And you though The Kentucky Derby was close this year.
Kyle Larson beat Chris Buescher by a nose (splitter) at Kansas Speedway on Sunday night to win the closest race in NASCAR Cup Series history, with Larson crossing the line just .001 seconds ahead of Buescher in an overtime photo finish.
Denny Hamlin had led the most laps of the rain-delayed race and was holding off a hard-charging Martin Truex Jr. with seven laps to go when Kyle Busch spun out of fifth place to bring out a final caution.
All of the leaders came in for tires and a splash of fuel, with Hamlin winning the race off pit road ahead of Buescher, who lined up alongside him on the front row for the restart.
MAYBE THE CHEVROLET TRAX SHOULD BE GM’S NEXT NASCAR CUP SERIES CAR
Larson and Chase Elliott followed them in the second row, while Truex dropped back to 10th having done a four-tire stop while everyone ahead of him took two.
Buescher pulled out front on the restart and Larson dove to the inside to take second. Buscher held the lead until Turn 3 of the final lap, when Larson went to the outside against the wall, pulled ahead and doored Buescher twice as they came down the track toward the finish line nose-to-nose.
The scoring system initially gave the win to Buescher, but before they finished the cooldown lap changed it to Larson.
“I didn’t know if I won or not, I was pumped for the finish,” Larson said on FS1 after the race.
I can’t remember if it was Cliff [Daniels, Larson’s crew chief] or Tyler [Monn] my spotter said that ‘yea, the 17 got it’ and I was like, ‘hey, good job today, team, because that was, that was a great race,’ and then I got to about Turn 3 and Tyler was going crazy up on the roof.”
The win was Larson’s second of the year, while a Buescher win would have been the first for Ford in 2024.
In February, Daniel Suarez won at Atlanta Motor Speedway by .003 seconds, which at the time was the second-closest finish in series history behind the 2003 Darlington and 2011 Talladega spring races, which are tied at .002 seconds.