It was already one of the best finishes in NASCAR history but upon further review, it is definitely the closest in the history of the Cup Series.
Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher to the finish line by 0.001 seconds.
It came on an overtime finish, where Denny Hamlin was the control car, but got taken three wide with Buescher by Larson. That stalled out Hamlin and sent Buescher to the lead. From there, Buescher air blocked Larson the rest of the lap but couldn’t hold off the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 on the next lap.
Larson got to the outside on Buescher, allowing Chase Elliot and Martin Truex Jr. to begin closing the gap to the leader, and that was before the door slamming. Buescher and Larson traded paint as they came down the race track.
In real time, Buescher was shown as the winner but upon further review, Larson was deemed the winner per the below photo.
“That was wild,” Larson said. “I was obviously thankful for that caution. We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third, and figured my best shot was me choose bottom and try and split three wide to the inside.
“Worked out my car turned well and was able to get some runs. 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. 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.
“That race from start to finish was amazing. That first stage was incredible. The second stage at the end was fun, and then that whole last stage with the wrecks and cautions and then fuel strategy and tires running long and all that was wild.
“You guys got your money’s worth today, and I’m just proud to be a part of the show.”
Buescher just couldn’t accept it in the immediate aftermath.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” he said. “I haven’t seen a replay other than just a picture. I just can’t see it in that picture.
“That sucks to be that close. 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.”
Hamlin came back to finish fifth. Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson and Michael McDowell completed the top 10.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.
