Kyle Larson charged around the outside of Chris Buescher on the last lap at Kansas Speedway, trading paint with him until they reached the finish line, only to hear from his team on the radio that despite his efforts, it wasn’t quite enough.
It wasn’t until Larson reached Turn 3 on the cool-down lap that he spotted his spotter, Tyler Monn, cheering from high above the track.
In the closest finish in NASCAR history, confirmed by a grainy black-and-white photo at the line, the No. 5 car was declared the winner by a thousandth of a second — as close as the Kentucky Derby the day before, and even more thrilling than the three-way finish to the Cup Series race at Atlanta earlier this season.
“I had no idea if I won,” Larson admitted, “but honestly, I didn’t mind. I was like, ‘Wow, that was incredible.'”
However, it wasn’t such good news for Buescher’s team, who started celebrating before the official result was confirmed. Buescher’s crew chief, Scott Graves, requested a meeting with NASCAR officials in their trailer. After seeing the finish-line photo, he accepted the result.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” Buescher said, shaking his head beside his No. 17 car. “I haven’t seen a replay except for the picture, and I can’t see much in that picture. It’s tough to be that close.”
The thrilling finish happened after a caution for Kyle Busch’s spin led to the green-white-checkered finish.
Larson trailed Buescher on the backstretch of the final lap, then passed him in the last corner. At first glance, it appeared Buescher had crossed the line first, and even Larson began to commend his team on a strong second-place finish.
But a few minutes later, Larson was doing victory burnouts on the front stretch. It was a fantastic start to a busy May for Larson, who will try to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend.
This win, his second of the season for Hendrick Motorsports, provided some redemption after finishing second to Denny Hamlin last week at Dover and in last year’s spring race at Kansas.
Martin Truex Jr. finished fourth on Sunday, while Hamlin, who led on the final restart, dropped back to fifth. “I had a great view of the finish,” Hamlin said with a smile.
