NASCAR has closest EVER finish in thrilling race

An astonishing finish at the Kansas Speedway saw a historic win for Kyle Larson in what was the closest finish in the 76-year history of the NASCAR Cup Series.

In the weekend's AdventHealth 400 event, American racer Larson had a great exit off the final turn and launched himself at the leading Chris Buescher in a desperate attempt to get ahead of the RFK Racing driver.

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What resulted was a photo finish which determined that Larson had indeed got the better of Buescher by a minuscule 0.001 seconds to claim his second race win of the NASCAR season.

That stunning finish beats the previous record of 0.002 seconds, which was the winning margin back in 2003 between Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch at Darlington Raceway, and again in 2011 between Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer at Talladega Superspeedway.

Larson's record-breaking drive

During the cooldown lap after the race, it was widely perceived that Buescher had held on for victory, with the 31-year-old even celebrating as if he had got the job done.

However, in a shock for Larson and the fans who were waiting with bated breath for the results of the photo finish, Larson was determined to be the winner, sparking jubilation among the Hendrick Motorsports team.

“I got to the start/finish line and had no clue if I won or not,” Larson said after the thrilling race.

“I didn’t honestly care because I was like, ‘Man, that was freaking awesome.’ I think I asked if I won or not and (Cliff Daniels, crew chief) said timing and scoring showed the 17.

"I was like, ‘Cool.’ Then, my spotter was going crazy shortly after that. Just incredible.”

Meanwhile, Buescher, who missed out on his first race victory of the season among the drama, was downtrodden by the unexpected loss.

“It sucks to halfway celebrate down the backstretch and pull up to the front straightaway and get told no,” he said.

“I don’t know how everything transpired right now. It sucks in a lot of ways. Second hurts a lot worse than third.”

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