Background

The track, Daytona International Speedway, is one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the others being Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Pocono Raceway and Talladega Superspeedway.^[9] The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.^[10] The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.^[10] Denny Hamlin was the defending race winner.

Format and eligibility

The race is 75 laps in length, and was divided into two segments; the first was 25 laps and the second was 50 laps. The race was open to those drivers who won a pole in the 2014 season or had won the Sprint Unlimited previously. Two new changes were announced in December. The field was expanded to those who have won the pole for the Daytona 500 previously and/or were in the Chase in 2014.

Entry list

The entry list for the Sprint Unlimited was released on December 17, 2014. Twenty-five drivers were eligible for the race.

First practice

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 44.832 and a speed of 200.749 mph (323.074 km/h).^[12] Tony Stewart was called to the NASCAR hauler for ignoring the black flag which was shown to him, as he did not weigh in before the session.^[13] Per NASCAR regulations, all drivers had to weigh in before the start of the season to calculate the minimum car weights.^[13] This was normally done during January Preseason Thunder, but it was canceled in 2015. Stewart took to Twitter to express his frustration upon exiting his car.^[13]

Final practice

Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 45.740 and a speed of 196.764 mph (316.661 km/h).^[14]

First segment

The race started at 8:35 p.m. Eastern time with Paul Menard leading the field to the green. With a push from Matt Kenseth on the inside lane, Brad Keselowski took the lead on lap nine. Kenseth jumped to the outside lane to pass Keselowski for the lead on lap eleven, before Martin Truex Jr. utilized a slingshot move to pass Kenseth for the lead the next lap. Kenseth used a push on the bottom to retake the lead on lap 15 but could not maintain the lead as he fell back and handed Truex Jr. the lead. The first caution of the race flew on lap 22 for a single car wreck on the front stretch.^[15] Coming to the start-finish line, Kyle Larson made contact with Brad Keselowski, while trying to merge into the top lane of cars.^[15] When Keselowski tried to correct it, he destroyed his car's splitter when it dug into the grass.^[15] He turned back onto the track and hit the wall.^[15] Austin Dillon rear-ended Kyle Busch trying to avoid Keselowski.^[15]

Second segment

Post-race

Following the race, Kevin Harvick confronted Joey Logano on pit road after Logano pushed him into the wall with two laps to go.^[20] One of Logano's crew members pulled him away from Harvick to prevent the argument from escalating. Harvick stated that "you can't just drive somebody straight in the corner into the fence" and that Logano "kind of did the same thing to me at Talladega".^[20] Logano referred to Harvick as "an instigator" and that the incident was "the same old crap".^[20] Danica Patrick also seemed to be upset with Logano after the race, but he did not understand why.^[21]

Race results

Television

Radio