The top 24 fastest cars from the two groups were then sent out a second time as a group to post lap times. That field was cut down to 12 according to lap times.
Those final 12 drivers were again given five minutes to post the fastest lap they could. When the time ended it was Jeff Gordon who had raced around the Daytona International Speedway the fastest earning him the pole for his final Daytona 500. Jeff announced a couple of weeks ago that this would be his final full-time Sprint Cup season.
(Photo courtesy of NASCARmedia.com/304931Patrick Smith/NASCAR via Getty Images)
Jeff’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson posted the second best time to earn him the second spot of the front row for the Great American Race.
The rest of the starting grid for the Daytona 500 will be set with the Budweiser Duels at Daytona this Thursday evening, February 19th.
The 2015 Sprint Cup Championship season will kickoff Sunday, February 22nd with the 57th Daytona 500.
By: Buck Stevens
