Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson were neck and neck as they raced towards the finish line on the last lap of the Kansas NASCAR Cup race. At first, the monitor showed Buescher winning by a tiny 0.001 seconds, but NASCAR wanted to be sure. After watching the video, they saw that Larson’s car had crossed the line just ahead of Buescher’s.
Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. were also racing close by, making it almost a four-wide finish.
This race had a lot of lead changes and excitement, even though it was delayed by rain for over three hours. In the end, Larson’s win by such a tiny margin officially became the closest finish in NASCAR history with electronic timing.
Larson’s victory is his second this season and 25th of his career. His chance to win came after a late caution in the race, with Denny Hamlin leading. Buescher quickly took the lead on the restart, but Larson caught up with him and eventually passed him to win.
After the race, Larson said, “I don’t know what to think. That was wild. I was obviously thankful for that (last) caution. We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third, and figured my best shot was me to choose the bottom (lane) and try and split three-wide to the inside.”
Elliott finished third, Truex fourth, and Hamlin fifth.
The top 10 finishers also included Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, and Michael McDowell.
The race was split into three stages. Hamlin won the first stage, Buescher won the second, and Larson won the third.
The race had many incidents and cautions, with cars spinning and crashing. Eventually, Larson managed to hold onto his lead and take the win in an exciting finish.
