Kyle Larson edges Chris Buescher at Kansas in closest NASCAR Cup Series finish

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson slipped past Chris Buescher to win Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, prevailing in the closest finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series.

>> Read more trending news

Larson’s margin of victory was 0.001, CBS Sports reported. At first, he believed that Buescher had prevailed.

“I didn’t know if I won or not,” Larson told The Kansas City Star. “I didn’t know if it was Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) or my spotter, Tyler, who said, ‘It was 17 who got it.’

“And I said, ‘Good job, team, that was a great race.’ Then, Tyler started going crazy on the roof.”

A caution flag forced a green-white-checkered finish. Larson pulled behind Buescher on the backstretch of the final lap. He charged to the outside on Turns 3 and 4 and barely beat Buescher to the finish line, CBS Sports reported.

It was Larson’s second victory of the 2024 season, according to NASCAR.com.

The margin of victory was the closest since Ricky Craven defeated Kurt Busch by 0.002 seconds at Darlington Raceway on March 16, 2003, the Star reported.

The finish was so close that Buescher’s team clambered over the wall to celebrate. Even the scoring board had shown him as the winner, but a review confirmed that Larson had prevailed.

“That race was amazing from start to finish,” Larson said, according to the Star. “The fans got their money’s worth.”

Buescher was philosophical about having victory snatched from him at the finish.

“It sucks to halfway celebrate on the backstretch, and then go to the front straightaway and get told no,” he said on pit road. “I don’t know how everything transpired, honestly, right now. It sucks in a lot of ways. Second hurts a whole lot worse than third.

“To be that close ... I can’t even see it on the photo right now. It looks like somebody took it with a 1940′s camera.”

Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. finished third and fourth, followed by Denny Hamlin, according to NASCAR.com.

© 2024 Cox Media Group