By: Damani Smith
Yesterday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway was the third close finish of the season in an already thrilling NASCAR season, as Kyle Larson edged out Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds. In a Green-White-Checkered finish, Buescher restarted alongside race leader, Denny Hamlin. Larson jumped to the inside of Hamlin, allowing for a clean pass to battle Buescher for first, after Buescher emerged as the leader. Larson gave Buescher a run for his money, as he blocked Larson for 2 laps. Ultimately, Larson took the high line, just inches away from the wall and slammed into Buescher’s door multiple times to prevent the Roush Fenway Keselowski racing driver from collecting his first victory of the season, and the first victory of the year for Ford.
Initially, NASCAR on FOX gave credit to Buescher as the winner, due to the finish being too close to call. However, the electronic scoring system and NASCAR informed Larson’s crew chief, Cliff Daniels, that they were the winners. This left Buescher and his team heartbroken, as the RFK Racing Instagram posted a pic of a disappointed Buescher, with the caption “Our winner”.
Earlier this season, the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway saw a 0.003 margin of victory, with Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez edging out defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney of Team Penske and Richard Childress Racing driver, Kyle Busch. That race now holds the record as the third-closest finish in history, with last night’s race being the closest finish in history, a record broken after the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 saw Ricky Craven edge out Kurt Busch, with a 0.002 margin. It should be noted that the 2011 Aaron’s 499 saw Jimmie Johnson beat Clint Bowyer to the line also by 0.002 seconds, which tied Craven and Busch’s record at the time.
In NASCAR’s “little league” series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, there has been one close finish this year, taking place at the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway a month ago. Sam Mayer beat Ryan Sieg by 0.002 seconds, which was the same margin of victory held by the Craven/Busch and Johnson/Bowyer finishes.
Longterm, this is great for NASCAR, as they have been chasing higher viewership numbers for the last decade and a half. Throughout the year, races have seen more people tune into the races on television, as reported by @themoneylap on Instagram. As seen on Jeff Gluck’s Twitter/X.com page, there are a lot of new viewers of the sport, thanks to NASCAR’s five-episode Netflix series, NASCAR: Full Speed. These close finishes are bound to only increase viewership for the rest of the season, as the sport desperately needs new eyes on it.
While many old-school fans have turned away from the sport in the last 20 years, NASCAR understands they need to make their sport appealing to the younger generation now. Sunday’s finish, as well as the other close finishes in recent memory, are enough to keep the brand new fan or casual fan engaged, and further incline them to come out to a race as the season goes on. Sunday’s Advent Health 400 was only the 12th race of a 36-race schedule and this was only the beginning of a season built up with a lot of anticipation.
NASCAR needs more of this unmanufactured excitement heading into the summer stretch. Races that casual fans will want to watch include Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway, which was ironically where Craven and Busch had their iconic photo finish over 20 years ago, and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26th, which is the ultimate test of man and machine in NASCAR’s endurance race. They will not want to miss the upcoming points-paying races on the schedule, with Denny Hamlin chasing his first career NASCAR Cup Series championship and two tracks that both he and early championship rival, Kyle Larson, thrive at.
Every Man on Every Crew 