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NASCAR Cup Kansas: Larson beats Buescher in closest finish in history

For a few moments there were a pair of winners, one on the scoring monitor another on the video camera, after Larson and Buescher raced side by side off Turn 4 on the final lap of overtime and stayed that way as they took the chequered flag.

The scoring monitor said Buescher won by 0.001 seconds, but NASCAR officials reviewed the video footage which showed Larson’s #5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet edging Buescher’s Ford by inches at the line.

The official margin of victory was confirmed as 0.001s with the win going to Larson – officially the closest finish in NASCAR history since the use of electronic timing and scoring.

The wild finish capped a remarkable day of back-and-forth racing among the leaders, despite the race being delayed by rain by more than three hours. The race featured 27 lead changes among 10 different drivers.

Larson’s chance to win only came about when a caution in the final laps sent the race into overtime after Kyle Busch spun at Turn 2.

Denny Hamlin was first off pitroad, but Buescher quickly rocketed into the lead on the restart ahead of Larson.

Larson caught back up with Buescher exiting Turn 2 on the final lap, which set up the sprint to the chequered flag.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro (Photo by: Ben Earp / NKP / Motorsport Images)

The victory is the second this season for Larson, who came in second just last weekend to Hamlin at Dover. It’s also the 25th of his career.

"That was wild. I was obviously thankful for that [last] caution," Larson said. "We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third, and figured my best shot was me to choose the bottom [lane] and try and split three-wide to the inside."

"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 tyres 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."

In an almost equally close finish for third, Chase Elliott edged Martin Truex Jr into fourth as Hamlin rounded out the top five.

Christopher Bell had to settle for sixth ahead of Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch, as Noah Gragson and Michael McDowell completed the top 10.

NASCAR Cup Kansas - Race results

CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL PITS POINTS
1 K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 5 Chevrolet 268

3:10'42.420

  9  
2 C. BuescherRFK RACING 17 Ford 268

+0.001

3:10'42.421

0.001 12  
3 C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 268

+0.060

3:10'42.480

0.059 13  
4 M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING 19 Toyota 268

+0.075

3:10'42.495

0.015 13  
5 D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING 11 Toyota 268

+0.609

3:10'43.029

0.534 12  
6 C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 268

+0.693

3:10'43.113

0.084 9  
7 A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 48 Chevrolet 268

+0.784

3:10'43.204

0.091 9  
8 K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 8 Chevrolet 268

+1.144

3:10'43.564

0.360 9  
9 N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING 10 Ford 268

+1.154

3:10'43.574

0.010 9  
10 M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 34 Ford 268

+1.244

3:10'43.664

0.090 10  
11 B. KeselowskiRFK RACING 6 Ford 268

+1.258

3:10'43.678

0.014 11  
12 R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE 12 Ford 268

+1.469

3:10'43.889

0.211 10  
13 J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 42 Toyota 268

+1.503

3:10'43.923

0.034 10  
14 T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 38 Ford 268

+1.550

3:10'43.970

0.047 9  
15 J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING 4 Ford 268

+1.654

3:10'44.074

0.104 10  
16 R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING 47 Chevrolet 268

+1.885

3:10'44.305

0.231 9  
17 B. Wallace23XI RACING 23 Toyota 268

+2.425

3:10'44.845

0.540 10  
18 J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING 51 Ford 268

+2.629

3:10'45.049

0.204 10  
19 R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING 1 Chevrolet 268

+2.786

3:10'45.206

0.157 9  
20 T. Reddick23XI RACING 45 Toyota 268

+2.890

3:10'45.310

0.104 9  
21 C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING 14 Ford 268

+3.227

3:10'45.647

0.337 9  
22
C. HeimLEGACY MOTOR CLUB
43 Toyota 268

+3.940

3:10'46.360

0.713 12  
23 W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 24 Chevrolet 268

+3.978

3:10'46.398

0.038 9  
24
C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
77 Chevrolet 268

+4.202

3:10'46.622

0.224 9  
25 A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 3 Chevrolet 268

+4.261

3:10'46.681

0.059 10  
26 C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 268

+6.266

3:10'48.686

2.005 14  
27 D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING 99 Chevrolet 268

+6.668

3:10'49.088

0.402 10  
28 R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING 41 Ford 268

+7.531

3:10'49.951

0.863 10  
29
Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 268

+7.624

3:10'50.044

0.093 9  
30 D. HemricKAULIG RACING 31 Chevrolet 268

+8.059

3:10'50.479

0.435 14  
31 D. KrausKAULIG RACING 16 Chevrolet 268

+17.351

3:10'59.771

9.292 8  
32
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
54 Toyota 267

+1 Lap

3:10'45.634

1 Lap 9  
33 A. HillRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 33 Chevrolet 267

+1 Lap

3:10'58.406

12.772 11  
34 J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE 22 Ford 266

+2 Laps

3:10'50.120

1 Lap 11  
35 R. HerbstRICK WARE RACING 15 Ford 266

+2 Laps

3:10'50.839

0.719 11  
36 H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING 21 Ford 262

+6 Laps

3:10'53.917

4 Laps 11  
37 A. CindricTEAM PENSKE 2 Ford 184

+84 Laps

2:02'30.385

78 Laps 7  
38 J. JohnsonLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 84 Toyota 175

+93 Laps

1:49'48.842

9 Laps 6

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