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Kyle Larson Beats Chris Buescher At Kansas By 0.001 Seconds In Closest NASCAR Finish

by Hunter Thomas May 5, 2024 0 comments

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Kyle Larson edged Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds on Sunday at Kansas Speedway in the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

On the final lap of the AdventHealth 400, Buescher led the field to the white flag, but Larson was right behind him. Buescher continued to pace the field down the backstretch, but when he entered Turn 3 for the final time, Larson made a move on the high side. Buescher attempted to squeeze Larson, but to no avail.

“Got through 1 and 2 really good down the backstretch and had a big tow on Chris, and got him to kind of enter shallow, and I just committed really hard up top,” Larson said. “Wasn’t quite sure if we were going to make it out the other side. I got super loose in the center, and then we’re just trying to — I’m trying not to get too far ahead of him to where he can side draft and then I was just trying to kill his run. It was crazy.”

The two drivers banged doors in a drag race to the checkered flag, and once thye reached the finish line, it was Larson winning by inches.

“I didn’t know if we won or not,” Larson said. “I was pumped for the finish. I can’t remember if it was Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) or Tyler (Monn), my spotter, said that the 17 got it, and I was like, hey, good job today, team, because that was a great race. Then I got to about Turn 3 and Tyler was going crazy up on the roof. Just incredible, incredible finish there.”

Sunday’s win marked the second victory of the season for Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. Larson has now visited Victory Lane twice at Kansas Speedway as well. The 31-year-old entered the weekend coming off a runner-up finish at Dover Motor Speedway, so back-to-back podiums for Larson.

“Yeah, I think it definitely helps confidence anytime you can run good,” Larson said. “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.”

As for Buescher, he really needed a win. Although the cutoff to the NASCAR Playoffs are months away, he currently sits 14^th in the standings. The RFK Racing driver only has one other top-five finish this season, and it was a second-place finish at Phoenix back in March. On Sunday, Buescher ran up front all day long. He won Stage 2 and kept the momentum through the final stage. Buescher and his team initially thought they had won the race, only to be disappointed moments later.

“That sucks to be that close,” Buescher said. “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.”

Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. were right behind Larson and Buescher at the line, and they finished third and fourth respectively. Denny Hamlin was leading prior to the final caution of the night, but at the end of the day, he finished fifth. Polesitter Christopher Bell finished sixth, followed by Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson and Michael McDowell.

There were 27 lead changes among 10 drivers. Hamlin led a race high of 71 laps. Larson led 63 laps throughout the race.

The caution flag flew on seven occasions for 43 laps. Fuel mileage was in question for a several drivers as the laps ticked away, but it was Busch who spun in Turn 2 that set the field up for one final pit stop and a NASCAR Overtime finish.

Larson leads Truex in the standings by 29 points.

The NASCAR Cup Series will visit Darlington Raceway on Sunday, May 12 for the Goodyear 400. Live coverage will broadcast on FS1 at 3 p.m. ET.

Photo Credit: Riely/Getty Images