Kyle Larson’s electrifying win at the AdventHealth 400 race at Kansas Speedway will go down as the closest finish ever in the NASCAR Cup Series, as he beat Chris Buescher in overtime by a mere 0.001 seconds.
A Chaotic Final Segment
The photo finish at the end of the 267-lap race had to be reviewed in high definition, with NASCAR officials naming Buescher the winner before correcting it to Larson after closer inspection.
The evening race, postponed for almost four hours because of rain, was suspense-packed and finished in an eventful final segment with four caution flags. One of these cautions was brought out by Jimmie Johnson, who crashed after being hit from behind by Corey LaJoie on lap 176.
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The Race to the Finish Line
The race-defining moment happened with 40 laps to go when Kyle Busch spun and took Denny Hamlin’s lead away, forcing all front-runners into the pits for the last refuel and tire change before the overtime restart.
In the final moments, Chris Buescher and Martin Truex Jr. took the lead, but Larson made a surge from the second row, audaciously moving outside Buescher and coming within inches of the wall. When they were closing in on the finish line, Larson and Buescher scrapped paint in their fight for the lead, while Truex and Chase Elliott were gaining ground rapidly. Finally, the fourth car crossed the line less than 0.8 seconds after the winner.
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Driver Reactions
Larson described the pass that brought him the win: “I got through [Turns] 1 and 2 really good, down the backstretch I had a big tow on Chris and got him to kind of enter shallow. And I just committed really hard up top and wasn’t quite sure if we were gonna make it out the other side — I got super loose in the center.”
“It was crazy, I mean that race from start to finish was amazing.”
Though Chris Buescher was frustrated by his narrow loss, he admitted it was a tough and fair fight. “A good, hard race right there down to the line. But that hurts,” Buescher told Fox Sports. After Buescher’s second-place result, Ford remains winless in NASCAR’s 2024 Cup Series season. The super-tight finish is the third time Ford has missed victory by a minuscule amount, almost similar losses were suffered at Atlanta and Texas in the Xfinity Series.
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Kansas Speedway’s Competitive Edge
The exciting final at Kansas is reminiscent of some of the closest races in NASCAR, such as Ricky Craven’s 0.002-second victory over Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003 and Jimmie Johnson’s 0.002-second win over Clint Bowyer at Talladega in 2011.
Larson’s win stands now as the closest ever in the Cup Series, which shows how competitive Kansas Speedway has become since the introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022.
Notable Performances at AdventHealth 400
Some other great performances were displayed at the AdventHealth 400. Christopher Bell shook off misfortune and finished sixth, while Noah Gragson continued his strong form with his third consecutive top 10. It was a remarkable 10th-place finish from Michael McDowell’s after overcoming a midrace crash. Also, John Hunter Nemechek shone by securing his first top-15 finish since Bristol.
The NASCAR Cup Series schedule moves to Darlington Raceway for the Goodyear 400 next Sunday, but the historic finish at Kansas Speedway will linger in everyone’s mind.
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