Kyle Larson Insider Spills Beans on Behind-the-Scenes Gesture That Confirmed the 0.000 Win

0.0001 seconds was the difference between the winner, Kyle Larson, and the runner-up, Chris Buescher, as they crossed the start-finish line at the Kansas Speedway. It was practically impossible to pick out the winner with the naked eye. The initial impressions were that the No. 17 RFK Racing car won the race, but NASCAR officials did confirm the No. 5 team camp about their win.

However, crew chief Cliff Daniels had a hard time trying to hear the confirmation about their win and got confused with the signaling of an on-field NASCAR official. But this was still not enough for Daniels to believe that his team had indeed won the race. Daniels needed an audio confirmation before he and his team would kickstart the celebrations.

Cliff Daniels shares the details about the thrilling race win at Kansas

Coming off the final turn on the front stretch, Kyle Larson and Buscher battled it out to reach the checkered flag in an overtime finish. The driver of the No. 5 car bumped not once but twice into the No. 17 Ford, but neither of the two drivers wanted to give up. As a result, they both crossed the finish line wheel to wheel, leaving everyone guessing who won the race.

Daniels, who initially thought that his team lost, explained the details of how a NASCAR official near his pit stall confirmed their win in their favor. Speaking on SiriusXM Radio via X, the crew chief of the No. 5 HMS team said, “Right when we crossed the finish line my timing of scoring tripped over. They’re putting the 17 above the 5 with the gap of 0.000… I thought I heard NASCAR come over the radio something about the 5, but I didn’t hear it fully.”

Normally, the race control center is the one authorized to confirm the race win, especially when the margins are this fine. However, an official right by their pit stall tried to convey the message to the HMS camp about their winning. “I was still little bit confused because I hadn’t heard it verbally, just had a thumbs-up gesture from the NASCAR official and I don’t know if that was good race man, or you’re the winner. Then Tyler, our spotter confirmed and we started celebrating, it was pretty wild.”

In total, three NASCAR events have gone down right to the wire with photo finishes; two came from the Cup Series, and one from the Xfinity. However, the win by Larson with a mere difference of 0.001 seconds is officially the closest margin for any NASCAR race. However, a lot of drama unfolded after the close call. Many took notice of the crooked start-finish line and started questioning NASCAR’s ruling.

Here’s how NASCAR determines the winner in case of photo finishes

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While the painted line was intended to be in question, NASCAR doesn’t necessarily use it to make a decision call for race finishes. In fact, the officials make use of high-speed cameras to make an accurate call that is spread across the racetrack and captures extreme slow-motion pictures that help officials make a conclusive decision. Basically, it is the same technology used to determine winners in horse races, the Olympics track and field, and other major sporting events.

NASCAR veterans Todd Gordon and Steve Letarte further clarified how the technology is used by the officials to make close calls. “This isn’t a picture, that’s why the background is kind of blurred here because picture is taking anything that’s moving. So the wall, the line, the racetrack, they’re not moving. Those slices kind of get blurred together,” Gordon said via NASCAR’s official Instagram handle.

Letarte even explained why transponders installed in the race cars are not used to determine the winner of a photo finish. The initial celebration in the RFK camp was due to the electronic signal that was received by the transponder. “So NASCAR has determined when we’re going to use the loops and that is all race long until we pay points. Which is the finish of the stages or the finish of the race and we’ll go back to high-speed cameras… That’s the whole point of this conversation is that official just like in Kentucky Derby, just like in the Olympics, the official used the slow motion high-speed camera.”

We can surely bet that this isn’t the last time NASCAR officials will have to make use of the technology to call out the race winners.