page_title: 2015 AAA 400
section_title: Driver comments
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 AAA 400 / Race / Post-race / Driver comments
caption_attribution_description: English: Aric Almirola races on the track of the Dover International Speedway in the Smithfield Foods Ford Fusion during the 2015 AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Oct. 4, 2015. Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James joined the #43 pit crew along pit road after she opened the race as the official pace car driver during her visit. (U.S. Air Force photo/Greg L. Davis)
context_page_description: The 2015 AAA 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on October 4, 2015, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1 mile concrete speedway, it was the 29th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, third race of the Chase and final race of the Challenger Round. Kevin Harvick won the race, his third of the season. Kyle Busch finished second. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Jamie McMurray and Aric Almirola rounded out the top–five.
  With qualifying rained out, Matt Kenseth was awarded the first starting spot. He led 26 laps on his way to a seventh–place finish. Harvick led a race high of 355 laps on his way to winning the race. The race had 14 lead changes amongst three different drivers, as well as eight caution flag periods for 43 laps.
  This was the 31st career victory for Harvick, third of the season, first at Dover International Speedway and second at the track for Stewart-Haas Racing. The win secured his place in the Contender Round. Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray and Paul Menard didn't advance out of the Challenger Round. Chevrolet left Dover with a 45–point lead over Toyota in the manufacturer standings.
context_section_description: Harvick said that he was "just so proud of everybody from Stewart-Haas Racing to do everything that we’ve done the last three weeks, really. Obviously we weren’t in a great position coming in to today. That’s what these guys are made of and that’s what teamwork is all about."
  Following his runner-up finish, Kyle Busch said that the day was "really good...for us. I can't say enough about this entire Interstate Batteries team. They did a great job today. Adam Stevens gave me a great piece and when you look at the amount of practice time we had, it was pretty hard to figure out what you had. We had a second–place car and we finished second with it; nothing to hang our heads about."
  Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished third and advanced to the Contender Round on a tiebreaker. After the race, he said that the closing laps weren't "nerve-wracking at all. You're either going to make it or you ain't. I'm going to try put together the best lap I can put together, and drive the car as hard as you can without over-driving it. You can't really worry about the big picture because you have to concentrate on running the lap. This place is so technical that you just have to concentrate on every corner and the mistake you made on the last one and how you make a better corner the next time through there. That's all you really worry about."
  Jamie McMurray failed to make the Contender Round on a tiebreaker with a fourth–place finish. After the race, he said that he was "driving so hard those last few laps, and it’s just hard to make up any ground. And it seemed like our car was maybe better on stickers,” McMurray explained. “We haven’t run this well, honestly. We talked earlier today about that. So, I’m thrilled with our performance today. It’s frustrating that we weren’t able to make it to the next round, but it was a good day for the Nature Made car. We just needed one more point.”
  After driving under the radar to a fifth–place finish, Aric Almirola said that his team did "a really good job. We just struggled with getting the car in the race track most of the day and right there at the end four tires paid off for us. That was some really good adjustments by Trent and the guys and the pit crew did a good job getting me off pit road and just a really solid day for us.”
  Martin Truex, Jr. drove from the rear of the field to an 11th–place finish. He said after the race that he didn't have "a great day...It wasn’t a great weekend. We have been struggling trying to get the thing turning. All in all we had good speed when we would get track position. We would lose track position and being in long lines on the restarts when we couldn’t really go anywhere. It was really difficult to pass today. We had good speed out front, top five speed and then just never really could get back there once we got back in traffic.”
  A 12th–place finish was enough for Jeff Gordon to advance into the Contender Round. After the race, he said that making it involved "a lot of hard work. I'm proud of these guys. We fought hard and that's what we've been doing all year long. It hasn't been pretty. We've had a lot to overcome and we never give. That was pretty much what he had today, we survived and made it through."
  After a 14th–place finish wasn't enough to get Clint Bowyer into the Contender Round, he said after the race that his "5-Hour Energy Toyota was good today, I’d say a top-five car. We just had some bad luck with that loose wheel early on. We got two laps down, but were able to make those up. No one had anything for that 4 car (Harvick), though.”
  Following his 25th–place finish that kept him from advancing to the Contender Round, Paul Menard said that it "was not a good day for us at Dover. We fought handling all day and found out there was a mechanical issue there near the end. We gave it our all and I'm proud that we got here. Hate that we don't get to compete further into the Chase, but we will work for a win and to advance our spot from where we are.”
caption: Almirola finished fifth, his best position so far this season
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