Chris Buescher and Kyle Larson raced side by side off Turn 4 on the final lap of overtime and stayed that way as they took the checkered flag.
The scoring monitor said Buescher won by 0.001 seconds, but NASCAR officials said they were going to review video footage, which showed Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet edging Buescher’s No. Ford by inches at the line at most.
Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. racing for third, nearly made it a four-wide finish.
Watch: Kyle Larson on closest Cup finish: ‘You guys got your money’s worth tonight’
The official margin of victory was confirmed as 0.001 by Larson, not Buescher – officially the closest finish in NASCAR history since the advent of electronic timing and scoring.
The wild finish capped a remarkable day of back-and-forth racing among the leaders, despite the race being delayed by rain by more than three hours. The race featured 27 lead changes among 10 different drivers.
The victory is the second this season for Larson, who came in second just last weekend to Denny Hamlin at Dover. It’s also the 25th of his career.
Larson’s chance at the win only came about when a caution in the final laps sent the race – with Hemlin in the lead – into overtime. Hamlin was first off pit road, but Buescher quickly rocketed to the lead on the restart ahead of Larson before Larson caught back up with him exiting Turn 2 on the final lap, which set up the sprint to the checkered flag.
“I don’t know (what to think),” a stunned Larson said after the race result was announced as official. “That was wild. I was obviously thankful for that (last) caution. We were dying pretty bad. Was happy to come out third, and figured my best shot was me to choose the bottom (lane) and try and split three-wide to the inside.
“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. Wasn’t quite sure if we were going to make it out the other side. I got super loose in the center, and then we’re just trying to not to get too far ahead of him to where he can side draft and then I was just trying to kill his run. It was crazy.
“That race from start to finish was amazing. That first stage was incredible. The second stage at the end was fun, and then that whole last stage with the wrecks and cautions and then fuel…
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