NASCAR News: Larson wins closest finish in NASCAR history

Kyle Larson passed Chris Buescher around the outside on the last lap at Kansas Speedway and the two banged doors coming to the line with Larson winning by 0.001s in the closest finish in NASCAR history.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

The timing and scoring showed Buescher the winner by 0.001s at Kansas Speedway, but the photo finish camera showed Larson ahead by an inch because the T&S transponder is not mounted in the same spot on the car.

THE CLOSEST FINISH IN NASCAR HISTORY. KYLE LARSON VS. CHRIS BUESCHER.

Unbelievable. https://t.co/UFL4P04KTc pic.twitter.com/UtePBqmuZd

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 6, 2024

The finish was setup by a overtime green-white-checkered finish when Kyle Busch spun with 6 laps to go. All the leaders pitted for two outside tires.

Denny Hamlin and Buescher lined up on the front row with Larson on the inside of row 2.

Larson quickly disposed of Hamlin and the chase was on to catch Buescher who had squirted out to the lead.

On the final lap, Larson got a good run on Buescher down the back straight. Larson went high in Turn 3 and Buescher ran him up to the wall. The two came out of turn 4 side-by-side banging doors in a side-by-side finish at the line.

Larson’s Hendrick Chevy teammate Chase Elliott came home third ahead of Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin in a side-by-side finish.

Kyle Larson beats Chris Buescher to win at Kansas in the closest finish in NASCAR history!pic.twitter.com/bfpiHsAIgI

— Always Race Day (@AlwaysRaceDay) May 6, 2024

Larson delivered Chevrolet its seventh NASCAR Cup Series victory this season; the manufacturer’s 14th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory at Kansas Speedway; and it’s 858th all-time victory in NASCAR’s premier series – all of which are series-leading feats.

0.001 margin of victory. Unbelievable. Kyle Larson and Kansas Speedway now own the closest finish in NASCAR history. pic.twitter.com/v26bObbiFY

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) May 6, 2024

Larson Quotes

TELL US ABOUT THE FINISH IN THAT RACE.

“It started off (turn) two, and I got a really good run and was able to get into his draft. He was trying to break it and you could tell he was probably going to try and take my line away. I just drove in as hard as I felt like I could. My car cut really well and I was able to get to his right side, and I don’t know if the camera caught it, but I was sideways and then got it kind of back under control. Then I had the run back to his right side off of four and was just too afraid to get too far out in front because a lot of times when you get someone inside close you get tight and into the wall. So I got off of four good and I thought, ‘man, I have got to kill his run quick’, so I just hung a left; doored him and just tried to stall his momentum. He had it slowly coming back to me at the line, so just thankful that it was enough and those guys behind us didn’t get a huge run and get to our outside.

Just incredible and I need to see the replay.  I don’t know what it all looked like, but it was pretty damn cool from my seat.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE FOR YOU AS A RACE CAR DRIVER TO BE ABLE TO MIX IT UP LIKE YOU DID ALL DAY TODAY?

“Yeah, it was a lot of fun. It was stressful for sure racing that hard in Stage One, but I was having so much fun with Ross (Chastain). It was super-aggressive, but clean. We never put each other in compromising positions and were able to swap positions there a couple of times. At the end of the second stage, it was getting kind of dicey and the whole third Stage was pretty crazy with all the cautions and strategy working out. (Chris) Beuscher was really fast and pressuring Denny (Hamlin) the whole time and we were fading. So that caution played out good for us. Just the restarts are wild as we talked about earlier, so just an awesome race. Wish we had more mile-and-a-half’s because that was so much fun.”

THE MONTH OF MAY HAS STARTED AND YOU HAVE THE INDY 500 COMING UP. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT YOU KEEP MOMENTUM AND GET A GOOD, SOLID WIN HERE TO START THIS BUSY MONTH FOR YOU?

“Yeah, I think it definitely helps confidence anytime you can run good. It’s been a while since I have had consecutive podiums. I was able to finish second last week at Dover; second in Jacksonville in a Sprint Car; third the first night at Lakeside and second last night; and then carried it on into a win today. So, another good track for us next week at Darlington and hopefully go back-to-back there. Then get in the INDYCAR and hopefully learn a bunch and just be competitive when we get to the 500.”

Buescher Quotes

Q. Chris, you thought that you had it. It was so incredibly close. You guys did a fantastic job all day long. What are the thoughts right now as you digest this?

CHRIS BUESCHER: I don’t know what to say right now. I haven’t seen a replay other than just a picture. I just can’t see it in that picture.

That sucks to be that close. It was a great finish for us, a really strong day. A lot of speed in this Castrol Edge Ford Mustang, and we really needed that. Needed a win more, and I thought might have had that one.

Had a lot of speed there firing off. We were really good really all day, and really proud of that. Had some good strategy to get us back up there and tried to cover what I could and gave him half a lane too much, I suppose, but good hard race right there down to the line. But yeah, just it hurts.

Q. You mentioned the speed that you had that you showed today. How important is that as we go forward, some more mile-and-a-halfs coming up and the season progresses here?

CHRIS BUESCHER: Yeah, the speed is good. Wins are better. Need to be in that situation again. Need some trophies. Need some checkered flags and put ourselves in a much better spot.

Race Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MANUF	DELTA	LAPS
1	5	Kyle Larson		0.000	268
2	17	Chris Buescher		0.001	268
3	9	Chase Elliott		0.059	268
4	19	Martin Truex Jr.		0.074	268
5	11	Denny Hamlin		0.608	268
6	20	Christopher Bell		0.692	268
7	48	Alex Bowman		0.783	268
8	8	Kyle Busch		1.143	268
9	10	Noah Gragson		1.153	268
10	34	Michael McDowell		1.243	268
11	6	Brad Keselowski		1.257	268
12	12	Ryan Blaney		1.468	268
13	42	John Hunter Nemechek		1.502	268
14	38	Todd Gilliland		1.549	268
15	4	Josh Berry #		1.653	268
16	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		1.884	268
17	23	Bubba Wallace		2.424	268
18	51	Justin Haley		2.628	268
19	1	Ross Chastain		2.785	268
20	45	Tyler Reddick		2.889	268
21	14	Chase Briscoe		3.226	268
22	43	Corey Heim(i)		3.939	268
23	24	William Byron		3.977	268
24	77	Carson Hocevar #		4.201	268
25	3	Austin Dillon		4.260	268
26	7	Corey LaJoie		6.265	268
27	99	Daniel Suarez		6.667	268
28	41	Ryan Preece		7.530	268
29	71	Zane Smith #		7.623	268
30	31	Daniel Hemric		8.058	268
31	16	Derek Kraus		17.350	268
32	54	Ty Gibbs		-1	267
33	33	* Austin Hill(i)		-1	267
34	22	Joey Logano		-2	266
35	15	Riley Herbst(i)		-2	266
36	21	Harrison Burton		-6	262
37	2	Austin Cindric		-84	184
38	84	* Jimmie Johnson		-93	175

# DENOTES ROOKIE
(i) NOT ELIGIBLE FOR POINTS
(*) REQUIRED TO QUALIFY ON TIME