KANSAS CITY, Kan: Chris Buescher did everything he could to silence the critics and answer the daunting question, “When is Ford going to be in Victory Lane?”
When the checkered flag waved in the rain-delayed Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway, Buscher and his RFK Racing’s No. 17 were sitting atop the scoring pylon, the winner in a heart-stopping photo finish.
Within 15 seconds though, Buescher’s first Cup Series win of the season had been taken away as NASCAR verified the winner of the race by a photo – which showed initial second-place finisher Kyle Larson edge ahead of Buescher’s No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang by a mere 0.001 seconds for the closest finish in the sport’s history.
Of course, Buescher, a native of Prosper, Texas could not believe the news when he was told he did not win.
The RFK Racing driver who swiped the lead from Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson in an overtime restart thought for sure he had crossed the start-finish line first, but NASCAR race control reiterated based on a photo finish that Larson had claimed his second win of the season and left Buescher with his second runner-up finish of the 2024 season.
Climbing from his car, the five-time Cup Series winner was still in disbelief at losing the race and could not muster the right words to say in an agonizing defeat.
“I don’t know what to say right now,” offered Buescher. “I haven’t seen a replay other than just a picture. I just can’t see it in that picture.
“That sucks to be that close. It was a great finish for us, a really strong day. A lot of speed in this Castrol Edge Ford Mustang, and we really needed that. Needed a win more, and I thought might have had that one.
“We had a really strong day with a lot of speed in this Castrol Edge Ford Mustang and we really needed that. We needed a win more. I thought we had that one. We had a lot of speed there firing off, we were really good all day. I am really proud of that.
“We had good strategy to get us back up there and I tried to cover what I could but I gave him half a lane too much I suppose. That was a good hard race there down to the line. It hurts.”
Buscher, capturing his second top-five finish of the season, described the thrilling final three miles at Kansas Speedway.
“We got a great push,” recalled Buescher. “Chase (Elliott) got us a good restart and we got into the corner. We were able to run the bottom pretty well and we had some good momentum down the back but Kyle (Larson) certainly had a run. I was trying to cover what I could but we just left too much space around the top side.
“Unfortunately, that ended up getting us, and it hurts. It was a good race. We were banging doors all the way to the checkers. I knew it was going to be close but certainly it hurts to be that close and miss out. The photo I have seen, I can’t make out anything from the photo finish at this point. Maybe we will see something a little bit clearer and get a better understanding.”
When Kyle Busch spun with less than 10 laps remaining in the race, it immediately threw Buscher, who, for most of Stage 3, wrestled the lead with Denny Hamlin.
The two veterans taunted each other with fast race cars and line execution, but as the race began to dwindle down to its final laps, Buescher backed off the pedal and had slipped to third in the race rundown when the final caution waved on Lap 261.
With fuel for NASCAR overtime and two right-side tires, Buescher lined up behind Hamlin and Larson but used momentum on the high lane to put Hamlin in the middle and fend off a hungry Larson at the white flag.
Buescher continued to control the race, with the race cars screaming down the backstretch when Larson threw his No. 5 Chevrolet to the outside in Turn 3. This forced Buescher to go into defense mode and attempt to aero-block Larson’s moment.
As the cars roared off Turn 4, the two cars were side-by-side and door-slamming each other in an attempt to break the momentum and give one driver the winning edge over the other.
In a last-ditch effort to beat Larson, Buscher dropped to the apron of the race which triggered the photo finish and set a new record for the closest delta in a NASCAR race.
Previously, Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch by 0.002 of a second at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in March 2003.
“We were celebrating down the backstretch and looked at the pylon and we were P1 up there,” explained Buescher. “Everything we had said we had gotten it. Obviously not. Like I said, the only thing I have to go off of is a grainy photo right now and at this point it just sounds like I am complaining, and I guess I am because I don’t see it in that.
“I don’t understand how the timing system can read it out one way and not the other. We just gotta understand it better.
“It sucks to celebrate on the backstretch and then pull up to the front straightaway and be told no. I don’t know how everything transpired honestly. Not right now. It sucks in a lot of ways. Second hurts, a whole lot worse than third.
“To be that close a couple of times this year now and not be able to get the win, the speed is great and we did a good job today and was a good recovery from the end of Stage 2 there but we don’t have a trophy right now.”
Despite the end result, Buescher was proud of the effort his RFK Racing team put in on Sunday night.
Buescher himself, though, deserves some credit, including wowing the crowd with a daring five-wide move on the frontstretch on Lap 89.
“Had a lot of speed there firing off,” Buescher added. “We were really good really all day, and really proud of that. Had some good strategy to get us back up there and tried to cover what I could and gave him half a lane too much, I suppose, but good hard race right there down to the line. But yeah, just it hurts.
“We need to be in that situation again and need to get some trophies and checkered flags and put ourselves in a much better spot.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected].
