NASCAR
Kyle Larson Wins Kansas by Record-Close Thousandth of a Second Over Chris Buescher
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Reminiscent of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby finish, Kansas Speedway came down to a photo finish. An absolutely wild race from green to checkers ended in overtime, with Kyle Larson just ahead of Chris Buescher at the line. Larson is now a two-time winner in 2024, while Ford is still winless as a manufacturer.
After intense racing for the lead between Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin chased them both down late for the Stage 1 win.
Stage 2’s start may have seen the highlight reel moment of the season. The leaders went five-wide for the top spot, with P1 being grabbed by Kyle Larson.
The Hendrick No. 5 appeared unstoppable, until a slow pit stop cost him six seconds of time. This put second place Chris Buescher out front, getting RFK Racing their first stage win of 2024. Buescher had perhaps the gutsiest move on the five-wide exchange. The 17 squeezed through a very narrow hole between two competitors.
Stage 3 started with a rash of cautions, triggered after contact from Corey Lajoie sent Jimmie Johnson spinning.
Kyle Busch and Larson traded the lead on several restarts, with Hamlin inheriting the lead after pitting a yellow flag prior to most of the field. The No. 11 had to hold off several charges from Chris Buescher, trying to become the first Ford winner of 2024.
Intense fuel savings began with Hamlin and Buescher, and lasted until a Kyle Busch spin inside the final 10 laps. This ensuing overtime would put in motion a last lap that will be replayed for decades.
Hamlin held the lead but was soon overpowered by both Buescher and Larson. The No. 17 was in the wind heading to the white flag, but Larson had a huge run on the last lap.
Entering turn three, Buescher ran wide but Larson squeezed his way even higher between the Mustang and the wall. Coming back to the checkers with contact, Larson just nipped Buescher at the line by one-thousandth of a second. This beats the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 from Darlington as the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.
“I don’t know, 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 to choose bottom and just try and split them three-wide to the inside. It worked out, my car turned well and was able to get some runs. I got through one and two really good and down the backstretch. Had a big tow on Chris (Buescher) 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. Then I’m trying to not get too far ahead of him to where he can side draft. Then I’m just trying to kill his runs and it was just crazy.”
“That race from start to finish was amazing. That first Stage was incredible. The second one was fun at the end. And then that whole last Stage with the wrecks and the cautions and fuel strategy and tires running long was wild. You guys got your money’s worth today. I’m just proud to be a part of the show.”
“I didn’t know if I won or not. I was pumped for the finish. Can’t remember if it was Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) or Tyler (Monn) my spotter who said that the 17 got it. I was like ‘hey, good job today team,’ because that was a great race. Then I got to about turn three and Tyler was going crazy up on the roof. Just incredible, incredible finish there.”
“I wish we had more mile-and-a-halves. We all bitch about the package and all that, but these cars race so amazing on these tracks. Hats off to this whole 5 team, HendrickCars.com, Jinya Ramen Bar, Valvoline, everybody who’s a part of this. This is so cool. The month of May’s going to be great for us, hopefully this can start some momentum.”
On the other end of the photo finish, Buescher was speechless. “I sure can’t see it in that picture, that just sucks to be that close. I guess they’re going to tear it apart.”
Just behind the Larson-Buescher photo finish were Chase Elliott, Martin Truex Jr, and Denny Hamlin. The top four were only separated by a mere 0.075 seconds. Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Noah Gragson, and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-10.
Next week’s race is at one of Larson’s favorite tracks on the circuit–Darlington Raceway. The Goodyear 400 will go green Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Not only does Larson head to South Carolina going for two straight wins, he’s also the most recent Southern 500 champion.
Written by Peter Stratta
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