Kurt Busch Savors Younger Brother’s Lightning McQueen Moment With His Own Version of a Photo Finish

The Atlanta race saw a lot of drama on Sunday. With no stormy weather clouding the horizon of Atlanta like Daytona and LA, all drivers were pumped to conquer the racetrack. The energy was so high that they bumped and crashed into each other in a number of wrecks. However, the energy persisted into the last lap where Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Busch fought to a photo finish.

The three drivers were almost in a straight line. Kyle Busch ended up caught in the middle of Blaney and Suarez before the Mexican racer eventually won. Busch’s situation was aptly compared to a Cars character. But his own older brother was entangled in a similar situation before.

Kyle Busch cannot hold a candle to Brother Kurt’s close finish

Daniel Suarez, the Ambetter Health 400 race winner, outsmarted Kyle Busch by a matter of 0.007 seconds. Suarez also overtook Ryan Blaney by a margin of 0.003 seconds, making it the third-closest finish in history. The first such narrow shave was witnessed by shocked crowds at Darlington Raceway in 2003. And none other than Kyle’s brother, Kurt was involved.

In the spring Cup Series race at Darlington, Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch ran side-by-side to the finish line. Both were uncertain of the outcome until the scoring tower handed down the jaw-dropping verdict. Craven won by a crazy margin of 0.002 seconds, making it the closest finish in NASCAR Cup history.

21 years down the lane and somebody else in the family experienced a similar situation. Not long after the results were announced, people also began drawing references to the Cars (2006) movie. In the final race at Motor Speedway of the South, The King, Lightning McQueen, and Chick Hicks were tied to the finish line.

In the movie, Lightning McQueen stuck his tongue out to win. But such a fictional tweak is not possible in real life, and Kyle Busch was visibly irked by the results. “I hate that we had a Lightning McQueen-style finish there, with so close of three-wide and we were the worst of it.”

Recently Kurt Busch shared a post on X comparing his brother’s situation with his own.

This year’s Atlanta finish earned a place in NASCAR’s all-time best moments. But Kurt Busch’s close shave in 2003 still deserves a lot of attention, given that enmity never arose between the hot contenders.

Kurt Busch relished the Darlington finish despite his loss

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Darlington, NASCAR’s oldest speedway, is known to bring out the best in drivers. Hence, losing a race there would definitely sting. But things panned out differently for Kurt Busch. He took a three-second lead, only to see it evaporate when Rick Craven squeezed him into the outer wall.

Post-race, Craven swore that Busch was coming to confront him for a possible brawl. But on the contrary, Busch approached him and appreciated him for such a clean, well-fought race.

“I was like, ‘How freaking cool,’” Busch said. “Right away, I knew something special happened. That’s why I made it a point to go to victory lane with a smile on my face.”

Read More: Kyle Busch Warns Entire Grid of Detrimental Consequences of Nascar’s Atlanta Revamp

Both Rick Craven and Kurt Busch reminisce about the Darlington race fondly to this day. He said: “It’s maybe not so easy to celebrate me, Ricky Craven, and to celebrate Kurt Busch finishing second. But what separates this race from all others is that it wasn’t as much about two drivers as it was about the moment. And I think the proof of that is that Kurt Busch has celebrated this race probably as much as I have. It’s been just remarkable.”