2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
The Gators lined up to attempt a field goal, however holder Johnny Townsend passed the ball up the middle of the field where Cece Jefferson completed it past the line to gain, but Vanderbilt's Caleb Azubike would force a fumble which Vanderbilt would recover at their own 19-yard line. Vanderbilt failed to capitalize on the turnover, as they punted after going three-and-out. Antonio Callaway returned the punt once again into Commodore territory at the 45-yard line.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
Facing 3rd-and-13, Treon Harris would rush over the left end past the line to gain to the 18-yard line, but Vanderbilt was able to force another fumble, which was recovered by Zach Cunningham, resulting in Florida's second consecutive drive ending in a turnover. Vanderbilt, however, once again would fail to capitalize on the turnover, and punted back to Florida after gaining five yards in 6 plays. The next two possessions resulted in punts following three-and-outs. Florida gained possession after Vanderbilt's three-and-out at their own 36-yard line with 3:26 remaining in the second quarter.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
They would drive into Vanderbilt territory before they committed their third turnover of the second quarter when Treon Harris threw a pass which was intercepted Ryan White at the 26-yard line. With 59 seconds remaining, Vanderbilt had Ralph Webb run a draw play, which went 74 yards for a touchdown. Hayden Lekacz converted the extra point try to take a one-point lead over the no. 11 Gators.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
Florida took over possession at their own 25-yard line with 48 seconds remaining, but failed to reach midfield and punted to Ryan White at the 6-yard line, and the Commodores kneeled to run off the final seconds of the first half to go into the locker room leading 7–6.Vanderbilt received the second half kickoff, but went three-and-out and punted. Every possession of the third quarter ended with a punt. Vanderbilt punted to Florida with 14:39 in the fourth quarter, and the Gators began their drive from their own 31-yard line.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
Florida would go 57 yards in seven plays, but committed their fourth turnover at the Vanderbilt 12-yard line when Jay Woods forced Demarcus Robinson to fumble. Vanderbilt's drive would take 5:29 off the clock before they punted from their own 33-yard line. Johnny Openshaw's punt would only go 12 yards before going out of bounds, and Florida took over from the Vanderbilt 45-yard line with 5:37 remaining. Florida drove to the 25-yard line in 3:10 before facing 4th-and-1.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
Austin Hardin would attempt 43-yard field goal, which went through the uprights to give the Gators their first lead since late in the first half. Vanderbilt returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 13-yard line, and soon faced 4th-and-10. Johnny McCrary's pass was incomplete, but Florida committed a holding foul, which gave Vanderbilt an automatic first down. On 2nd-and-10 from the 24-yard line, Johnny McCrary was sacked by Jordan Sherit, but Sherit was controversially flagged for targeting, which gave Vanderbilt another automatic first down and required that Sherit be disqualified.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
Following a pair of incompletions, a sack, and a false start penalty, Vanderbilt faced 4th-and-25. Johnny McCrary made only his third completion of the game to Sam Dobbs for only 21 yards, allowing Florida to take over on downs to run off the final seconds of the game and escape with a 9–7 victory.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Vanderbilt
By virtue of Jordan Sherit's second half ejection for targeting, he would be ineligible for the first half of the next game at South CarolinaWith the victory, Florida was able to secure a berth in the SEC Championship Game for the first time since 2009, and Jim McElwain became the first Florida coach to win the Eastern Division in his first year.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
Florida had dropped four out of the last five games against South Carolina, with their last victory in 2012. Last year's game went to overtime as both teams were playing their last SEC game of the season. At the time, Florida still had a slim chance at staying in the hunt for the SEC Eastern Division title. The Gamecocks took a 10–0 lead in the first quarter, but the Gators scored 10 points of their own in the second quarter, and went into halftime tied.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
The Gators then scored a touchdown in the third quarter, only to have the Gamecocks match that in the fourth quarter. The Gators settled for a field goal in overtime, but the Gamecocks were able to pull away as Dylan Thompson ran for the 4-yard touchdown, defeating the Gators 23–20.Linebacker/Defensive lineman Jordan Sherit will be ineligible for the first half by virtue of his second half ejection for targeting in the previous game against Vanderbilt.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
Florida would receive the first half kickoff and punt from their own 39-yard line after five plays. South Carolina was able to drive 27 yards to the Florida 45-yard line before punting 32 yards to the Florida 13-yard line. The Gators put on a 15-play, 87-yard drive that culminated with a 3-yard touchdown run by Jordan Cronkrite. After a three-and-out forced another South Carolina punt, Florida took over at their own 24-yard line.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
The Gators would put on another grueling drive—12 plays for 76 yards—again ending with a Jordan Cronkrite score, this time through the air from Treon Harris for 41 yards. South Carolina would once again punt, forcing the Gators to take over from their own 15-yard line. This time, the Gators went three-and-out and punted. However, Jalen Tabor would intercept a Perry Orth pass 2 plays later, setting up the Gators inside the red zone at the 18-yard line.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
The Gators would drive to the 5-yard line before T.J. Gurley intercepted Treon Harris pass in the end zone, returning it to the 3-yard line. South Carolina would pick up with 1:01 remaining in the second quarter, and the clock would expire after two plays. South Carolina would go three-and-out after receiving the second half kickoff. After the punt, the Gators took over at their own 33-yard line. South Carolina would get the ball back three plays later following Treon Harris' second interception of the game, this time caught by Gerald Dixon.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
However, South Carolina could not capitalize, and went three-and-out again. Florida would go on its third double-digit play drive of the game, with Austin Hardin kicking a 39-yard field goal to cap off a 12-play, 70-yard drive. Florida would again gain possession following a South Carolina three-and-out, and would go on their fourth double-digit play drive of the game, but turned the ball over on downs at the Gamecocks' 36-yard line. The Gamecocks would finally be able to capitalize on a stalled Gator drive by 64 yards in 8 plays to score a touchdown with 8:59 remaining in the game.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
Florida's ensuing possession ended in a three-and-out, and South Carolina was able to continue their momentum, scoring their second straight touchdown with 4:49 remaining. Now holding a slim three-point lead, Florida took over at their own 25-yard line following a touchback. The Gators would need only six plays this time to score their third touchdown of the game from a 1-yard run by Kelvin Taylor, following up his 53-yard run on the previous play, and the Gators took a 10-point lead with 2:01 remaining.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
On the Gamecocks' ensuing drive, they would get to the Florida 48-yard line, but defensive back Quincy Wilson would intercept a Perry Orth pass, and the Gators were able run out almost all of the remaining time, but punted back to South Carolina, who took over with three seconds remaining, and ran one play before time expired.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, at South Carolina
With the win, the Gators snapped a two-year losing streak to the Gamecocks, and finished with a perfect record against SEC Eastern Division opponents. It was also the first Florida–South Carolina game with both teams having first-year coaches since 2005, when Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier were coaching the Gators and Gamecocks, respectively.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
This was the third game between the Owls and the Gators. The Gators opened their 2011 season against the Owls, and took a commanding 24-point lead before yielding a field goal late in the second quarter, and went to halftime leading 24–3. The Gators continued their impressive performance in the second half, holding the Owls to no further points, eventually winning 41–3.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
The first three drives for both teams ended in punts before Florida's Antonio Callaway was able to execute a 52-yard punt return to the Owls' 18-yard line in the second quarter. Florida would leave the end zone empty handed, however, as Austin Hardin hit the left upright on a 33-yard field goal attempt. On the ensuing Florida Atlantic possession, the Owls drove 51 yards in ten plays to reach the Gators' 29-yard line before junior kicker Greg Joseph went wide right on a 45-yard field goal attempt.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
The two teams would punt to end their remaining drives and the first half concluded as a scoreless tie. The first half saw both teams miss a field goal, exchange nine punts, and go a combined 1-for-13 on third down conversions, the Owls with the lone third down conversion through the first half. Additionally, Florida Atlantic's offense outperformed the Gators in total yardage by more than twice, garnering 150 yards of offense to Florida's 69. Offensive struggles persisted for both teams during the first portion of the second half as the teams' initial second half drives ended in punts.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
The second Florida Atlantic possession was halted by a forced fumble by Antonio Morrison which was recovered by defensive lineman Tavin Bryan at midfield and returned to Florida's 2-yard line. Kelvin Taylor punched in the ball in two plays to break the tie with a 7–0 lead. After a Florida Atlantic punt, the Gators scored again with a 53-yard Treon Harris–Antonio Callaway connection with 5:34 to go in the third quarter. Florida Atlantic responded on the ensuing drive by scoring on 9 plays to relegate the Florida lead back to 7 points.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
Florida's next possession ended with a deep pass from Treon Harris being intercepted in the end zone by Florida Atlantic's Sharrod Neasman for a touchback, and the Owls took over on their own 20-yard line. The Gators would reclaim possession three plays later when Jalen Tabor intercepted FAU quarterback Jaquez Johnson at the Owls' 21-yard line. The Gators would not score however, as Hardin again missed a field goal, this time from 34 yards out. With new life and still down by 7, the Owls picked up a first down but had to punt after 5 plays.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
The Gators picked up at their own 10-yard line. Jordan Scarlett was able to pick up 6 yards before Harris fumbled after being hit by Trey Hendrickson. Ocie Rose jumped onto the ball in the end zone and after the successful FAU try, the Owls had managed to tie the game at 14. With 8:03 remaining in the game, Florida took over, only to go three-and-out. Three plays into the ensuing Owls drive, however, Nick Washington forced a fumble that was recovered by Marcus Maye giving the Gators their third takeaway of the game.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
Florida's offense once again stalled, however, and all of the drives that followed in the fourth quarter ended in punts before the Owls ran out the clock deep in their own territory to send the game into overtime. Florida had the first possession of the overtime period and scored in three plays on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Treon Harris to Jake McGee, but led only by 6 after Austin Hardin's extra point attempt was blocked. Florida Atlantic would reach the 9-yard line before the Gators defense stuffed a quarterback run for a loss of three yards followed by forcing three consecutive incompletions to preserve a final 20–14 overtime lead.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida Atlantic
The win gave Jim McElwain his tenth win with the Florida Gators, the most wins of any first year Florida coach.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Florida State
Like the series against South Carolina, Florida has dropped four out of the last five games against rival Florida State, with their last victory in 2012. Last year saw a tight game against the no. 1 Seminoles, as the Gators opened with three consecutive field goals before yielding a touchdown in the first quarter. The second quarter saw the Seminoles score two additional touchdowns before the Gators answered with one of their own, and sent the top-ranked Seminoles into halftime with a mere five-point lead. The Gators pulled to within a safety of the Seminoles with a field goal in the third quarter, but could not manage to score in the rest of the game, as the Seminoles scored a field goal in the fourth quarter, earning the final score of 24–19.


2015 Florida Gators football team, Game summaries, Alabama
Since defeating Alabama in the 2008 SEC Championship Game, Florida has lost the last four games against Alabama. Florida trails 14–25 in the all-time series, but has a 4–3 record when playing the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship Game.


2015 Florida Gators softball team
The 2015 Florida Gators softball team represented the University of Florida softball program for the 2015 NCAA softball season. The Gators defeated Michigan in 3 games in the final of the Women's College World Series, clinching back-to-back titles for the program. Lauren Haeger was named Most Outstanding Player of the WCWS.


2015 Florida Gators softball team, Roster
The 2015 Florida Gators softball team has 6 seniors, 5 juniors, 3 sophomores, and 6 freshmen.


2015 Florida Gators women's soccer team
The 2015 Florida Gators soccer team represented the University of Florida soccer program for the 2015 NCAA soccer season.


2015 Florida Gators women's volleyball team
The 2015 Florida Gators women's volleyball team represented the University of Florida volleyball program for the 2015 NCAA volleyball season.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team
The 2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team represented Florida State University during the 2015 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Seminoles played their home games at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They were led by head coach Mike Martin, in his 36th season at Florida State. It was the Seminoles' 24th season as a member of the ACC and its 10th in the ACC's Atlantic Division.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team
Despite having a young team, Florida State won the ACC title and reached forty wins for the thirty-eighth straight year. The Seminoles were selected to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament, marking their fifty-third tournament appearance and hosting for the thirty-second time, advancing to the super regionals for the fourteenth time.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team, Previous season
In 2014, the Seminoles finished the season as Atlantic division champions with a record of 43–17, 21–9 in conference play. They qualified for the ACC Tournament and were eliminated in pool play. The Seminoles qualified for the NCAA Tournament as the #5 overall national seed. They were hosts of the Tallahassee regional, which also contained Georgia Southern, Alabama, and Kennesaw State. Florida State was upset by both Georgia Southern and Alabama and was eliminated after just two games.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team, Season, Preseason
In the ACC Media Poll, Florida State was picked by the coaches to finish second in the conference and first in the Atlantic Division.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team, Schedule
Florida State was selected to be a regional host in the NCAA tournament as the thirteenth overall seed.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team, Rankings
^ Collegiate Baseball ranks 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. † NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season. * New poll was not released for this week so for comparison purposes the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.


2015 Florida State Seminoles baseball team, Awards, Honors, All-ACC
Ben Duluzio, Chris Marconcini and Boomer Biegalski were named to the All-Tournament team, with Boomer Biegalski being named tournament MVP.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team
The 2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, variously Florida State or FSU, represented Florida State University in the sport of American football during the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. Florida State competed in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The Seminoles were led by sixth-year head coach Jimbo Fisher and played their home games at Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. They were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, playing in the Atlantic Division. It was the Seminoles' 24th season as a member of the ACC and its 11th in the ACC Atlantic Division.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team
Florida State came into the season after a two-year run (2013 and 2014) in which the Seminoles won 27 games with a pair of ACC Championships, a BCS National Title, an appearance in the College Football Playoff, a Heisman Trophy winner, and eighteen NFL Draft selections.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team
They finished the season 10–3, 6–2 in ACC play, to finish in second place in the Atlantic Division. They were invited to the Peach Bowl where they lost to Houston.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team
Florida State seniors – Giorgio Newberry, Derrick Mitchell, Nile Lawrence-Stample, Reggie Northrup, Terrance Smith, Tyler Hunter, Javien Elliott, Keelin Smith, Lamarcus Brutus and Cason Beatty – ended their college careers with 49 wins over the course of four seasons, becoming the winningest class in school history.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Before the season, Previous season
Florida State ended the 2014 season with a 13–1 record (8–0 in ACC play), winning the conference championship and appearing in the playoff. They were led by Jimbo Fisher in his fifth year as head coach.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Before the season, Recruiting class
Calvin Brewton, George Campbell, Derwin James, De'Andre Johnson, Jacques Patrick, Da'Vante Phillips and Josh Sweat were early enrollees.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Before the season, Coaching changes
After the 2014 season, defensive ends coach Sal Sunseri took a job with the Oakland Raiders. He was replaced by University of Florida assistant Brad Lawing.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Personnel, Roster
Freshman quarterback De'Andre Johnson was dismissed from the team after being charged with a misdemeanor.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Personnel, Roster, Depth chart
(Depth Chart Notations: Name, Year at FSU/total years of eligibility, Games started in 2014)


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Media
Florida State football is broadcast on the Florida State University Seminoles Radio Network and the games are called by Gene Deckerhoff.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Season
Florida State was picked to finish second in the ACC Atlantic. Roberto Aguayo, Roderick Johnson, Jalen Ramsey, and Terrance Smith were named to the preseason All-ACC team.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, Awards, Honors
In addition to conference honors, Dalvin Cook has been recognized by the Walter Camp Foundation and the Football Writers Association.


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, NFL Draft
The following players were selected in the 2016 NFL Draft:


2015 Florida State Seminoles football team, NFL Draft
Everett Golson joined the practice squad of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League.


2015 Florida Tarpons season
The 2015 Florida Tarpons season was the 4th season for the franchise and 1st as a member of X-League Indoor Football (X-League).


2015 Florida Tarpons season, Roster
Rookies in italicsRoster updated June 6, 20155 Active, 0 Inactive


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
The 2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on March 1, 2015, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. Contested over 325 laps on the 1.54-mile-long (2 km) asphalt quad-oval, it was the second race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Jimmie Johnson won the race, his first win of the season, while Kevin Harvick finished second. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Logano won the pole for the race in a qualifying session that saw 13 cars not post a single timed lap in the first of three rounds. Harvick led a race high of 116 laps on his way to a runner-up finish and his fifth of eight consecutive races finishing first or second. The race had 28 lead changes among 12 different drivers, as well as 10 caution flag periods for 54 laps. There was one red flag for a multi-car wreck in the closing laps of the race that lasted for nine minutes and one second.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
Johnson's 71st career victory was his 4th at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the 13th at the track for Hendrick Motorsports. Despite the win, he left Atlanta trailing Logano by one point in the drivers' standings. Chevrolet took over the lead in the manufacturer standings by one over Ford.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500
The Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Report, Background
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a track in Hampton, Georgia, 25 miles (40 km) south of Atlanta. It is a 1.54 miles (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a seating capacity of 86,000. It opened in 1960 as a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) standard oval. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5 miles (2.4 km) ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Report, Background
Joey Logano entered the race as the points leader for the first time in his career following his win in the Daytona 500. Kevin Harvick, who dominated the race a year ago – leading 195 of the 325 laps before finishing 19th following a late race crash – entered second in the points five back of Logano, while Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also entered five points back in third place. Jeff Gordon, who made his first career Sprint Cup Series start at Atlanta in 1992, made his 42nd and final start at the track.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 was released on Monday, February 23, 2015 at 3:07 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-eight drivers were entered for the race, all of whom were entered in the previous week's Daytona 500. Mike Bliss drove the No. 32 Ford for Go FAS Racing. Travis Kvapil drove the No. 44 Chevrolet for Team XTREME Racing in place of Reed Sorenson, who took over the No. 29 Toyota for RAB Racing. Brendan Gaughan drove the No. 62 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports. Matt DiBenedetto ran the No. 83 Toyota for BK Racing. The No. 98 car for Phil Parsons Racing was entered as a Chevrolet entry.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Report, Background, Entry list
Several substitute drivers took part in the race. Brett Moffitt drove the No. 55 Toyota in place of Brian Vickers, who would return to the car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the series' next scheduled race. Regan Smith once again drove the No. 41 Chevrolet in place of the suspended Kurt Busch. David Ragan was entered to run the No. 34 Ford for Front Row Motorsports, but was selected to run the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in place of the injured Kyle Busch.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Report, Background, Entry list
Team owner Joe Gibbs stated that his team appreciated "being able to work with Front Row Motorsports and (sponsor) CSX for David's availability", while also adding that the team "are fortunate to be able to have someone of David's caliber behind the wheel while Kyle recovers". On February 25, Front Row announced that Joe Nemechek would drive the No. 34 car in place of Ragan, with plans beyond that to be determined.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Test sessions
This weekend was the first of five race weekends that included an open test session for any team that wished to participate in it.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Test sessions, First session
Jamie McMurray was the fastest in the first test session with a time of 28.943 and a speed of 191.549 mph (308.268 km/h).


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Test sessions, Second session
Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the second test session with a time of 29.423 and a speed of 188.424 mph (303.239 km/h).


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Missing car
Early Friday morning, a black Ford dually pulling a white trailer carrying the No. 44 Team XTREME Racing Chevrolet was stolen from the team's hotel in Morrow, Georgia. The team's hauler was at the race track having left their race shop in Statesville, North Carolina two days earlier. The car was brought down separately to allow more work to be done on it at the shop. Since the team did not have a backup car, they were forced to withdraw from the race. Ultimately, the car was found the following morning in Loganville, around 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Morrow.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Missing car
On August 3, 2015, Jason Terry pleaded guilty to the theft of the truck and trailer carrying the team car. The team tweeted about the guilty plea and "[h]ow bad this affected this race team."


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, First practice
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.727 and a speed of 192.989 mph (310.586 km/h).


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Qualifying
Jeff Gordon, commenting on the technical issues that dogged the qualifying session.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Qualifying
Joey Logano won the pole with a time of 28.477 and a speed of 194.683 mph (313.312 km/h). Logano felt that it was "such a great way to follow Daytona" and that his team "ha[d] a lot of momentum and [they] definitely want to keep it going". The start of qualifying was delayed by 20 minutes because a number of cars had to go through NASCAR technical inspection more than once. Eventually, NASCAR decided to start the session anyway. As a result, 13 of the 47 cars never had a chance to post a lap time before the first round of qualifying ended. The issues angered several drivers and team managers.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Qualifying, Driver change (post-qualifying)
Michael Annett, who originally failed to qualify for the race, drove the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet in place of Brian Scott. Scott, who regularly competes in the Xfinity Series, voluntarily gave up his spot because, unlike himself, Annett is running for drivers points in the Sprint Cup Series. "It's a big deal," Annett said before Saturday's first practice. "I can't thank Mike Hillman and Brian Scott enough. We'd rather be in the (No.) 46 HScott Motorsport car, but we're running full-time and we need as many driver's points as we can get.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Qualifying, Driver change (post-qualifying)
Unfortunately, we won't get any owner's points for this, but being with a new crew chief, with Jay Guy, it's another hour-and-half of practice and another 500 miles (on Sunday) to work together. So looking back, we could have either gone home and watched this race or be able to work together so when we go to Las Vegas we're even stronger. I can't thank these guys enough for giving us this opportunity."


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Qualifying, Driver change (post-qualifying)
On race day, Annett's HScott Motorsports team ran the car, but under NASCAR rules, Circle Sport owner Joe Falk was credited with the owners' points.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Final practice
Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 29.018 and a speed of 191.054 mph (307.472 km/h). During the session, Harvick's car blew an engine and meant that he would have to start from the rear of the field. Harvick described the failure as "very rare" and that he was "glad that it happened today".


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, First-half, Start
The race was scheduled to start at 1:16 p.m. on Sunday, but the start was delayed by overnight showers and track drying. The field rolled off pit road shortly after 1:45 p.m. and made a number of laps around the track and down pit road under caution speed. Finally, nearly an hour after the scheduled start time, Joey Logano lead the field to the green flag at 2:12 p.m. He pulled out to a four-second lead until the first caution of the race flew on lap 26 for overnight showers. This caution was a saving grace for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. who had a right-rear tire going down. Joe Nemechek stayed out to lead a lap before pitting and handing the lead back to Logano.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, First-half, Start
The race restarted on lap 32. Denny Hamlin tried to keep pace with Logano, but could not hang onto the point. Sam Hornish, Jr. was forced to make an unscheduled stop on lap 42 to remove a windshield tear-off that was blocking the air intake of his car. The second caution of the race flew on lap 46 for Austin Dillon cutting down his right-rear tire and a piece of debris on the backstretch. Jeff Gordon hit a piece of the debris that created a hole 3 in (76 mm) in diameter.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, First-half, Trouble for Austin Dillon
The race restarted on lap 52. The third caution of the race flew on lap 60 for Austin Dillon cutting another right-rear tire and spun out in turn 1. His car came to a halt in the wet grass and was covered in mud by the time he got it out. Opening of pit road was delayed as a piece of rubber was caught stuck on the top of the catch fencing on the backstretch. Mike Bliss stayed out to lead a lap before hitting pit road and handing the lead back to Joey Logano.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, First-half, Trouble for Austin Dillon
The race restarted on lap 71 and Logano just jumped out ahead with relative ease. Eleven laps into the run, Kevin Harvick narrowed the game to half a second. He eventually took the lead on lap 87 after Logano got loose exiting turn 4. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 94 after Landon Cassill blew an engine in turn 3. David Gilliland stayed out to take the lead before hitting pit road and handing the lead back to Harvick.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, First-half, Green flag stops
The race restarted on lap 100. Joey Logano began to fall back as Harvick pulled to a two-second lead over Denny Hamlin. A number of cars started hitting pit road on lap 138 that triggered a rush of cars. Kevin Harvick gave up the lead on lap 140 to pit and handed the lead to Denny Hamlin. He stopped the next lap and gave the lead to Brad Keselowski who stopped the next lap and the lead cycled to Matt Kenseth, who was one of the first cars to pit on lap 138. Mike Bliss and Ron Hornaday, Jr. had to serve a drive-through penalty for speeding on pit road. Eventually, Harvick took back the lead on lap 150.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half
Matt Kenseth made an unscheduled stop on lap 168 for a possible vibration. He was running eighth at the time and exited pit road 28th and one lap down. To add insult to injury, he got trapped by the fifth caution of the race on lap 175 for debris on the front stretch. Kevin Harvick entered pit road as the race leader, but Denny Hamlin beat him off pit road to take the lead. The race restarted on lap 181, but did not make it more than a lap before debris brought out the sixth caution of the race after Jeb Burton hit the wall. Matt Kenseth made it back onto the lead lap.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half
The race restarted on lap 187. Kevin Harvick spun the tires on the restart and fell back a bit, but quickly climbed back to the tail of Hamlin in less than a lap. By lap 191, Harvick took back the lead. Eight laps later, Jimmie Johnson took the lead for the first time in the race. Harvick began running down Johnson with 110 laps to go. A number of cars hit pit road with 102 laps to go starting a rush of green flag stops. Johnson gave up the lead with 101 laps to go to pit and handed the lead to Casey Mears. He did not lead a lap as he was pitted before the start/finish line. As a result, Kevin Harvick cycled to the lead.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half
Casey Mears slapped the wall exiting turn 4 right in front of the leader. This allowed Jimmie Johnson to reel in Kevin Harvick momentarily before the latter pulled away. Debris on the backstretch brought out the seventh caution of the race with 74 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson beat Harvick off pit road to take back the lead.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half, Trouble on the backstretch
Jeff Gordon, commenting on his crash and the safety issue stemming from Kyle Busch's crash at Daytona.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half, Trouble on the backstretch
The race restarted with 69 laps to go and the eighth caution flew for a multi-car wreck on the backstretch. It started when Denny Hamlin got loose exiting turn 2, turned down into Ryan Newman who turned into Jamie McMurray who clipped Jeff Gordon who hit the inside wall head on, just beyond the end of the SAFER barrier. The race restarted with 63 laps to go. Carl Edwards was running eighth when he had a left-rear tire go down.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half, Trouble on the backstretch
Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski started the last pit stop sequence of the race with 33 laps to go. Jimmie Johnson surrendered the lead with 32 laps to go and handed the lead to Clint Bowyer. He gave up the lead to pit with 30 laps to go and Brett Moffitt assumed the lead. He gave up the lead the next lap and the lead cycled back to Johnson. Kasey Kahne was forced to serve a drive-through penalty for an uncontrolled tire. To make matters worse for him, the ninth caution of the race flew with 28 laps to go when Cole Whitt lost an engine in turn 1. Matt Kenseth, who at one point was two laps down, stayed out when Johnson pitted to take back the lead.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Second-half, Big wreck in Turn 3 and finish
The race restarted with 21 laps to go, before a major multi-car wreck occurred in turn 3, bringing out a 10th caution and involving an octet of cars. The incident started when Greg Biffle drove to the inside of Joe Nemechek entering Turn 3, but they made contact, sending both cars sliding up the track. Bowyer, Hornish, Jr., Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, Regan Smith and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. were also involved. On team radio, Nemechek was critical of Biffle's driving stating that he did not "know how he got me there in the left rear, that was messed up". The race was red flagged for nine minutes and 1 second in order to facilitate cleanup on the track with 20 laps to go. The race restarted with 14 laps to go and Jimmie Johnson held off Kevin Harvick to score his 71st career victory.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
In victory lane, Johnson stated that the result said "a lot of good things" and he was "just so excited that the guys could understand...so, this new team could understand what I was complaining about and things I didn't like about my race car". Harvick explained that he "had one bad restart there where I spun the tires on the outside and we just never recovered from that one" but stated that he had "to thank everybody on this car for everything they do".


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Media, Television
Fox Sports covered their eleventh race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and their first since 2010. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and three-time Atlanta winner Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Chris Neville, and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties for the television side.


2015 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Media, Radio
PRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow called the race in the booth when the field went racing through the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from a billboard in turn 2 when the field went racing through turns 1 and 2 and halfway down the backstretch. Pat Patterson called the race from atop the condos outside of turn 4 when the field went racing through the other half of the backstretch and through turns 3 and 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Steve Richards, and Wendy Venturini worked pit road for the radio side.


2015 Food City 500
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 (0.858 km) 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.


2015 Food City 500
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.


2015 Food City 500
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. The win moved Kenseth up to eighth in the points standings. Despite the win, Toyota still trailed Chevrolet by 46–points in the manufacturer standings.


2015 Food City 500
The race was carried by Fox Sports on the broadcast Fox network for the American television audience, while the radio broadcast was carried by the Performance Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background
Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating.


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background
Kevin Harvick entered Bristol with a 26-point lead over Joey Logano, with Martin Truex, Jr. a further 14 points in arrears in third place. Brad Keselowski entered 60 back in fourth place, while Kasey Kahne completed the top five in the championship standings, 76 behind Harvick.


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background, Changes to the track
In the wake of Kyle Busch's double leg-breaking crash in February's Alert Today Florida 300 at Daytona International Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway announced on April 3 that SAFER barriers had been installed along the entire circumference of the outer wall. Previously, the track had barriers only in the turns.


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background, Changes to the track
Track general manager Jerry Caldwell stated that "the safety of our fans and competitors continues to be a focal point for Bristol Motor Speedway" and that the circuit was "able to secure an additional 600 feet of SAFER barriers and will complete the build out of the front and backstretch outside walls before the Food City 500 race weekend".


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background, Name change
On April 10, Bristol Motor Speedway announced that the Food City 500 would be renamed the Food City 500 In Support of Steve Byrnes and Stand Up to Cancer. This change was made to honor longtime NASCAR broadcaster Steve Byrnes who was battling head and neck cancer. "We stand with the NASCAR community in being Steve Byrnes Strong," said President and CEO of Food City, Steve Smith. "By banding together, we can drive even more awareness and support for our friend Steve, his family and everyone who Stands Up to Cancer." Byrnes died two days after the race.


2015 Food City 500, Report, Background, Entry list
The entry list for the Food City 500 was released on Monday, April 13, 2015, at 11:21 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-five cars were entered for the race. The only new entry that was not entered for the previous week's race at Texas Motor Speedway was Ron Hornaday, Jr. in the No. 30 Chevrolet by The Motorsports Group.


2015 Food City 500, First practice
Kasey Kahne was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 14.971 and a speed of 128.168 mph (206.266 km/h).


2015 Food City 500, Qualifying
Matt Kenseth won the pole with a time of 14.917 and a speed of 128.632 mph (207.013 km/h). "I got it all that first lap," Kenseth said. "Good job. That was about as good as we were going to get...it was the best we could do with what we got. It was our best lap of the day".


2015 Food City 500, Qualifying
Brad Keselowski stated that it was "still very, very early in the weekend and the track is really not indicative of what we're gonna have to race", but joined Kenseth on the front row, 0.022 seconds behind in second place; but Keselowski was looking forward to "a great spot on pit road to help us all day on Sunday". Despite missing out on the top-12 pole shootout in 13th place, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. advised that he and his team "will be very good this weekend" and all they had to do was "to improve how the car drives". With 45 entrants, Brendan Gaughan and Ron Hornaday, Jr. failed to qualify for the race.


2015 Food City 500, Practice (post-qualifying), Second practice
Kasey Kahne was the fastest in the second practice with a time of 15.129 and a speed of 126.829 mph (204.111 km/h). During the session, Tony Stewart tagged the wall with the right-rear corner of his car. The damage was minor and he returned to the track to finish the session. Towards the end of the session, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. made contact with Carl Edwards. The damage was also minor and both cars returned to the session.


2015 Food City 500, Practice (post-qualifying), Final practice
Kurt Busch was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 15.043 and a speed of 127.554 mph (205.278 km/h).


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
The race was scheduled to start at 1:13 p.m., but inclement weather delayed the start for over an hour. The track was eventually dried up enough to allow the race to commence at 2:31 p.m.. Matt Kenseth led the first five laps before losing the lead to Kevin Harvick on lap 6. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. made contact with the wall exiting turn 2. He saved the car and the race continued under green. The first caution of the race flew on lap 19 when Brad Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano hit the front stretch wall.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
Exiting turn 4, Keselowski's car got loose trying to pass Alex Kennedy, tapped the wall and turned down towards the apron. Logano was right behind him and was unable to avoid hitting his teammate. Keselowski put the crash down to the weather, saying that "it was a really light sprinkle, the track was barely dry" and "that the car just took off on me", while also stating that he was disappointed to make contact with teammate Logano after his car "moved crazy sideways".


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
Logano stated that the crash "happened quick, obviously" and that "you get early in this race and kind of want to settle in and just starting to get the top worked in a little bit there and Brad just got loose underneath that lapped car". To add insult to injury for the Penske duo, the rain returned just moments later that red-flagged the race on lap 22.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
Prior to the restart, Erik Jones made his unofficial debut in the Sprint Cup Series when he replaced Denny Hamlin – who had suffered a muscle spasm – in the No. 11 car. During the race telecast, Hamlin stated that the injury had occurred during the race; he had "just pulled something in my neck to upper back about lap 12" and that he had "stretched it out and we've been working on it the last few hours".


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
By stepping out the car, Hamlin also explained that "it's just better to have Erik come here and run some laps, get used to these Cup cars. We know where he is going to be in a few years". Jones, who had competed in the Xfinity Series race the previous day, had already flown back to Charlotte, North Carolina when he received a text message from an unnamed crew member of the No. 11 car to be prepared to fly back down to Bristol.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Start
"I got a text from one of the crew members and they let me know that I might need to be on standby," Jones said. "Right then I started packing a bag. I called my dad and said, 'Hey, I think I might be getting to run a Cup race tonight.' He was like, 'Okay, cool keep me updated.' Took off right from there and flew here and helicoptered in and got in and drove." He arrived by helicopter at the track just five minutes before the race restarted. Jones piloted the car to a 26th-place finish, which was credited to Hamlin as he had started the race.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Restart
While the race was still under its first caution, the scoring pylon and digital leaderboards all changed the positions to 24 on the 24th lap in honor of Jeff Gordon. The race restarted shortly after 7:00 p.m. on lap 35 with Kevin Harvick in the lead. The race proceeded orderly until the second caution of the race flew on lap 61 – a scheduled competition caution because of the rain. Kurt Busch took the lead from his teammate Harvick, when Harvick pitted on the backstretch. Greg Biffle opted not to pit and assumed the lead, while Brett Moffitt and David Ragan had to start from the rear of the field, after both were caught speeding on pit road.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Green flag run
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.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Green flag run
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.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Green flag run
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.


2015 Food City 500, Race, First-half, Green flag run
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.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Halfway
After a 16-minute delay, the race restarted on lap 278; no sooner had the race restarted before an incident in turn 4 brought out the fifth caution. Going into turn 3, Kurt Busch pushed up into Jimmie Johnson on his outside; Johnson made moderate contact with the wall, while Busch spun out in front of the oncoming field. Other than a few pushed in fenders and Alex Bowman spinning out behind Busch, there was no major damage.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 292. Martin Truex, Jr. cut down his left-front tire after making contact with Mike Bliss exiting turn 2. The sixth caution of the race flew on lap 310 for a multi-car wreck in turn 1. Jeb Burton got turned into the wall by Johnson. David Ragan crashed into the back of Johnson and then T-boned the side of Burton's car, while Johnson slid down the track. Kevin Harvick, who was running third in the race at the time, could not stop in time, got sideways and crashed into Ragan. Ragan described the incident as "when you race back there with the squirrels, you find a nut sometimes" but that was "just Bristol" and "one of those things you have in short track racing". Kurt Busch was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and restarted from the tail-end of the field.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Halfway
The race restarted on lap 325. A piece of metal that had fallen off Danica Patrick's car in turn 1 brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 344. Edwards swapped the lead with teammate Matt Kenseth on pit road, but Kyle Larson opted not to pit and assumed the lead. The race restarted on lap 350. The eighth caution of the race flew on lap 367 for a heavy crash involving Cassill. Trying to get around him on the front stretch, Larson moved up and clipped Cassill's car. He clipped J. J. Yeley, who in turn, crashed into the turn 1 wall. He got out of the car unaided.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted on lap 381. Matt Kenseth caught up to Kyle Larson and the two battled for the lead for a good ten laps before Larson began to pull away with 81 laps to go. He hit pit road with 64 laps to go and Kenseth took back the lead. Kurt Busch went to the bottom of Kenseth, and used Martin Truex. Jr. as a pick to take the lead with 56 laps to go. After being down two laps at one point during the race, Jeff Gordon muscled his way into third with 50 laps to go.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Fourth quarter
The ninth caution of the race flew with 29 laps to go for a multi-car wreck in turn 4. In a classic Bristol accordion effect, it started when Jamie McMurray blew a right-front tire running next to the wall in turn 3. Josh Wise, who was running right behind him, rear-ended him and was in turn, rear-ended by Clint Bowyer. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. was slowing down to avoid the wreck ahead when he was hit in the rear by Erik Jones, before Michael Annett rear-ended Jones. Danica Patrick, who was also trying to avoid the wreck, got hit in the rear and turned by Michael McDowell. Bowyer sprained his wrist trying to avoid hitting Wise again. Busch was the only driver to pit under the caution, and Kenseth assumed the lead.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Fourth quarter
The race restarted with 19 laps to go, but the 10th caution of the race flew the following lap for a multi-car wreck on the backstretch. Tony Stewart clipped Kasey Kahne who turned down into A. J. Allmendinger. Both drivers hit the inside wall before turning back onto the racing surface taking out Casey Mears and Truex, Jr. in the process. The race restarted with eight laps to go, before the 11th caution of the race flew with six laps to go for another multi-car wreck on the backstretch.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Fourth quarter
In another classic Bristol accordion effect, Edwards got loose exiting turn 2 and made contact with the wall. Kurt Busch had no time to react and crashed into him. Justin Allgaier clipped and turned with Paul Menard trying to avoid Edwards' car. Sam Hornish, Jr. got turned by Matt DiBenedetto while trying to avoid the wreck. After several laps under yellow – taking the race beyond its scheduled 500-lap distance – the race was red flagged for the third time on lap 505 as rain returned to the track again.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Second-half, Fourth quarter
The top three cars were borderline on fuel with the fuel window being 130 laps and their last stop being over 20 laps more than the window. The cars were brought down pit road after the race was suspended. After an additional 20-minute delay, the field began rolling off pit road. After three laps, the race restarted and pole-sitter Matt Kenseth took the victory on a green–white–checker finish, his first victory in 51 races going back to 2013.


2015 Food City 500, Race, Post-race, Driver comments
In Victory Lane, Kenseth was pleased at ending his 18-month streak, stating that he was "glad we were able to finish this tonight and we had the car to stay ahead at the end", while also stating that "it was a crazy night for sure but it feels good to be back here in Victory Lane". In second place was Jimmie Johnson, who described the race as "a wild night", but praised his team for all their hard work and was "thrilled to get such a great finish here at really one of the tougher tracks for me as a driver".


2015 Food City 500, Media, Television
Fox Sports covered their 15th race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip, the all-time wins leader at Bristol Motor Speedway with twelve victories, had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Chris Neville, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the pit road duties.


2015 Food City 500, Media, Radio
PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini called the race in the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Rob Albright called the race from atop the suites in turn 3 when the field was racing down the backstretch. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road for PRN.


2015 Football Championship of Sumy Oblast
The 2015 Football Championship of Sumy Oblast was won by Ahrobiznes-TSK Romny.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season
The Football Federation Tasmania 2015 season was the third season under the new competition format in Tasmania. The competition consists of three major divisions across the State of Tasmania,  created from the teams in the previous structure. The overall champion for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2015.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 NPL Tasmania
The 2015 T-League season was played as a triple round-robin over 21 rounds.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 NPL Tasmania, League Cup
An end of season finals series for the Victory Cup was held using an expanded format, which included the top six teams from the Victory League as well as the premiers from the Northern Championship (Somerset) and Southern Championship (University of Tasmania). The quarter-final and semi-final matches were decided by random draw.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian Championships, 2015 Northern Championship
The 2015 Northern Championship is the third edition of the newly renamed Northern Championship as the second level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (third level overall in Australia). The league consists of 8 teams, playing 21 matches.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian Championships, 2015 Southern Championship
The 2015 Southern Championship is the third edition of the newly renamed Southern Championship as the second level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (third level overall in Australia). All teams will play 2 complete rounds until Round 16. At the end of Round 16 the top 4 teams will play an additional round against each other. The next 4 teams will also play each other an additional time. The team finishing last will not continue after Round 16.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League One, 2015 Northern League One
The 2015 Northern League One was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League One as the third level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (fourth level overall in Australia). 8 teams competed, all playing each other twice for a total of 21 matches.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League One, 2015 Southern League One
The 2015 Southern League One was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League One as the third level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (fourth level overall in Australia). All teams will play 2 complete rounds until Round 16. At the end of Round 16 the top 4 teams will play an additional round against each other. The next 4 teams will also play each other an additional time. The team finishing last will not continue after Round 16.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Two, 2015 Northern League Two
The 2015 Northern League Two was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League Two as the fourth level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (fifth level overall in Australia). 6 teams competed, all playing each other four times for a total of 20 matches. No teams were promoted or relegated this season.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Two, 2015 Northern League Two
NBSeveral matches were postponed and subsequently could not be played.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Two, 2015 Southern League Two
The 2015 Southern League Two was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League Two as the fourth level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (fifth level overall in Australia). 5 teams competed, all playing each other five times for a total of 20 matches. Derwent United were selected to join the Southern Championship at the end of the season.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Two, 2015 Southern League Two
NBTwo matches were postponed and subsequently could not be played.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Three, 2015 Southern League Three
The 2015 Southern League Three was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League Three as the fifth level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (sixth level overall in Australia). 9 teams competed, all playing each other twice during a total of 16 matches.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Four, 2015 Southern League Four
The 2015 Southern League Four was the third edition of the new Tasmanian League Four as the sixth level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (seventh level overall in Australia). 10 teams competed, all playing each other twice for a total of 18 rounds.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Men's Competitions, 2015 Tasmanian League Five, 2015 Southern League Five
The 2015 Southern League Five was the first edition of the new Tasmanian League Five as the seventh level domestic association football competition in Tasmania (eighth level overall in Australia). 7 teams competed, all playing each other three times, for a total of 18 rounds.


2015 Football Federation Tasmania season, Cup Competitions
The Milan Lakoseljac Cup competition also served as the Tasmanian Preliminary Rounds for the 2015 FFA Cup. South Hobart entered at the Round of 32, where they were eliminated.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season
The 2015 Football Federation Victoria season was the second season under the new competition format for state-level football (soccer) in Victoria. The competition consisted of seven divisions across the state of Victoria.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, League Tables, 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria
The 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria season was played over 26 rounds. The overall premier of this division qualified for the 2015 National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues champion for 2015.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, League Tables, 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria 1, West
The 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 West was played over 28 rounds, with each team playing the teams in their conference twice and the other conference once. The top team at the end of the season was promoted to National Premier Leagues Victoria, Bentleigh Greens second placed team entered the promotion play-off.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, League Tables, 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria 1, East
The 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 East was played over 28 rounds, with each team playing the teams in their conference twice and the other conference once. The top team at the end of the season was promoted to National Premier Leagues Victoria, whilst the second placed team entered the promotion play-off.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, League Tables, 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria 1, Grand Final
The NPL1 Season concluded with a single match between the winners of the leagues in the West and East sections, to determine the NPL1 Victoria Champion.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, League Tables, 2015 Women's Premier League
This was the final season of the WPL format, known for sponsorship reasons as the Sportsmart Women's Premier League. This competition was replaced by the National Premier Leagues Victoria Women.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, Cup Competitions, 2015 Dockerty Cup
Football Victoria soccer clubs competed in 2015 for the Dockerty Cup. The tournament doubled as the Victorian qualifiers for the 2015 FFA Cup, with the top four clubs progressing to the Round of 32. A total of 191 clubs entered the qualifying phase, with the clubs entering in a staggered format.


2015 Football Federation Victoria season, Cup Competitions, 2015 Dockerty Cup
In addition to the two A-League clubs (Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City), the four semi-finalists (Heidelberg United, Hume City, Oakleigh Cannons and South Melbourne) competed in the final rounds of the 2015 FFA Cup.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final
The 2015 Football League Championship play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 25 May 2015 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Middlesbrough and Norwich City. The match was to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to the  Premier League.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final
The top two teams of the 2014–15 Football League Championship season gained automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table partook in play-off semi-finals; Norwich ended the season in third place while Middlesbrough finished fourth. The winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2015–16 season in the Premier League. Winning the game was estimated to be worth around £120 million to the successful team.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final
The 2015 final, refereed by Mike Dean, was watched by a crowd of more than 85,000 people in relatively sunny conditions. Norwich City won 2–0, with goals from Cameron Jerome and Nathan Redmond within the first fifteen minutes of the first half. It was Norwich's first game at Wembley since winning the 1985 Football League Cup Final and marked their return to the Premier League for the first time since their relegation in the 2013–14 season.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final
Norwich were relegated back to the Championship the following season, as they finished 19th in the 2015–16 Premier League. Middlesbrough finished the following season in second place and were automatically promoted to the Premier League for the 2016–17 season.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Route to the final
Norwich City finished the regular 2014–15 season in third place in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system, one place ahead of Middlesbrough. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Premier League and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Norwich finished three points behind Watford (who were promoted in second place) and four behind league winners Bournemouth. Middlesbrough ended the season one point behind Norwich.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Route to the final
Middlesbrough faced Brentford in their play-off semi-final, with the first leg being held at Griffin Park. Jelle Vossen gave the visitors a first-half lead with a header from an Adam Clayton cross but Andre Gray equalised eleven minutes into the second half after taking the ball from Middlesbrough goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos. Brentford dominated the second half but deep into injury time, Fernando Amorebieta struck the winner and the game ended 2–1. The second leg, at the Riverside Stadium, once again saw Brentford dominate possession, but goals for Middlesbrough from Lee Tomlin, Kike and Albert Adomah meant the game ended 3–0 and the Teesside club qualified for the final 5–1 on aggregate.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Route to the final
Norwich City's semi-final opponents were local rivals Ipswich Town with the first leg being held at Portman Road. Jonny Howson put Norwich in the lead but Paul Anderson equalised in first-half injury time, and with no further goals, the match ended 1–1. The second leg, at Carrow Road, was goalless at half time, but four minutes into the second half, Ipswich's defender Christophe Berra conceded a penalty after he deliberately blocked Nathan Redmond's shot with his hand. Berra was shown a red card and Norwich took the lead through Wes Hoolahan's successful spot kick. Tommy Smith equalised with half an hour to go but goals from Redmond and Cameron Jerome ensured a 3–1 win on the day and a 4–2 aggregate victory for Norwich.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Background
This was Norwich's second Championship play-off final, having lost the 2002 Football League First Division play-off Final at the Millennium Stadium against Birmingham City on penalties. Middlesbrough were making their fifth trip to Wembley Stadium, having lost all four previous matches, the 1990 Full Members' Cup Final, the 1997 Football League Cup Final, the 1997 FA Cup Final and the 1998 Football League Cup Final. However they did win the 1988 Football League Second Division play-off Final on aggregate against First Division Chelsea, which was determined over two legs, at their respective grounds.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Background
During the regular season, Norwich had lost both times against Middlesbrough: a 4–0 defeat at the Riverside in November 2014, their heaviest of the season, was followed by a 1–0 loss at Carrow Road in April 2015, a game which consigned Norwich to the play-offs. Patrick Bamford, on loan from Chelsea, was Middlesbrough's top scorer with 17 goals and had also been recently selected as the "Championship Player of the Year" at the recent Football League Awards, while Norwich's Jerome had scored the most for his team with 20. The Teesside club's Konstantopoulos had also kept more clean sheets than any other goalkeeper.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Background
On 19 May Wembley Stadium apologised to Middlesbrough supporters for issuing tickets with the team's name misspelled as "Middlesborough". Norwich received an allocation of 38,888 tickets in the East End of Wembley which were sold exclusively to season ticket holders and club members, while Middlesbrough were allocated 38,000 in the West End. The final was refereed by Mike Dean, with assistant referees Stuart Burt and Simon Long, and Roger East acting as the fourth official. It was reported in the media and press that the match was worth around £120 million to the winning club over three years through sponsorship and television deals. Norwich were considered narrow favourites by bookmakers to win the match which was broadcast in the UK on Sky Sports.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Background
Middlesbrough's team bus was delayed and required a police escort to assist its passage to Wembley, where it arrived shortly after 2 p.m.  Norwich City's starting eleven was unchanged from their second semi-final leg victory over Ipswich, and Lewis Grabban was named as a substitute, returning from suspension. Bamford returned to Middlesbrough's starting lineup having recovered from an ankle injury picked up in the first leg of the semi-finals against Brentford and replaced Kike.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, First half
Norwich kicked the match off at around 3 p.m. in relatively sunny conditions in front of a crowd of 85,656. In the 3rd minute, Norwich's Bradley Johnson narrowly missed Redmond's cross. Five minutes later Steven Whittaker's ball into the box evaded Johnson, who then struck the bar from 18 yards (16 m). Middlesbrough broke away and Vossen hit Norwich's bar from 25 yards (23 m). Former Leicester City player Steve Claridge, working on BBC Radio 5 Live suggested that "you will not get two sweeter strikes. They were marvellous strikes! What a brilliant passage of play."


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, First half
In the 12th minute, Jerome took the ball from Middlesbrough's Daniel Ayala and took it into the box, bringing Konstantopoulos out and allowing the Norwich striker to beat him at the near post. Three minutes later, Whittaker passed the ball into Middlesbrough's penalty area, allowing Redmond to run on to it and score, making it 2–0. Former Blackpool manager Ian Holloway opined: "Norwich's play looks like Premier League ... Middlesbrough seemed to have been knocked sideways." In the 23rd minute, Middlesbrough won their first corner but the delivery from their captain Grant Leadbitter was cleared by Norwich. Vossen headed wide for Middlesbrough on 27 minutes and nine minutes later, he was off-target with another header. Two minutes of additional time were played before the half ended, with the East Anglian club leading 2–0.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Second half
Middlesbrough made a half-time substitution, the first replacement of the match, with Emilio Nsue coming on for Dean Whitehead. The first opportunity of the half fell to Norwich's Hoolahan whose shot was tame. Ayala then headed over from a corner after a cross from Adomah was deflected out by Sébastien Bassong. In the 56th minute, Vossen was booked for diving, and three minutes later, Bamford's shot was saved by the Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy. Howson was then shown a yellow card for a foul on Tomlin, before another Adomah cross is cleared by Norwich.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Second half
In the 68th minute, Middlesbrough made their second substitution, replacing Vossen with Kike. Two minutes later, after Bamford missed a chance on a through ball, Kike's ball into the box failed to find any teammates. Norwich made a double substitution in the 74th minute, with Grabban and Graham Dorrans coming on for Jerome and Hoolahan. Five minutes after his introduction, Dorrans' advance was stopped illegally by Kike and the resulting free kick was sent wide of the post by Redmond. Middlesbrough's claim for a penalty in the 81st minute after an alleged handball were dismissed by the referee Mike Dean.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Match, Second half
Ayala's header then beat Ruddy but was cleared off the line by Grabban to maintain Norwich's advantage. With three minutes of regular time remaining, Norwich made their third and final substitution, with Redmond being replaced by Gary O'Neil. Four minutes of additional time were played and the match ended with Norwich winning 2–0 and promotion back to the Premier League.


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Post-match
The Norwich captain Russell Martin described his team's performance as "our best of the season so far". His teammate Jerome noted that Norwich and Middlesbrough "were both unlucky to miss out on automatic promotion ... We moved the ball well and we were deserved winners." Their manager, Alex Neil observed that "big players arrive on the big stage and you saw that in the first 20 minutes – we were unbelievable." Middlesbrough's head coach Aitor Karanka was graceful in defeat, acknowledging that Norwich "played better, they didn't make mistakes, we made two mistakes, and in a final you pay for those mistakes."


2015 Football League Championship play-off Final, Post-match
Norwich ended the next season in 19th position in the 2015–16 Premier League, and were relegated back to the Championship. Middlesbrough finished the following season in second place in the 2015–16 Football League Championship, securing automatic promotion to the Premier League for the 2017–18 season.


2015 Football League Cup Final
The 2015 Football League Cup Final was a football match that took place on 1 March 2015 at Wembley Stadium, London. It was the final match of the 2014–15 Football League Cup, the 55th season of the Football League Cup, a competition for the 92 teams in the Premier League and the Football League.


2015 Football League Cup Final
It was contested by Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in a repeat of the 2008 Football League Cup Final, which the latter team won. Chelsea won 2–0 in the 2015 final, with a goal from captain John Terry at the end of the first half, and a second from Diego Costa in the 56th minute. It was Chelsea's fifth League Cup win, and their first silverware in the second managerial spell of José Mourinho at the club. Chelsea qualified for the next season's UEFA Europa League by winning the match, but eventually qualified for the UEFA Champions League by winning the Premier League. The Europa League place went to Liverpool, who finished sixth in the Premier League.


2015 Football League Cup Final
Mourinho expressed delight in winning another trophy in his career, while Terry spoke of optimism for Chelsea's future prospects. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino declared pride in his side despite their defeat.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Background
Chelsea were playing in their seventh League Cup final, having won four, most recently in 2007. Their most recent appearance in the final was the first at Wembley, which they lost in 2008 to Tottenham. The game was Chelsea's first domestic cup final since their victory in the 2012 FA Cup Final. Incumbent Chelsea manager José Mourinho was in charge in their League Cup wins in 2005 and 2007, and squad members Petr Čech, John Terry and Didier Drogba played in both finals, with the latter scoring in both victories. All three also played in the 2008 defeat by Tottenham.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Background
Tottenham were making their eighth appearance in the final, having won four previous times, last of which was in 2008. The 2008 final was the first at Wembley and was won against Chelsea. Tottenham's most recent appearance was a defeat against Manchester United in a penalty shootout the following year. Of their squad in the 2014–15 season, captain Younès Kaboul was an extra-time substitute in their 2008 victory, while Aaron Lennon – on loan at Everton at the time of the 2015 final – started that match and the defeat in 2009.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Background
The two teams also played at the old Wembley in the 1967 FA Cup Final, which Tottenham won 2–1. Tottenham's most recent appearance at Wembley was also against Chelsea, a 5–1 defeat in an FA Cup semi-final in 2012.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Background
By the time of the final, Chelsea and Tottenham had already played each other twice during the league season. On 3 December 2014, Chelsea hosted a 3–0 win, with goals from Eden Hazard, Didier Drogba and substitute Loïc Rémy, despite missing leading scorer Diego Costa through suspension. Tottenham won the reverse fixture 5–3 only 29 days later, with Harry Kane scoring twice among further goals from Danny Rose, Andros Townsend (penalty) and Nacer Chadli.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Chelsea
Chelsea, of the Premier League, began their League Cup campaign in the third round, where they were drawn at home against Bolton Wanderers of the Championship. Defender Kurt Zouma, making his debut, opened the scoring, but Bolton equalised six minutes later through a Matt Mills header. Ten minutes after the start of the second half, Oscar put Chelsea back into the lead and they won 2–1, dominating the match with 28 shots to Bolton's 3.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Chelsea
In the fourth round, Chelsea travelled to the New Meadow to face Shrewsbury Town of League Two. Three minutes after play resumed from a goalless first half, Didier Drogba's half-volley gave Chelsea the lead, but Shrewsbury gained an equaliser from substitute Andy Mangan. With nine minutes to play, Chelsea regained the advantage when Shrewsbury defender Jermaine Grandison deflected a shot from Willian.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Chelsea
Chelsea again were the away team to a lower opponent in the quarter-finals, facing Derby County of the Championship. In the first half, Eden Hazard gave Chelsea the lead, later doubled by a Filipe Luís free kick, the full-back's first for Chelsea. Craig Bryson halved the deficit for Derby, but soon afterwards defender Jake Buxton was sent off for a foul on Loïc Rémy and André Schürrle scored the final goal of a 3–1 Chelsea win. In the semi-final, Chelsea beat Liverpool 2–1 on aggregate after Branislav Ivanović scored the winning goal in the first half of extra time in the second leg, heading in Willian's free kick.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham, also of the Premier League, began by facing Nottingham Forest at White Hart Lane. After a goalless first half, Jorge Grant gave the visitors from the Championship the lead in the 65th minute. Substitute Ryan Mason equalised six minutes later, and Spurs eventually won 3–1 after two late goals from Roberto Soldado and another substitute, Harry Kane.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham hosted another second-tier opponent in the fourth round, Brighton & Hove Albion, and went into the lead through Erik Lamela, a half-time replacement for Aaron Lennon. Kane later confirmed a 2–0 victory.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Route to the final, Tottenham Hotspur
In the quarter-finals, Tottenham again played at home, against top-flight Newcastle United. Away goalkeeper Jak Alnwick made a mistake which allowed Nabil Bentaleb to give Spurs a half-time lead. Nacer Chadli doubled it 36 seconds into the second half. Kane and his replacement Soldado also scored in the 4–0 victory. Tottenham's semi-final against League One club Sheffield United started with a 1–0 home win, Andros Townsend converting a penalty won by Jay McEveley's handball. A week later in the second leg at Bramall Lane, Tottenham doubled their aggregate lead with Christian Eriksen's free kick, but in the second half 18-year-old substitute Ché Adams scored twice to equalise the aggregate. With two minutes remaining, Eriksen scored his second to put Tottenham into the final.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Pre-match
Tottenham were eliminated from the last 32 of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League by Fiorentina three days before the final, leading manager Mauricio Pochettino to say that the team needed to recover quickly.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Pre-match
Chelsea manager José Mourinho used his pre-match interview to state that his previous wins in the tournament had changed the way that clubs approach the League Cup: "Lots of teams have followed us since then when we took the League Cup as a real competition, as a real challenge. It is a big competition." He separated the final from the league season, saying, "I don't think if we win the cup final we will win the league, or if we lose it we will lose the league."


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Pre-match
He refused to discuss the suspension of Matić, dismissing it with "If I speak to you about that, I promise you I will be in big trouble". Despite opining that the two teams and the match officials would act fairly, he criticised players who dive, despite not naming any names. Mourinho also claimed that in after leaving Chelsea for the first time in September 2007, he was approached to manage Tottenham by chairman Daniel Levy, and again in 2012.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Team selection
Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matić was suspended for the final, due to a two-match ban he received for pushing over Burnley's Ashley Barnes in a league match on 21 February 2015. Another central midfielder for the club, John Obi Mikel, missed the match through a knee injury. Due to Matić's absence, Kurt Zouma – usually a central defender – moved into defensive midfield, with Gary Cahill introduced into Zouma's previous position.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Team selection
Chelsea made four other changes from their draw with Burnley: Petr Čech started in goal in place of Thibaut Courtois, César Azpilicueta at left-back instead of Filipe Luís, and Ramires and Willian came into the midfield at the expense of Juan Cuadrado and Oscar. Chelsea set up with a three-man attack, with Eden Hazard and Willian wide of Diego Costa.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Team selection
Tottenham's second-choice goalkeeper Michel Vorm had played all of their fixtures on their way to the final, but was dropped to the bench and replaced with Hugo Lloris for the decisive game. Compared to their defeat at Fiorentina, Tottenham made three changes in defence, with only Jan Vertonghen retaining his place – Vlad Chiricheș, Federico Fazio and Ben Davies were replaced by Kyle Walker, Eric Dier and Danny Rose, with Chiricheș not even featuring on the substitutes' bench. Defensive midfielder Benjamin Stambouli and attacking midfielder Erik Lamela were replaced by Ryan Mason and Andros Townsend respectively, with the lone striker position changing from Roberto Soldado to Harry Kane.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Summary
In the 10th minute, Christian Eriksen had the first meaningful shot, hitting the crossbar with a 25-yard free kick for Tottenham. Twenty minutes later, Eric Dier was given the game's first yellow card for a foul on Diego Costa. At the end of the first half, Chelsea won a free kick on their right side when Branislav Ivanović was pulled down by Nacer Chadli. Willian took the free kick, which arrived at Kurt Zouma, played it down to captain John Terry. Terry's shot – Chelsea's first on target – went past Hugo Lloris due to a deflection by Dier. In added time at the end of the first half, Gary Cahill had a header from a corner, which was caught by Lloris.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Match, Summary
Neither side made a substitution at half time. In the 56th minute, Cesc Fàbregas – who had a bicycle kick saved by Lloris – set up Diego Costa, whose shot from the left of the area deflected off Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker and into the net to double Chelsea's advantage. After conceding their second goal, Tottenham made a series of attacking substitutions – Andros Townsend, Ryan Mason and Chadli made way for Mousa Dembélé, Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado respectively – but could not change the score. In the 74th minute, Dier's knee caught César Azpilicueta, drawing blood; the Chelsea left-back left the pitch to be bandaged and returned two minutes later. There were four minutes of added time, in which Chelsea substituted Costa for Didier Drogba.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
Mourinho was pleased to have won the final, earning the 21st trophy of his managerial career: "I am like a kid winning the first one, it's hard for me to live without titles. I need to feed myself with them." Terry was optimistic about the club's prospects for the future, saying, "It is the start of something... we've got a great squad, with some great young players, and hungry and experienced players too. It's a great mix." Although praising the atmosphere at Wembley, Terry ruled out returning to the England team, for whom he had not played since 2012. Despite losing, Pochettino expressed pride in his team's performance.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
Matić took part in Chelsea's trophy ceremony in full kit despite being suspended, similar to what Terry had done after Chelsea won the 2012 UEFA Champions League Final with him suspended. Mourinho did not concur with the official man of the match award going to Terry, stating that the honour should have gone to Thibaut Courtois and Filipe Luís for their performances against Liverpool, and Andreas Christensen for his performance against Shrewsbury Town.


2015 Football League Cup Final, Post-match
Chelsea qualified for the next season's UEFA Europa League by winning the match. As they qualified for the UEFA Champions League by winning the Premier League, the Europa League place went to Liverpool, who finished sixth in the Premier League.


2015 Football League One play-off Final
The 2015 Football League One play-off Final was an association football match which was played on 24 May 2015 at Wembley Stadium, London, between Preston North End and Swindon Town to determine the third and final team to gain promotion from League One to the Championship. The top two teams of the 2014–15 League One season gained automatic promotion to the Championship, while the teams placed from third to sixth place in the table partook in play-off semi-finals; the winners of these semi-finals competed for the final place for the 2015–16 season in the Championship.


2015 Football League One play-off Final
It was the first time that Preston had ever been promoted through the play-offs, having failed in their nine previous attempts and losing in all three final appearances. Swindon had won three of their four previous play-off finals. A Wembley Stadium crowd of more than 48,000 people watched the game, which was refereed by Andrew Madley. Preston's Jermaine Beckford, who was on loan from Bolton Wanderers, opened the scoring after four minutes and Paul Huntington doubled the lead on thirteen minutes.


2015 Football League One play-off Final
Beckford scored again just before the end of the first half, and completed his hat-trick twelve minutes into the second half, becoming the third player to score three or more goals in a play-off final held at Wembley. Despite dominating possession throughout, Swindon were unable to score, and the match ended 4–0 in Preston's favour.


2015 Football League One play-off Final
Swindon ended the following season in sixteenth place in League One, fifteen points outside the play-off places and thirteen points above the relegation zone. Preston's next season saw them finish in eleventh place in the EFL Championship, twelve points below the play-offs and twenty-two points above the relegation zone.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Route to the final
Preston North End finished the regular 2014–15 season in third place in League One, the third tier of the English football league system, one place ahead of Swindon Town. Both therefore missed out on the two automatic places for promotion to the Championship and instead took part in the play-offs to determine the third promoted team. Preston finished two points behind Milton Keynes Dons (who were promoted in second place) and ten behind league winners Bristol City. Swindon ended the season ten points behind Preston.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Route to the final
Swindon's opponents for the play-off semi-final were Sheffield United and the first leg was played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Kieron Freeman put the home side into the lead on 17 minutes with a half-volley, while Swindon's Ben Gladwin saw his penalty saved eleven minutes later. Sam Ricketts equalised for the visitors with a header but Nathan Byrne's low strike in injury time from 18 yards (16 m) beat Mark Howard to ensure Swindon won the match 2–1. The return leg was held at Swindon's County Ground four days later.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Route to the final
Gladwin scored twice in the opening ten minutes before  Michael Smith further extended Swindon's lead to 3–0. Nathan Thompson scored an own goal a minute later, and United's Chris Basham's header made it 3–2 in Swindon's favour at half time. Smith scored his second, and Swindon's fourth of the match, from the penalty spot, before Steven Davies pulled one back for United. Jon Obika's 84th minute goal made it 5–3, but late goals from Matt Done and Ché Adams ensured the game ended level at 5–5, with Swindon qualifying for the play-off final 7–6 on aggregate. It was the highest scoring play-off semi-final in history, and was described by Swindon's manager Mark Cooper as "a freak of a game ... we kept scoring, they kept scoring and it was a ridiculous game of football."


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Route to the final
Preston North End faced Chesterfield in their semi-final play-off, and the first leg was played at the Proact Stadium, Chesterfield. Jermaine Beckford, on loan at Preston from Bolton Wanderers since November 2014, scored early in the first half for the visiting team, and despite second-half dominance by Chesterfield, no further goals were scored and the match ended 1–0. The second leg was played three days later at Preston's Deepdale. Beckford opened the scoring late in the first half, before a penalty from Joe Garner doubled Preston's lead on the day. With three minutes remaining in regular time, Beckford scored his second, this time from the halfway line, and the game ended 3–0, meaning that Preston progressed to the final with a 4–0 aggregate victory.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Background
This was Preston North End's tenth attempt to be promoted via the play-offs, with their three previous finals all ending in defeat. They lost the 1994 Third Division play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers 4–2, the 2001 First Division play-off final 3–0 to Bolton Wanderers, and the 2005 Championship play-off final 1–0 against West Ham United. Swindon had experienced victory and defeat in play-off finals, and this was their fifth final appearance.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Background
They won the two-legged 1987 Third Division play-off final against Gillingham, although it required a replay at a neutral venue after the first two matches ended in an aggregate draw. Swindon then won the 1990 Second Division play-off final 1–0 against Sunderland, although they were not promoted as a result of financial irregularities throughout the 1989–90 season. In the 1993 First Division play-off final, Swindon did secure promotion to the top tier of English football with a 4–3 victory over Leicester City.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Background
The club's most recent play-off final was when they lost 1–0 to Millwall in the 2010 League One play-off final. In the two league matches played between the clubs during the regular season, Swindon won 1–0 at home in November 2014 but lost 3–0 at Preston the following April. Preston's Garner was the league's highest scorer with 25 goals before the play-offs, while Andy Williams was Swindon's top marksman with 21.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Background
Preston were aiming to be promoted back to the second tier of English having spent four seasons in League One. Swindon had been promoted as champions from League Two in the 2011–12 season but failed to progress past the semi-finals in the 2013 Football League play-offs and had played in League One for two seasons. Preston were favourites to win, according to bookmakers. The match was broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Background
The referee for the match was Andrew Madley, representing the West Yorkshire Association Football League, with assistants Dan Cook and Wade Norcott, and Mark Haywood acting as the fourth official. Preston were allocated 30,035 seats in the West End of Wembley Stadium, while Swindon's allocation was 30,485 in the East End. Preston named an unchanged starting line-up from the team who won the second leg of the semi-final against Chesterfield. There were two changes for Swindon, Obika and Harry Toffolo were chosen ahead of Jermaine Hylton and Ricketts. Both teams wore their traditional home kits for the match, with Preston in white and Swindon in red.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, First half
Swindon kicked the match off around 5:30 p.m. in front of a Wembley Stadium crowd of 48,236. Preston's Beckford was fouled by Thompson after two minutes. The resulting free kick from Paul Gallagher was swept into the Swindon net by Beckford, making it 1–0 to Preston. Thompson was injured during the goal and was stretchered off the pitch, forcing Swindon to make an early substitution, with Ricketts coming on to replace him. On 6 minutes, Garner passed to Gallagher whose shot was blocked.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, First half
Seven minutes later, Gallagher's corner was initially cleared back to him, but his subsequent cross was converted by Paul Huntington from 5 yards (4.6 m), doubling Preston's lead after thirteen minutes. In the 23rd minute, Swindon defender Jack Stephens set off on a run, beat the Preston midfielder John Welsh with a step over, but his shot was deflected. Five minutes later, Gallagher went down with a foot injury and despite being able to continue briefly, he was replaced in the 37th minute by Alan Browne.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, First half
With two minutes of the half remaining, Swindon's Smith came close to halving the deficit but his header from Byrne's cross went wide from 2 yards (1.8 m). In the 44th minute, Garner won a flick-on, allowing Beckford to run onto it. After a Cruyff Turn, he curled a left-footed shot into the far corner to make it 3–0 to Preston at half time, despite Swindon having almost two-thirds of the possession.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Second half
No changes were made at half-time and Preston kicked off the second half. On 50 minutes, Garner's through ball was picked up by Beckford but his shot was turned behind by Wes Foderingham in the Swindon goal. Three minutes later, Yaser Kasim received the first yellow card of the game for kicking Garner after also fouling him. In the 57th minute, Beckford made it 4–0 to Preston: a poor pass from Kasim was intercepted by Garner, who played the ball forward to Beckford.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Second half
He advanced on to Swindon's goal and slid the ball past an advancing Foderingham, to complete his hat-trick. In doing so, Beckford became the third player to score a hat-trick in a Wembley play-off final, after Scott Sinclair for Swansea City in the 2011 Championship play-off final and Clive Mendonca for Charlton Athletic in the 1998 First Division play-off final. Five minutes later, Swindon's appeal  for a  penalty were turned down after Calum Woods' handball in the Preston penalty area was deemed accidental.


2015 Football League One play-off Final, Match, Second half
On 65 minutes, Obika's first chance in the form of a header was easily saved by the Preston goalkeeper Sam Johnstone. A minute later Toffolo was substituted off for Swindon's top scorer Williams, before Preston made their second change of the game, with Kevin Davies on for Beckford. Davies' first chance came from a free kick in the 72nd minute, but he headed wide of the Swindon goal. Five minutes after that, he narrowly failed to convert a Garner header. With eight minutes remaining, Johnstone saved Gladwin's 25 yards (23 m) strike and a minute later prevented Obika's header from going in. After three minutes of additional time, the referee brought the game to a close, and Preston won 4–0.