Despite 0.001 Win, Kyle Larson Reveals a Surprising 7-Word Fear in Kansas

Kyle Larson secured a seat among this season’s multiple Cup winners in Kansas and also scripted history in the process. Beating RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher by a margin of 0.001 seconds, Larson recorded the closest finish in NASCAR’s 76-year history. But given the slimmest margin ever, the battle was hard, and confusion piled up.

In the overtime finish, the Hendrick driver banged doors with Buescher aggressively. Larson had pulled up behind his rival on the backstretch of the last lap and came around him in the final corner. Then the battle ensued that threw up a lot of possibilities. Larson recently expanded upon this in a post-race interview.

Kyle Larson was in disbelief about his win

After Denny Hamlin bested Larson in a restart in Dover last weekend, the No. 9 driver was determined for a comeback. After spinning Kyle Busch and drawing out the final caution, Kyle Larson calculated his steps well. He threw a wrench in Hamlin and Chris Buescher’s plan to succeed, both running well until the green-white-checkered finish. However, the edge-of-the-seat finish echoed Larson’s jittery feelings, who had doubts every step of the way.

In a post-race press conference, Kyle Larson narrated his misgivings about outsmarting Buescher. “Even with the run that I had off of two, I didn’t think that I could get next to him. But you know, trying to put myself in his position. You’re on two tires. We ran a long time on our lefts, probably didn’t have…didn’t know what to expect out of his car.”

Larson also shared how he strongly suspected getting pushed into the wall in a smoking crash. “Honestly, I thought I was going to be at a disadvantage off of four. I thought just the way that these cars work, you know with aero…I thought with him getting packed to my left side.” He added his seven-word fear: “I was just gonna get plowed tight.”

However, somehow the strategy played out in his favor. “But for whatever reason, it gripped up really good. I knew this side draft game was gonna be huge, and was just trying to stall any bit of run I could.” Larson also credited Buescher’s lack of speed for his win. “He didn’t enter quite fast enough. I had that clean air, and I ran in really far and got to his right side.”fuse

Chris Buescher put up a tough fight against Larson. Both RFK and Hendrick teams initially had wrong ideas about the result. But when it finally came out, Buescher was visibly sad.

A quick end to celebrations jarred Buescher’s emotions

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When the spectacular two-wide finish ensued at Kansas, fans were scratching their heads. To the naked eye, it seemed Chris Buescher had edged Kyle Larson for the glory. Buescher’s team began celebrating before the result was official. Even Larson had started to congratulate the No. 9 team for a strong second-place run.

However, soon, the RFK No. 17 crew chief, Scott Graves met with NASCAR officials in their hauler. They showed the grainy finish-line photo which sidelined Buescher’s winning fate. The driver was visibly upset when he learned about the outcome. “I don’t know what to say right now,” Buescher said, shaking his head beside his car. “I haven’t seen a replay other than just the picture, and I sure can’t see in that picture. That sucks to be that close.”

The five-time Cup winner will hopefully have sunnier fortunes ahead in upcoming races.