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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

[14] This change was made to honor longtime NASCAR broadcaster Steve Byrnes who was battling head and neck cancer.

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.

[17] 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".

[17] 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".

The first caution of the race flew on lap 19 when Brad Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano hit the front stretch wall.

[20] 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".

[20] To add insult to injury for the Penske duo, the rain returned just moments later that red-flagged the race on lap 22.

[21] 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.

[22] 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.

[24] 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.

Kevin Harvick was tapped exiting turn 2 by Michael McDowell and made light contact with the wall, causing cosmetic damage.

Jeff Gordon, on much fresher tires, managed to pull up to and pass leader Harvick to earn back one of his laps.

David Gilliland and Ryan Newman both started at the rear of the field for the restart; they were caught speeding on pit road.

Martin Truex Jr. cut down his left-front tire after making contact with Mike Bliss exiting turn 2.

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.

In a classic Bristol accordion effect, it started when Jamie McMurray blew a right-front tire running next to the wall in turn 3.

Both drivers hit the inside wall before turning back onto the racing surface taking out Casey Mears and Truex Jr. in the process.

In another classic Bristol accordion effect, Edwards got loose exiting turn 2 and made contact with the wall.

[28] 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".

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.

Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, Jim Noble and Steve Richards worked pit road for PRN.