Denny Hamlin Sympathizes With Chris Buescher’s Stages of Grief After 0.001-Second Loss in 3 Words

At the Kansas Speedway, there was joy for Kyle Larson, as he snatched yet another win. However, there was also despair for Chris Buescher as he barely lost out to the Hendrick Motorsports star. This was because he and Larson crossed the finish line in a dead heat, and only 0.001 seconds separated them. Initially, Buescher was scored as the winner, before the timing sheets updated and recorded Larson’s name. In light of this, Denny Hamlin extended his sympathy to his rival.

This scene was slightly reminiscent of the 2008 F1 season finale. In that scenario, Felipe Massa crossed the finish line first in Brazil, and thought that he won the title. However, a few seconds later, Lewis Hamilton crossed the line and scored enough points to snatch the title from under Massa’s nose. While Buscher’s lost win wasn’t at that scale, it didn’t make it any less heart-breaking.

Chris Buescher actually thought he won

While a P2 finish isn’t that bad, for Chris Buescher, it was as heartbreaking as it could be. Losing is one thing, but thinking you’ve won but then lose is completely another. So naturally, the RFK racing driver was evidently downcast as he discussed his misfortune. “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,” the racer said. And perhaps Kansas’ P5 finisher could understand the #17 driver’s misery as he discussed the debacle on his Actions Detrimental podcast.

Hamlin said, “Ouch!..but it’s more about ouch for the #17 team, because of the emotions. Can you imagine thinking you won, and then you didn’t? You saw Scott Graves, the crew chief for Buescher, just really excited and then, ‘Wait a minute, what did they just call? Did they just call the #5 the winner?’. Just the emotions, I hate it for the team because I’m like, ‘Oh! You know how heart-breaking it is. It’s like ‘Ouch! Ouch, that’s a tough one too’. I mean, if you just lose, like he’s in the last lap and just lost maybe by a car length or a few feet, he knows he lost. But he actually thought he won. That’s the hard part, emotionally.”

Buescher had every right to be upset, as did the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing team. Till now, every NASCAR Cup, Truck and Xfinity Series race has had a Chevrolet or Toyota winner. In the Cup Series alone, aside from outliers Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick, it has been a Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing show. This was a perfect opportunity for Ford to get one win on the board. Additionally, it would be an extra brownie point if RFK Racing could do it before Team Penske or Stewart-Haas Racing.

Will Ford ever break their winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series?

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Truthfully, it is not from the lack of effort from any of the Ford drivers. Especially considering that Buescher is the second Ford Cup driver to lose a photo finish. The first one was Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who lost a three-way dead heat at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, earlier this year. Even in the Xfinity Series, Riley Herbst was edged out by Jesse Love at the Talladega Superspeedway.

At this point, one really has to wonder when Ford will open its 2024 account. Many of their drivers are hugely talented, and three of them are Cup Series champions, namely, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Of course, they will have to get past the multitude of Chevrolets and Toyotas, in order to try and earn that elusive Cup race win. The good news is that there is plenty of time to do so before the regular season ends. Larson already has multiple wins this season, and the same goes for Denny Hamlin.

So will Buescher join the ranks, or will it be one of his Ford comrades?