On the last lap at Kansas Speedway, Kyle Larson passed Chris Buescher at a rapid speed, banging doors with him all the way to the finish line. However, his team announced over the radio that he had not quite given it his all.
It wasn’t until Turn 3 of the cool-down lap when Larson noticed Tyler Monn, his spotter, spinning above the track.
The No. 5 car was declared the winner by a thousandth of a second in the closest finish in NASCAR history, which was only officially confirmed by a hazy black-and-white photo at the finish line. This was an even more dramatic finish than the three-at-the-line finishing to the Cup Series race at Atlanta earlier in the season. It was every bit as close as the Kentucky Derby the day before.
Larson remarked, “Had no idea if I won or not, but to be honest, didn’t really care.” “Man, that was freaking awesome,” I thought.
Not very exciting for Buescher’s staff, who had already started to celebrate before to the official announcement of the outcome. Scott Graves, his crew chief, requested a meeting in their hauler with NASCAR officials. After seeing the photo of the finish line, he accepted the result.
Standing next to his No. 17 vehicle, Buescher shook his head and said, “I don’t know what to say right now.” “Aside from the image, I haven’t seen a replay, and I can’t even see in that image. It is uncomfortable to be so near.”
A caution for Kyle Busch’s spin caused the green-white-checkered finish, setting up an exciting conclusion. On the last lap’s backstretch, Larson had passed Buescher and overtook him in the last corner. It appeared as though Buescher had taken the lead, and Larson had begun praising his squad for their impressive run to second place.
He was performing a joyful burnout on the front stretch a short while after that.
For Larson, who will try to race the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day over Memorial Day weekend, it was a fantastic start to a busy May. Hendrick Motorsports’ second victory of the year came as a small comfort for his finishes second to Denny Hamlin at Dover last week and in the Kansas spring race a year prior.
On Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. came in fourth, while Hamlin, who had led going into the last restart, dropped back to sixth.
“Very nice vantage point of the finish,” Hamlin said.
Buescher was even more disappointed with his finish because he had overcome an important mistake halfway through the race. A crew member went over the wall ahead of schedule just as he was winning the second stage and leading the pack on pit road. Buescher had to spend an important part of the last stage making his way back to the front after receiving the punishment.
In the end, Buescher’s group decided to use a different pit strategy than the leaders. Likewise, Hamlin’s squad, who had already survived quite a bit of pit issues, did. And if the race had ended under green, it might have worked out for them both.
Rather, the leaders were compelled to pit due to the late caution, resulting in a historic finish in NASCAR history.
Later on social media, Buescher made light of the situation by saying that he could have won the race by copying a move from Pixar’s “Cars” movie.
“This is something I will always remember,” Larson remarked. “There are victories that you can certainly lose sight of for a while, but when you come in and have the closest finish in Cup Series history, you’re probably not going to forget that forever, even if it’s broken in the future. Fantastic to be over here.”