Denny Hamlin Calls Out NASCAR’s ‘Unscientific’ Mistake Leading to Larson-Buescher Photo Finish Fiasco

NASCAR’s closest-ever finish came with calls for controversy. Kyle Larson edged out Chris Buescher this Sunday in Kansas for his second season’s victory by a nail-biting 0.001 second. However, many eyes spotted the crooked start-finish line edging out just a little on the top lane, kissing Larson’s record-making #5 Chevy.

But P5 finisher and Kansas’ replaced champ, Denny Hamlin, has different observations on the #17’s transponder registering itself as the unofficial winner for a few seconds after the checkered wave. And he certainly believes this historic feat is only a fair victory for his Hendrick Motorsports rival.

Denny Hamlin answers controversy erupting after 0.001-second record

NASCAR races rely on a sophisticated system of transponders and timing lines to achieve precise lap times for each car. Transponders are small electronic devices attached to each car’s right rear and act like radio beacons. When cars pass invisible ‘timing lines’ embedded in the track, often at the start-finish line, the transponder sends a signal. This precise communication allows officials to calculate lap times down to the thousandth of a second, like in Kansas.

Denny Hamlin had the perfect view of the Midwest action while Larson and Buescher bounced off each other to create the closest margin of victory since the 2011 Aaron’s 499. But from Buescher to his crew chief, Scott Graves many spectators had a different view on a photo-finish fiasco, at the expense of Ford Performance’s first trip to victory lane.

Consequently, in the latest post-race release of Actions Detrimental, Denny voiced his own opinions on an ‘unmathematical’ finish. “Where actually runs over the timing lines it’s only like, three feet before the start-finish line. But the actual transponder is probably, what is that, 12 feet behind the nose of the car,” stated Hamlin. 

He elaborated on his dissections, “So the timing line needs to be moved back to where it coincides when your nose crosses whatever line is. ‘Cause apparently, lines are very unofficial. Like, they need to have it to where your transponder crosses the mark to time you when your nose is hitting the start-finish line, so right now where it is at is that the transponder clips it but your nose is probably six feet past the start-finish line. So it’s very unscientific where they have it right now. For sure.”

But in clarifications to RFK’s #17 team, NASCAR already outlines that the finish is based on more than just one futuristic technology determining its outcomes.

Lessons learned from the Kansas controversy

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After the Advent Health 400 kicked off an exhilarating NASCAR schedule for May with disappointments for a relative underdog in Buescher, many feared foul play. But the crew chief of #17 took his issues straight to the officials, and in an interview with Bob Pockrass, he explained. “I mean they showed us the picture they create using the lasers… We were just wondering if they were using the painted line or not. They don’t… They have a photo system that is a lot more accurate than that.”

Regardless, as Hamlin’s co-host Jared Allen stated on the podcast, “Well there’s only one case scenario where that becomes an issue and it only happens in one race out of thousands.”

Denny followed up on this sentiment explaining the confusion that may arise from such an exhilarating finish from a veteran driver’s perspective: “For instance in 2016 when I won Daytona. I didn’t know…but as I crossed the line I then looked at the pylon to see what was flashing because at Daytona on the pylon there, whenever there is a new leader, it flashes. And when I went by it. It was in the middle of a dark flash. So there was no number.”