The Cup Series has had not one, but two photo finishes so far in 2024, and now, Kyle Larson will go down in history as the victor in the closest finish in the division. His No. 5 NASCAR Chevy Camaro ZL1 crossed the line just one one-thousandth of a second ahead of the second-place car at Kansas Speedway on May 5th, 2024.
When the No. 8 Camaro of Kyle Busch went for a spin with six laps left, a caution was waved and the stage was set for a NASCAR Overtime finish. Several of the frontrunners pitted before taking the green flag. Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, surged into the lead, but Larson was able to keep pace with him as they headed toward the checkered flag.
The two race cars slammed doors twice, but they managed to stay out of trouble, drag-racing to the finish line. Buescher was ahead just a foot from the stripe, sweeping low to find the fastest way around the track, while Larson stayed to his outside. While Buescher’s transponder initially put him ahead at the line, a review of the photo finish showed the splitter of Larson’s No. 5 NASCAR Chevy just ahead when the checkered flag waved.
“That was wild,” said Larson after the race. “I was obviously thankful for that caution [when Busch spun]. We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third [off Pit Road], and figured my best shot was to choose the bottom and try and split three-wide to the inside.”
He added, “Worked out my car turned well and was able to get some runs. Got through [Turns] 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.”
It’s also worth noting that the third-place finisher, Chase Elliott, put the No. 9 Camaro across the line just 0.059 seconds behind Larson, and the fourth-place No. 19 Toyota TRD Camry of Martin Truex Jr. was just 0.075 seconds back from the leader.
Larson’s 0.001-second margin of victory makes Kansas the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history, dethroning Kurt Busch’s win by 0.002 seconds at Darlington Raceway in 2003.
Finish | Start | Car Number | Driver | Team | Laps Run | Laps Led | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 268 | 64 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
2 | 12 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Castrol Edge Ford | 268 | 53 | Ford Mustang |
3 | 9 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
4 | 13 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota | 268 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
5 | 14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota | 268 | 71 | Toyota TRD Camry |
6 | 1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Yahoo! Toyota | 268 | 5 | Toyota TRD Camry |
7 | 18 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
8 | 5 | 8 | Kyle Busch | Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet | 268 | 14 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
9 | 3 | 10 | Noah Gragson | Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
10 | 8 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Love's Travel Stops Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
11 | 30 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Consumer Cellular Ford | 268 | 1 | Ford Mustang |
12 | 26 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Cardell Cabinetry Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
13 | 29 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Family Dollar Toyota | 268 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
14 | 25 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Long John Silver's Ford | 268 | 4 | Ford Mustang |
15 | 17 | 4 | Josh Berry # | Overstock.com Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
16 | 21 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Minute Rice Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
17 | 23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | MoneyLion Toyota | 268 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
18 | 35 | 51 | Justin Haley | Children's Mercy Hospital Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
19 | 2 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Busch Light Crocs Chevrolet | 268 | 43 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
20 | 15 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Monster Energy Toyota | 268 | 7 | Toyota TRD Camry |
21 | 10 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
22 | 20 | 43 | Corey Heim(i) | Dollar Tree Toyota | 268 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
23 | 36 | 24 | William Byron | RaptorTough.com Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
24 | 22 | 77 | Carson Hocevar # | Delaware Life/Creative One Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
25 | 16 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Get Bioethanol Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
26 | 28 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
27 | 27 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Choice Privileges Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
28 | 32 | 41 | Ryan Preece | HaasTooling.com Ford | 268 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
29 | 24 | 71 | Zane Smith # | Focused Health Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
30 | 33 | 31 | Daniel Hemric | LA Golf Chevrolet | 268 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
31 | 38 | 16 | Derek Kraus | projectwyoming.com Chevrolet | 268 | 6 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
32 | 6 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | SiriusXM Toyota | 267 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
33 | 34 | 33 | * Austin Hill(i) | United Rentals Chevrolet | 267 | 0 | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 |
34 | 11 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
35 | 37 | 15 | Riley Herbst(i) | Monster Energy Zero Sugar Ford | 266 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
36 | 31 | 21 | Harrison Burton | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 262 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
37 | 7 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Snap on Ford | 184 | 0 | Ford Mustang |
38 | 19 | 84 | * Jimmie Johnson | AdventHealth Toyota | 175 | 0 | Toyota TRD Camry |
# – Rookie
i – Points ineligible
* – Part-time driver
Subscribe to GM Authority for more Chevy news, NASCAR news, GM motorsports news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
No Comments yet