2015 ABC Supply 500

Background

Practice began at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, with the first hour reserved for rookies and part-time drivers. Charlie Kimball posted the fastest speed at 221.373 mph, followed by Sage Karam at 220.788 mph and Simon Pagenaud at 220.629 mph. Takuma Sato was the fastest Honda. Stefano Coletti brushed the wall in turn three, damaging his steering and causing a light impact with the pit wall.

Hélio Castroneves won the pole with a two-lap average of 220.530 mph, ahead of teammates Pagenaud and Will Power. Charlie Kimball crashed on his first qualifying lap in turn three, losing control and hitting the wall; air lifted his car, which landed on the SAFER barrier and struck a fence pole. The crash delayed qualifying 48 minutes for catchfence repairs. In final practice, Castroneves led at 220.227 mph.

The race start was waved off twice after Castroneves accelerated early in turn three. On the third attempt, the green flag flew and cars entered turn one four-wide. Josef Newgarden took the lead, with Pagenaud second and Castroneves third. Justin Wilson climbed to third by the exit of turn one.

Broadcasting

NBCSN televised the event with Leigh Diffey, Steve Matchett, and Paul Tracy; Matchett substituted for Townsend Bell, who was competing at Virginia International Raceway. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network provided radio coverage with Paul Page, Davey Hamilton, Mark Jaynes, and Jake Query. The race drew 635,000 viewers and a 0.57 TV rating, making it the second most-watched IndyCar race on NBCSN in 2015.

Fatal accident

On lap 180, Sage Karam lost control in turn one while leading and hit the wall, tearing off most of his car's front end. The nose cone bounced along the track as drivers passed. Justin Wilson, running fourteenth, was struck in the head by the nose cone and knocked unconscious; his car veered off track and hit the inner wall. Karam exited his car with no major injuries, but Wilson was unresponsive and required extrication.

A medivac helicopter transported him to Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest, where he was in a coma with a severe head injury. He died at approximately 21:00 local time on August 24, 2015, at age 37. Wilson was the first IndyCar driver fatality since Dan Wheldon in 2011, and the second open-wheel racing death in 2015 after Jules Bianchi. In response, IndyCar mandated tethers for nose cones and rear wings on superspeedways starting in 2016, and the crash influenced the later adoption of an aeroscreen.