2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 explained

Type:NAS
Race Name:SpongeBob SquarePants 400
Details Ref:[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Fulldate:May 9-10, 2015
Year:2015
Race No:11
Season No:36
Location:Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas
Course Mi:1.5
Course Km:2.4
Distance Laps:267
Distance Mi:400.5
Distance Km:644.542
Weather:Mostly cloudy with a temperature of 74F; wind out of the east/southeast at 15mph
Avg:125.265mph
Pole Driver:Joey Logano
Pole Team:Team Penske
Pole Time:28.067
Most Driver:Martin Truex Jr.
Most Team:Furniture Row Racing
Most Laps:95
Car:48
First Driver:Jimmie Johnson
First Team:Hendrick Motorsports
Network:Fox Sports 1
Announcers:Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip
Ratings:1.5/4 (Overnight)[10]
1.5/4 (Final)[11]
2.458 Million viewers
Radio:MRN
Booth Ann:Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace
Turn Ann:Dave Moody (1 & 2) and Kurt Becker (3 & 4)

The 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on May 9, 2015, ending shortly after midnight on May 10, 2015 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) asphalt speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Jimmie Johnson won the race, his third of the season. Kevin Harvick finished second. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third. Jeff Gordon and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

Joey Logano won the pole for the race. He led 29 laps on his way to a fifth-place finish. Martin Truex Jr. led 95 laps in the first of four straight races in which he led the most laps on his way to a ninth-place finish. The race had 16 lead changes among ten different drivers, as well as nine caution flag periods for 49 laps. There was one red flag period for two hours, 16 minutes and 30 seconds for heavy rain.

This was the 73rd career victory for Jimmie Johnson, third at Kansas Speedway and sixth at the track for Hendrick Motorsports. This win moved Johnson up to third in the points standings. Chevrolet left Kansas with a 44-point lead over Ford in the manufacturer standings.

The SpongeBob SquarePants 400 was carried by Fox Sports on the cable/satellite Fox Sports 1 network for the American television audience. The radio broadcast for the race was carried by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Report

Background

Kansas Speedway is a 1.5miles tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. It was built in 2001 and it currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The Verizon IndyCar Series also raced at here until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by the International Speedway Corporation.Kevin Harvick entered Kansas with a 40-point lead over Martin Truex Jr. after a fourth-place finish at Talladega. Jimmie Johnson entered 52 back following a runner-up finish the week before at Talladega. Joey Logano entered 59 back. Dale Earnhardt Jr. entered 75 back after winning the previous week at Talladega.

Entry list

The entry list for the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 was released on Monday, May 4 at 2:52 p.m. Eastern time. Forty-four cars were entered for the race. Erik Jones, who drove in relief of Denny Hamlin at the 2015 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, made his official Sprint Cup Series debut in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Joey Gase returned to the No. 32 Go FAS Racing Ford after Bobby Labonte drove it the previous race at Talladega Superspeedway. Ty Dillon made his first Cup start since the 2015 Daytona 500 in the No. 33 Hillman-Circle Sport LLC Chevrolet. Brett Moffitt returned to the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford that he drove in Las Vegas and Phoenix. David Ragan moved to the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota after driving the No. 18 Toyota the last nine races.

DriverTeamManufacturerSponsor
1 ChevroletMcDonald's
2 Brad Keselowski (PC3) FordAvaya
3 ChevroletDOW Chemical
4 Kevin Harvick (PC1) ChevroletJimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches
5 ChevroletGreat Clips
6 FordAdvoCare
7 ChevroletAccell Construction
9 FordMedallion Bank
10 ChevroletGoDaddy
11 ToyotaFedEx Freight
13 ChevroletSquidward Tentacles
14 Tony Stewart (PC4) ChevroletBass Pro Shops, Mobil 1
15 Toyota5-Hour Energy
16 FordCheez-It, Patrick Star
17 FordZest
18 Erik Jones (i) ToyotaM&M's Red Nose Day
19 ToyotaStanley Tools
20 Matt Kenseth (PC6) ToyotaDollar General
22 FordAAA Insurance
23 J. J. Yeley (i) ToyotaDr. Pepper "I'm a Pepper"
24 Jeff Gordon (PC7) ChevroletAmerican Red Cross
26 Jeb Burton (R) ToyotaMAXIM Fantasy Sports App
27 ChevroletMenards, Pittsburgh Paints
31 ChevroletQuicken Loans
32 Joey Gase (i) FordTri State Tower Inc., reallycheapfloors.com
33 Ty Dillon (i) ChevroletPlankton
34 Brett Moffitt (R) FordDockside Logistics
35 FordFront Row Motorsports
38 FordMDS Transport
40 Landon Cassill (i) Chevroletcarsforsale.com
41 Kurt Busch (PC5) ChevroletHaas Automation
42 ChevroletTarget
43 FordFarmland
46 ChevroletAllstate Peterbilt Group
47 ChevroletKroger, Scott Products, Dillon's Food Stores
48 Jimmie Johnson (PC2) ChevroletLowe's
51 ChevroletFraternal Order of Eagles
55 ToyotaAaron's Dream Machine "Own it.", SpongeBob SquarePants
62 Brendan Gaughan (i) ChevroletPremium Motorsports
78 ChevroletFurniture Row, Visser Precision
83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) ToyotaDustless Blasting
88 ChevroletNationwide Insurance
95 FordWRL General Contractors, Thrivent Financial, Larry the Lobster
98 FordPhil Parsons Racing
Official initial entry list
Official final entry list
KeyMeaning
(R)Rookie
(i)Ineligible for points
(PC#)Past champions provisional

Practice

First practice

Kevin Harvick was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.306 and a speed of 190.772mph.[12]

PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime
14 28.306 190.772
222 28.365 190.375
319 28.381 190.268
Official first practice results

Final practice

Erik Jones, making his official Sprint Cup Series debut, was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.227 and a speed of 191.306mph.[13] “There’s been a lot of people that have been involved over the past few weeks to get me ready for this,” Jones told Fox Sports 1. “I think a lot of it was preparing mentally, watching videos, watching tape, talking to Kyle (Busch) and my teammates and just trying to get the best information I could out of everybody. It’s pretty cool to be fastest in practice. I know it’s only practice, but it’s still pretty cool. … There’s a lot of great race car drivers. It’s just really an honor to be fastest this practice.”[13]

PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime
118 Erik Jones (i) 28.227 191.306
224 28.245 191.184
322 28.312 190.732
Official final practice results

Qualifying

Joey Logano won the pole with a time of 28.067 and a speed of 192.397mph.[14] “We just kind of swung for the fence in the last round and the car drove awesome,” said Logano, who won his twelfth career pole. “It’s not very often you get a car that’s just perfect. I came off Turn 4 and I didn’t know how to go faster than that. … It was a great run, our fourth pole of the season. We just need to rack up some more wins.”[14] “We had our best speed in our last run so that was what we were looking for,” said Kasey Kahne, who turned a lap of 191.911mph. “We’ve been getting better every week I think and that improvement will hopefully carry here to Kansas tomorrow night. We have a fast car and I’m excited.”[14] “I just couldn’t quite find the speed in the last round,” Martin Truex Jr. said. “So, the guys did a good job and we have a good starting spot for tomorrow night. This track has been good to me and hopefully we can do better than we’ve been doing. It’s been good.”[14] “We just got a little better speed in our car and this racetrack has been pretty good for us,” said Greg Biffle, who became the first Roush Fenway Racing driver to make a final round of qualifying this season. “We barely made the first round and barely made the second and then I just drove it – over drove it. I just said I was going to go for it.”[14] “It would make our life so much easier starting up front and having a good pit stall pick,” Jimmie Johnson said. “Middle of the pack……we will fire our way through there and grind it out like we always do and try and I am sure get a great finish out of it. But we know we need to get better on Fridays.”[14] Brendan Gaughan failed to qualify for the race.[14]

Qualifying results

PosDriverTeamManufacturer
122 28.139 28.251 28.067
25 28.294 28.262 28.138
32 28.240 28.198 28.146
478 28.197 28.127 28.157
519 28.075 28.146 28.187
64 28.201 28.234 28.228
716 28.356 28.291 28.270
841 28.262 28.296 28.294
91 28.149 28.218 28.387
1042 28.346 28.264 28.398
1124 28.304 28.229 28.436
1218 Erik Jones (i) 28.218 28.248 28.490
1311 28.269 28.315  —
1443 28.281 28.318  —
1531 28.359 28.338  —
1614 28.268 28.345  —
1788 28.176 28.347  —
1820 28.328 28.350  —
1948 28.296 28.379  —
2017 28.340 28.387  —
2115 28.345 28.393  —
2227 28.439 28.414  —
2355 28.445 28.457  —
2413 28.449 28.545  —
2551 28.480  —  —
269 28.506  —  —
2710 28.519  —  —
283 28.547  —  —
2947 28.584  —  —
306 28.586  —  —
3195 28.586  —  —
3233 Ty Dillon (i) 28.599  —  —
3326 Jeb Burton (R) 28.630  —  —
3435 28.762  —  —
3583 Matt DiBenedetto (R) 28.774  —  —
367 28.791  —  —
3723 J. J. Yeley (i) 28.962  —  —
3838 28.971  —  —
3934 Brett Moffitt (R) 28.976  —  —
4098 28.994  —  —
4140 Landon Cassill (i) 29.167  —  —
4232 Joey Gase (i) 29.181  —  —
4346 29.384  —  —
Failed to qualify
4462 Brendan Gaughan (i) 29.358  —  —
Official qualifying results

Race

First half

Start

The race was scheduled to start at 7:46 p.m., but the threat of weather moved the start time up to 7:36. The race started at 7:39 when Joey Logano led the field to the green flag. Going into turn 3, Jimmie Johnson got loose and about took out teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was saved by the first caution of the race flew on lap eight for a two car wreck on the backstretch and turn 4. Exiting turn 2, Jeb Burton had a left-front flat and spun out on the backstretch, however at that point the race stayed green. Teammate J. J. Yeley spun and made contact with the wall in turn 4, which caused the caution.[15]

The race restarted on lap 13. Alex Bowman dropped to the apron on the front stretch for electrical issues that dropped him to 42nd. The second caution of the race flew on lap 26. This was a scheduled competition caution. Most of the leaders took just two tires on this stop.[15]

Threat of rain

The race restarted on lap 30. Kurt Busch went ahead of Logano in turn 3 and took the lead on lap 31. Teammate Kevin Harvick passed him in turn 1 to take the lead on lap 51. Martin Truex Jr. took the lead on lap 58. He hit pit road on lap 79 to pit. This handed the lead to Brad Keselowski. He just about missed pit road trying to enter and handed the lead to Matt Kenseth. He ducked onto pit road on lap 82 and handed the lead to rookie teammate Erik Jones. The lead cycled back to Martin Truex Jr. on lap 84. Michael McDowell was tagged for speeding and served a drive-through penalty.[15]

The third caution of the race flew on lap 95 for a one car spin on the front stretch.[16] Exiting turn 4, Jeb Burton got loose and spun down through the grass.[16] Dale Earnhardt Jr. got back on the lead lap being the first car a lap down.[17] Despite having just been on pit road, all of the lead lap cars pitted. Most took just two tires. Joey Logano was tagged for his crew being over the wall too soon. He was forced to restart from the tail-end of the field. Just before the race was to restart, rain started pouring and the race was red flagged on lap 99.[18] Lightning in the area forced the spotters, camera people and fans to get to cover. The red flag lasted for two hours, 15 minutes and 30 seconds.[19]

Restart

The drivers were called back to their cars at 10:30 p.m. The engines were re-fired at 10:58. The red flag was lifted and the cars rolled off pit road at 11:00. The race restarted on lap 108. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 118 for a one car spin on the front stretch. Exiting turn 4, David Ragan got loose and spun through the grass. He came to a rest on the race logo in the middle of the front stretch. Brad Keselowski opted not to pit and took the lead.[15]

The race restarted on lap 128. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 131 for a multi-car wreck exiting turn 2. Matt Kenseth got sideways after suffering a flat left-front tire exiting 2 and was able to save it. Tony Stewart, trying to avoid Kenseth, got turned by Brett Moffitt into the wall.[20]

Second half

Halfway

The race restarted on lap 135. Brad Keselowski surrendered the lead on lap 164 to pit and handed it to Martin Truex Jr. He ducked onto pit road on lap 176. This handed the lead to Carl Edwards. The sixth caution of the race flew on lap 184 for a single car wreck in turn 3. Going through turn 3, Clint Bowyer came down on Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and spun out. He was tagged again by Stenhouse who was trying to avoid hitting him further and spun around even more.[15]

The race restarted with 77 laps to go. The seventh caution of the race flew for Erik Jones hitting the wall in the tri-oval.[21] Exiting turn 4, his car got loose.[21] He overcorrected and turned head first into the wall.[21] Jones took the car to the garage. “I learned a lot about racing upfront and racing these guys,” Jones said later on Fox Sports 1. “I just got loose off 4 and lost it. It’s my fault. I’m ready to do another one. I hope we get a shot at it.”[21]

Fourth quarter

The race restarted with 67 laps to go. Denny Hamlin suffered damage on the restart and pitted to repair it. He crashed in turn 1 and brought out the eighth caution with 60 laps to go. “I think we blew a left-front tire,” Hamlin told FOX Sports 1. He was unhappy with how long it took for NASCAR to throw a caution. “I blew it off of Turn 4, spun out, hit the wall at the start-finish line. I keep spinning, keep hitting the wall and I can’t figure out why everyone is still coming at 200 (mph). I look and the green light is on. They didn’t throw a caution until seven seconds after I wrecked. Luckily no one hit us in the door.”[22] Kyle Larson exited pit road with the lead.[15]

The race restarted with 55 laps to go. Kevin Harvick took back the lead with 54 laps to go. The ninth caution of the race flew with twelve laps to go when Stenhouse Jr. slammed the wall in turn 2. Jimmie Johnson opted not to pit when Harvick did under caution and assumed the lead. Paul Menard was tagged for an uncontrolled tire and forced to drop to the tail-end of the field for the restart.[15]

Final laps

After waiving the restart with seven to go, the race restarted with six laps to go. Jimmie Johnson held off a hard charging Kevin Harvick for his 73rd career victory.[23]

Post-race

Driver comments

“It was a long hard night of racing and fighting for track position,” Johnson said. “Once we got up front, we were able to hang on for the final eight or nine laps, whatever it was.”[23] Martin Truex Jr. finished ninth after leading a race high 95 laps.[24] “Yeah, definitely not the finish we wanted, obviously, but proud of the guys for the weekend we had, just had good speed all weekend, brought a brand new car here and just proud of that,” Truex Jr. said. “It's kind of disappointing, but at the same time proud of the way we ran, and I think it's something we can build off of. We should have either stayed out or took new tires. We probably did the worst thing you could have done there with just staying out and getting gas only, because we ended up being the last guy with no tires. Everybody else behind us had two and they ate us up on the restart. If we'd have taken two, we probably would have come out sixth, been in a pretty good position.”[24]

Race results

PosGridDriverTeamManufacturerPoints
119 48 267 47
26 4 267 43
317 88 267 41
411 24 267 40
51 22 267 40
618 20 267 39
73 2 267 38
88 41 267 37
94 78 267 37
1015 31 267 34
1114 43 267 33
127 16 267 32
139 1 267 31
1429 47 267 30
1510 42 267 30
1626 9 267 28
172 5 267 27
1822 27 267 26
1924 13 266 25
205 19 266 25
2121 15 266 23
2228 3 266 22
2343 46 266 21
2420 17 266 20
2535 83 Matt DiBenedetto (R) 266 19
2632 33 Ty Dillon (i) 266 0
2727 10 265 17
2840 98 265 16
2941 40 Landon Cassill (i) 265 0
3025 51 265 14
3130 6 265 13
3238 38 263 12
3323 55 263 11
3439 34 Brett Moffitt (R) 263 10
3534 35 263 9
3631 95 262 8
3737 23 J. J. Yeley (i) 262 0
3842 32 Joey Gase (i) 262 0
3916 14 262 5
4012 18 Erik Jones (i) 258 0
4113 11 242 3
4233 26 Jeb Burton (R) 205 2
4336 7 153 1
Official SpongeBob SquarePants 400 results

Race statistics

Lap Leaders
LapsLeader
1-29 Joey Logano
30-49 Kurt Busch
50-56 Kevin Harvick
57-78 Martin Truex Jr.
79-80 Brad Keselowski
81 Matt Kenseth
82 Erik Jones (i)
83-121 Martin Truex Jr.
122–162 Brad Keselowski
163–175 Martin Truex Jr.
176–187 Carl Edwards
188–199 Martin Truex Jr.
200 Kyle Larson
201–209 Martin Truex Jr.
210–211 Kyle Larson
212–257 Kevin Harvick
258–267 Jimmie Johnson
Total laps led
LeaderLaps
95
53
29
20
12
Jimmie Johnson 10
3
1
Erik Jones (i) 1

Race awards

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered their fifth race at Kansas Speedway. Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds and 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. Due to a Major League Baseball game running long on Fox Sports 1, the first 22 minutes of the broadcast was shown on Fox News Channel. The race switched back over to Fox Sports 1 as intended when the ballgame was over.

Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. Joe Moore, Jeff Striegle and Rusty Wallace called the race in the booth when the field was racing through the tri-oval. Dave Moody called the race from a billboard outside of turn 2 when the field was racing through turns 1 and 2. Kurt Becker called the race from a billboard outside of turn 3 when the field was racing through turns 3 and 4. Alex Hayden, Winston Kelley and Steve Post worked pit road for MRN.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1Kevin Harvick437
2Martin Truex Jr.391 (-46)
3Jimmie Johnson389 (-48)
4Joey Logano375 (-62)
5Dale Earnhardt Jr.360 (-77)
6Brad Keselowski343 (-94)
17Matt Kenseth331 (-106)
18Jamie McMurray328 (-109)
49Jeff Gordon317 (-120)
110Kasey Kahne313 (-124)
111Aric Almirola312 (-125)
112Paul Menard306 (-131)
113Ryan Newman305 (-132)
114Kurt Busch292 (-145)
515Denny Hamlin284 (-153)
116Clint Bowyer272 (-165)
Manufacturers' Championship standings
PosManufacturerPoints
1Chevrolet500
2Ford456 (-44)
3Toyota423 (-77)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2015 NASCAR Schedule. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. August 26, 2014. NASCAR.com. May 4, 2015. April 4, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150404031856/http://www.nascar.com/content/dam/nascar/download-schedule/2015/nscs_2015_printable_schedule3.pdf. dead.
  2. Web site: Kansas Speedway. NASCAR Media Group, LLC.. January 3, 2013. NASCAR.com. May 4, 2015. May 4, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150504022151/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/schedule/tracks/kansas-speedway.html. dead.
  3. Web site: Entry List. Motor Racing Network. May 4, 2015. MRN.com. May 4, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150505021027/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Season-Stats/Statistics.aspx?SubSeriesID=1&YearID=44&RaceID=6767&StatType=Entry+List. May 5, 2015. dead.
  4. Web site: First Practice Results. Motor Racing Network. May 8, 2015. MRN.com. May 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150510202337/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Additional-Statistics/2015/05/SpongeBob-SquarePants-1st-Practice-Speeds.aspx. May 10, 2015. dead.
  5. Web site: Final Practice Results. Motor Racing Network. May 8, 2015. MRN.com. May 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150510202343/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Additional-Statistics/2015/05/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Final-Practice-Speeds.aspx. May 10, 2015. dead.
  6. Web site: Qualifying Results. Motor Racing Network. May 8, 2015. MRN.com. May 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095321/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Additional-Statistics/2015/05/SpongeBob-SquarePants-Qualifying-Results.aspx. May 18, 2015. dead.
  7. Web site: SpongeBob SquarePants 400 Results. Motor Racing Network. May 10, 2015. MRN.com. May 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095344/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/Statistics/Season-Stats/Statistics.aspx?SubSeriesID=1&YearID=44&RaceID=6767&StatType=Race+Results. May 18, 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: Points standings. NASCAR Statistics. May 10, 2015. Jayski.com. May 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150513023027/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2015/pdfs/11kan2015points.pdf. May 13, 2015. dead.
  9. Web site: Manufacturer standings. NASCAR Integrated Marketing Communications. May 11, 2015. Jayski.com. May 11, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150522180550/http://www.jayski.com/stats/2015/pdfs/11kan2015racereport.pdf. May 22, 2015. dead.
  10. Web site: Rainy NASCAR From Kansas Low on Fox Sports 1. Paulsen. Sports Media Watch. May 11, 2015. SportsMediaWatch.com. May 11, 2015.
  11. Web site: Just 2.4 Million For Rain-Delayed NASCAR From Kansas. Paulsen. Sports Media Watch. May 12, 2015. SportsMediaWatch.com. May 13, 2015.
  12. Web site: Kevin Harvick leads NASCAR Sprint Cup field in first practice session at Kansas. Long. Dustin. NBC Sports. May 8, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 8, 2015.
  13. Web site: Erik Jones, 18, is fastest in final Sprint Cup practice at Kansas. Bonkowski. Jerry. NBC Sports. May 8, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 8, 2015.
  14. Web site: Logano Earns Kansas Pole. Pistone. Pete. Motor Racing Network. May 8, 2015. MRN.com. May 8, 2015. Kansas City, Kansas. https://web.archive.org/web/20150511182648/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/News/Articles/2015/05/Joey-Logano-Earns-Kansas-Pole.aspx. May 11, 2015. dead.
  15. 2015 SpongeBob SquarePants 400. July 18, 2015. Sprint Cup Series. Sprint Cup Series. Fox Sports. Fox Sports 1. Kansas City, Kansas. May 9, 2015. 67. 7:39 p.m.. en.
  16. Web site: Rain halts SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway. Jensen. Tom. Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC.. May 9, 2015. FoxSports.com. May 9, 2015.
  17. Web site: SpongeBob SquarePants 400 Sprint Cup race in rain delay. Boyd. Jason O.. Sporting News Media. May 9, 2015. SportingNews.com. May 9, 2015. May 11, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150511161712/http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2015-05-09/nascar-sprint-cup-spongbob-squarepants-400-kansas-martin-truex-jr-leaderboard-earnhardt-harvick-mothers-day. dead.
  18. Web site: SpongeBob Squarepants 400 delayed for weather on Lap 98. McFadin. Daniel. NBC Sports. May 9, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 9, 2015.
  19. Web site: Brad Keselowski leads at halfway in the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway. McFadin. Daniel. NBC Sports. May 9, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 9, 2015.
  20. Web site: Tony Stewart angry with Brett Moffitt after accordion-effect collision. Pennell. Jay. Fox Sports Interactive Media, LLC.. May 9, 2015. FoxSports.com. May 10, 2015.
  21. Web site: Erik Jones' Sprint Cup debut ends prematurely in single-car wreck at Kansas. Bonkwoski. Jerry. NBC Sports. May 10, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 10, 2015.
  22. Web site: Three of four Joe Gibbs Racing cars find trouble in SpongeBob SquarePants 400. McFadin. Daniel. NBC Sports. May 10, 2015. nascartalk.nbcsports.com. May 10, 2015.
  23. Web site: Kansas Belongs to Johnson. Pistone. Pete. Motor Racing Network. May 10, 2015. MRN.com. May 10, 2015. Kansas City, Kansas. https://web.archive.org/web/20150512181447/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/News/Articles/2015/05/Jimmie-Johnson-Wins-SpongeBob-SquarePants-400.aspx. May 12, 2015. dead.
  24. Web site: Truex Jr. Disappointed in Finish. Pistone. Pete. Motor Racing Network. May 10, 2015. MRN.com. May 10, 2015. Kansas City, Kansas. https://web.archive.org/web/20150512181531/http://www.mrn.com/Race-Series/NASCAR-Sprint-Cup/News/Articles/2015/05/Martin-Truex-Jr-Disappointed-in-Finish-at-Kansas.aspx. May 12, 2015. dead.