2015 Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

Watkins Glen International, the track where the race was held.

Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The sports car racing facility is owned by the International Speedway Corporation. It was long known around the world as the home of the United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for 20 consecutive years (1961–1980) but since 1948, it has been home to road racing of nearly every class, such as Formula One, the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the Verizon IndyCar Series. Initially, public roads in the village were used for the race course. In 1956, a permanent circuit for the race was built. In 1968, the race was extended to six hours, earning the nickname "6 Hours of Watkins Glen". The circuit's current layout has more/less been the same since 1971, although a chicane was installed at the uphill esses in 1975 to slow cars through these corners, where there was a fatality during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. The chicane was removed in 1985, but another chicane called the "Inner Loop" was installed in 1992 after a fatal accident during the previous year's NASCAR Winston Cup event. The circuit is known as the Mecca of North American road racing and is a very popular venue among fans and drivers.

Kevin Harvick entered Watkins Glen with a 46–point lead over Joey Logano. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. entered 63 back. Jimmie Johnson entered 67 back. Martin Truex, Jr. entered 86 back.

The entry list for the Cheez-It 355 at The Glen was released on Monday, August 3 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. All but the No. 95 Leavine Family Racing Ford, driven by Michael McDowell, were entered the previous week's race at Pocono. The three driver changes for this race were Chris Buescher, making his sixth Sprint Cup Series start and first since Talladega in May, Boris Said – attempting to start the race in the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford – and T. J. Bell – making his first Cup Series start since the 2012 season – driving the No. 62 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet.

Clint Bowyer was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 1:09.412 and a speed of 127.067 mph (204.495 km/h).[12]

Jeff Gordon was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 1:09.267 and a speed of 127.333 mph (204.923 km/h).[13]

The race was scheduled to start at 2:18 p.m., but started at 2:23 p.m. when A. J. Allmendinger led the field to the green flag. On lap 3, Jimmie Johnson overshot the entrance to the inner loop and was forced to come to a complete stop before continuing. As a result, he fell from ninth to 22nd. On lap 10, Aric Almirola got loose and spun out in turn 1. Paul Menard, who took the outside line, made minor contact with him. Both drivers continued on and the race remained green. Outside polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. passed Allmendinger in turn 11 to take the lead on lap 22. That same lap, Kevin Harvick climbed his way to second, putting Allmendinger in third-place. Jeff Gordon pitted from eighth on lap 24. Debris on the backstretch brought out the first caution of the race on lap 26. The debris came from Greg Biffle's car. Cole Whitt opted not to pit and assumed the lead Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson were tagged for speeding on pit road and restarted the race from the tail-end of the field.[15]

The race restarted on lap 29. Brad Keselowski passed Whitt in turn 1 to take the lead. On the same lap, the hood of Denny Hamlin's car flew up.[16] He didn't pit that lap and was black flagged for not pitting to put the hood down.[16] As he pulled off pit road, another piece of debris flew off his car and landed in the esses.[16] This brought out the second caution of the race on lap 32.[16]

The race restarted on lap 36. Justin Allgaier got loose and spun out exiting turn 1, but the race remained green. Kyle Larson got loose and made contact with Austin Dillon on lap 42. Both went spinning in turn, but the race remained green. Debris on the backstretch brought out the third caution of the race on lap 46.[17]

The race restarted on lap 50. An accordion wreck on the front stretch brought out the fourth caution of the race. The amount of fluid on the front stretch brought out the red flag. Allmendinger's car lost power and came to a stop past turn 10. After nine minutes and three seconds, the red flag was withdrawn and the race continued under caution.[15]

The race restarted on lap 55. Kyle Busch tapped Keselowski going into turn 10 and took the lead on lap 57. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 57 when Tony Stewart came to a stop just before reaching the inner loop.[18] He jumped onto the radio and said that something broke in the drive-train. In an unrelated incident, Johnson spun out in turn 5. Matt Kenseth opted not to pit and assumed the lead, dropping Busch back to 21st.[15]

The race restarted on lap 61. Harvick passed Kenseth going up turn 2 to take the lead. Martin Truex, Jr. got out of the groove in turn 11 and made an unscheduled stop with 22 laps to go. The culprit was a flat left-front tire.[15]

Joey Logano, seen here at the 2015 Daytona 500, scored his tenth career victory at Watkins Glen International.

Harvick was still leading with ten laps to go with no guarantee of making the finish on his fuel load. Allmendinger was the first to run out as he pitted from the top ten with seven laps to go. Harvick ran out of fuel on the final lap and was passed by Logano going into turn 11 who took the checkered flag.[19]

“I was running down Harvick there for a little bit and once I got close to him he started to pick up his pace a little bit, which was good because I needed him to run out of gas,” Logano said. “I started to catch him a little bit and I drove into one too hard and started to wheel hop. I just about lost it and at that point you just hope he runs out of gas, which he did in the last corner. It makes up for last week. We lost the race last week the same way, so it makes up for it to get it this week.”[20] “I had a chance,” Kyle Busch said after finishing second. “I could’ve went up there, I could’ve raced the 22, I could’ve passed him. I felt like I was better than he was, but my crew chief called in scared on the fuel situation from last week and I don’t blame him. We definitely didn’t want to run out again. We wanted to make sure we could be there at the end.”[21] “We ran pretty good with just the way the fuel strategy worked out, we had to save a lot battling with Kevin (Harvick)," Kenseth said. "I thought (Joey Logano) and (Kyle Busch) were going to go right by me and we actually had a lot of car left."[22]

• 8 lead changes among 8 different drivers
• 5 cautions for 16 laps; 1 red flag for 9 minutes, 3 seconds
• Time of race: 2 hours, 24 minute, 43 seconds
• Average speed: 91.420 mph (147.126 km/h)
• Joey Logano took home $263,723 in winnings

• Coors Light Pole Award: A. J. Allmendinger (1:08.993, 127.839 mph (205.737 km/h))
• 3M Lap Leader: Kevin Harvick (29 laps)
• American Ethanol Green Flag Restart Award: Brad Keselowski
• Duralast Brakes "Bake In The Race" Award: Kevin Harvick
• Freescale "Wide Open": Kurt Busch
• Ingersoll Rand Power Move: Aric Almirola (4 positions)
• MAHLE Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Hendrick Engines #4
• Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Kevin Harvick (132.7 driver rating)
• Moog Steering and Suspension Problem Solver of The Race: Clint Bowyer (crew chief Billy Scott (–0.096 seconds))
• NASCAR Sprint Cup Leader Bonus: No winner: rolls over to $190,000 at next event
• Sherwin-Williams Fastest Lap: A. J. Allmendinger (Lap 5, 1:11.073, 124.098 mph (199.716 km/h))
• Sunoco Rookie of The Race: Matt DiBenedetto

NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast handled pit road on the television side.

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and two–time Watkins Glen winner Rusty Wallace called the race from the booth when the field was racing down the front stretch. Dave Moody called the race from a scaffold outside of the esses when the field was racing through turn 1 and up the esses of turns 2, 3 and 4. Mike Bagley called the race from a scaffold outside of the outer loop when the field was racing up the back straight, through the inner loop and down turn 5. Kurt Becker called the race from a spotter stand outside of the short chute when the field was racing down the short chute and rounding turns 10 and 11. Winston Kelley, Alex Hayden and Steve Post worked pit road for MRN.