page_title: 2015 Food City 500
section_title: Green flag run
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Food City 500 / Race / First-half / Green flag run
caption_attribution_description: English: Dale Earnhardt Jr. making an unscheduled stop on lap 103.
context_page_description: The 2015 Food City 500 In Support Of Steve Byrnes And Stand Up To Cancer was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on April 19, 2015, at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. Contested over 511 laps—extended from 500 laps due to a green–white–checker finish—on the 0.533 miles concrete short track, it was the eighth race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Matt Kenseth won the race – his first victory since 2013 – while Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon finished second and third. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.
  Kenseth won the pole for the race and led 47 laps. Kevin Harvick led a race high 184 laps before getting caught in a late race wreck and finished outside the top ten for the first time in 2015. The race had 21 lead changes among six different drivers, as well as eleven caution flag periods for 117 laps. The race was also stopped three times, for a total duration of 4 hours and 36 minutes for rain.
  Kenseth's victory – his 32nd in Sprint Cup – ended a 51-race winless streak commencing after his victory at the 2013 Sylvania 300. It was his fourth win at Bristol and the eighth at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing.
context_section_description: The race restarted on lap 69. While Greg Biffle got a jump on the restart – on old tires – Kurt Busch on four new tires took the lead on lap 70 and would hold the lead for the next 55 laps. Kevin Harvick was tapped exiting turn 2 by Michael McDowell and made light contact with the wall, causing cosmetic damage. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made an unscheduled stop on lap 103 for a flat tire. Landon Cassill brushed the wall and began to slow down on the backstretch and almost took out several cars on lap 108. Kevin Harvick took the lead on lap 126 and held it for the next portion of the race before Busch took back the lead on lap 162. Harvick regained the lead on lap 167, before the race's third caution period commenced the following lap due to weepers. With the drivers pitting on either side of the track, the lead swapped hands momentarily; however, Harvick held the lead for the restart on lap 176.
  Jeff Gordon made an unscheduled stop on lap 205 for a loose, deflating wheel; he lost two laps in the process. In a show of support for Steve Byrnes, the fans and crews all stood up on the 250th lap holding up signs reading "I Stand Up For Steve." The Fox crew went silent for the next three laps to show their support for their ill cohort. Jeff Gordon, on much fresher tires, managed to pull up to and pass leader Harvick to earn back one of his laps. This allowed Carl Edwards to pass Harvick for the lead on lap 257. Edwards put him back down two laps before the caution flew for the fourth time on lap 266 for rain. Edwards and Busch swapped the lead on pit road, but Edwards exited pit road with the lead. David Gilliland and Ryan Newman both started at the rear of the field for the restart; they were caught speeding on pit road. The rain intensified and the race was red flagged for the second time on lap 273.
caption: Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made an unscheduled stop on lap 103.
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