Kyle Larson beats Chris Buescher at Kansas in closest finish in NASCAR history

Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson throw haymakers in Stage 1

From the jump, this race was fun and exciting. Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson gave NASCAR fans a show on the track. Passing each other for the lead, both drivers took turns through slide jobs and crossovers on their rival.

Larson was strong but eventually, Denny Hamlin started to move up. Once the 11 got up near the front, he was able to get by Larson and race against Chastain for the lead. It really was some of, if not the best, racing that we have seen this season.

Kansas Speedway and this Next Gen car just make sense together. It’s wonderful, really. This is a track I look forward to with a ton of anticipation now. You can almost bet on the racing being great.

Hamlin ended up taking the Stage 1 win over Chastain. A ton of clean racing in the beginning of the race, we were treated to a lot of action in the first 80 laps.

Chris Buescher shows up in Stage 2

After that opening stage, it looked like a three-horse race. Larson, Chastain, Hamlin. The beginning of Stage 2 proved that was incorrect. Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, and Christopher Bell came on in this stage like a switch.

Once everyone got an adjustment on pit road, the competition level just went through the roof. Two wide? Yeah. Three wide? Believe it. Four wide? It happened. This race even went FIVE WIDE at the beginning of the stage.

Strong racing from Hamlin again in this stage, but he lost spots on pit road during the stage break. Seven spots, to be exact. While Hamlin moved up again, he couldn’t get to the lead. It allowed Buescher to run away with the stage win and bank his first playoff point of the season.

Again, clean racing. However, that would change as the final stage began. That is when chaos broke out on the track.

Kyle Larson wins by 0.001 seconds over Chris Buescher

The final stage started with three caution flags back to back to back. Drivers couldn’t keep their cars pointed straight. It allowed for some varied and interesting pit strategies. There were drivers who took tires during the cautions and others who stayed out.

Denny Hamlin was able to stay out and take the lead after one of the cautions. Then he just drove away with the lead. Chris Buescher tried to keep up but couldn’t. Then Kyle Larson started to come on strong at the end with less than 20 laps to go.

That’s when Kyle Busch had his car slide out from under him. It would trigger the final caution of the night and set up an interesting finish. Drivers came down for pit stops and went back out lined up and ready to go.

Over the final four laps of the race, it was a show. Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher and a pack behind them FLYING down the track. You could feel a special finish was brewing as they ticked down the final few laps.

Larson got on the outside of Buescher, almost in a similar position as he was in last year with Hamlin. This time, Larson was the aggressor, he drove down on Buescher’s door and the two drag raced to the line. Buescher thought he was the winner at first, his team began to celebrate – then NASCAR came over the radio and corrected the record.

For the second time this season, Kyle Larson is in Victory Lane. Is this going to be the start of a hot streak for the 5 team?