KANSAS CITY, Kan. – They beat and they banged. A literal photo was needed to declare the winner of Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher raced back to the checkered flag when the two drivers made contact out of Turn 4. The No. 5 Chevrolet was scored ahead of the No. 17 Ford by 0.001 seconds, the closest finish in the 76-year history of the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I felt like I was pretty defensive on it and was going to make a drag race coming to the finish line and got to banging doors a little bit and lost some momentum,” Buescher said. “I was aggressive trying to cover it and needed to draft to keep speed up down the straightaway for us. Watching the replay, I just can’t see it right now. I’m sure it will come in. It hurts to see the pylon say we get it and then not.”
RELATED: Race results
Larson got a great run down the backstretch on the final lap and drove it hard into Turns 3 and 4. He thought he was going to pound the wall on corner exit, but ended up getting a run through the corner that was enough to inch ahead of Buescher.
While driving down the backstretch on the cool-down lap, Buescher thought he was the winner. By the time he got to the frontstretch, NASCAR declared Larson victorious, scoring his second triumph through the first third of the NASCAR season.
“I got to the start/finish line and had no clue if I won or not,” Larson said. “I didn’t honestly care because I was like, ‘Man, that was freaking awesome.’ I think I asked if I won or not and (Cliff Daniels, crew chief) said timing and scoring showed the 17. I was like, ‘Cool.’ Then, my spotter was going crazy shortly after that. Just incredible.”
Surpassing the 0.002-second photo finish between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch at Darlington Raceway in 2003 and Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer at Talladega Superspeedway in 2011 is a bummer for Buescher. Being that close puts the added sting on finishing runner-up.
“It sucks to halfway celebrate down the backstretch and pull up to the front straightaway and get told no,” Buescher said. “I don’t know how everything transpired right now. It sucks in a lot of ways. Second hurts a lot worse than third.”
While Buescher missed out on his first victory of the 2024 season, he gets satisfaction out of how strong his No. 17 car performed. The 53 laps he led Sunday are the most Buescher paced the field since last summer at Richmond Raceway. He had led 26 laps total during the first 11 races of the season. His second-place result is his first-ever top-five finish on a 1.5-mile track.
From the jump of the initial green flag, Buescher charged through the field. He soared from his 12th-place starting position to finish fifth in the opening stage. At the beginning of the second stage, he diced through the middle of a five-wide battle to gain four positions. When Larson had an issue during his green-flag pit stop, the No. 17 car cycled to the lead to win his first stage of the season.
“We had [speed] from the get-go,” Buescher said. “We drove forward and led a ton of laps today. It’s huge for us to have that and know we are in contention. We’ve got to keep that up.”
Buescher entered Kansas with four consecutive finishes of 15th or worse. By earning 51 points throughout the race, he jumped to 11th in the regular-season standings, 33 points above the elimination line.
“This group has done a nice job of stepping up,” Buescher said. “Knowing where we came from last year and where we’re at right now, it’s good to see momentum. Second hurts way worse than third or fourth. A top-five day is great, but to be that close and not just second but within — I don’t know, I can’t even see it on the photo right now.”
The series heads to Darlington Raceway next on May 12 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Buescher finished third in the playoffs last fall.