page_title: 2015 Daytona 500
section_title: Prior to the race
hierarchical_section_title: 2015 Daytona 500 / Prior to the race
caption_attribution_description: English: Kyle Busch after winning the 2015 Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, California
context_page_description: The 2015 Daytona 500, the 57th running of the event, was held on February 22, 2015 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Contested over 203 laps – extended from 200 laps due to a green–white–checker finish – on the 2.5 mi asphalt superspeedway, it was the first race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Joey Logano won the race, recording the second Daytona 500 win for Team Penske, and his ninth career Sprint Cup victory. Kevin Harvick finished second while Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top–five.
  Jeff Gordon won the pole for his 23rd and final career start in the Daytona 500. Hendrick Motorsports swept the Budweiser Duel races with Earnhardt, Jr. winning the first Duel race and fourth career qualifying race and Johnson winning the second Duel race and second career qualifying race. Gordon led a race-high 87 laps and ran up front for most of the race. He was caught up in the backstretch multi-car wreck on the final lap of the race and finished 33rd. Logano took the lead with 10 laps to go in the scheduled 200 lap distance and was ahead of Kevin Harvick before the last caution flag ended the race in his favor.
context_section_description: With nine laps to go in the Alert Today Florida 300 Xfinity Series race on the day before the Daytona 500, Kyle Busch crashed into the inside retaining wall between the tri-oval and turn 1. He was taken to the nearby Halifax Health Medical Center after sustaining a right leg injury, ruling him out of the Daytona 500. The wall he hit lacked a SAFER barrier, drawing much criticism from different drivers. Ty Dillon, who finished third, was unaware of Busch's injury at the end of the race, while also adding that it was coming "to the point now in NASCAR we should have SAFER barriers at a place like this". Runner-up Chris Buescher echoed Dillon's comments, stating that the sport "needs to be as safe as possible" and that if "it means lining the inside walls as well, it's probably a good idea".
  With the sidelining of Kyle Busch, the Daytona 500 was the first race since the 2001 NAPA 500 at Atlanta – where Kurt Busch failed to qualify – not to feature a Busch brother in the starting lineup. Matt Crafton replaced Kyle Busch for the Daytona 500, while David Ragan and Erik Jones replaced him thereafter.
caption: Kyle Busch, pictured at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 later in the season, was injured during the Xfinity Series race and was unable to compete in the Daytona 500.
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