This time last year, Chris Buescher boasted 4 top-10 finishes with a solitary P3 podium at Talladega. RFK’s #17 driver has the same number of placings P9 or above, alongside two P2 podium finishes heading to ‘the track too tough to tame’ next Sunday.

Hence, it’s safe to say that Buescher’s 2024 displays have improved entering the thirteenth points-paying race weekend of the Cup Series season. Yet, his most recent close call to victory at Kansas painted a sorry picture on the part of the 0.001-second late P2 finisher. And after a delayed race (and a delayed winner declaration), the former crew chiefs of some of the most iconic names in the business, Steve Letarte and Todd Gordon, had some ‘confusing’ clarifications on Buescher’s record-making heartbreak in the Midwest.

“This isn’t a NASCAR thing,” the former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief explains

A controversial Kansas encounter saw a “crooked” start-finish line, an unfortunate rain delay, and confusion following the photo finish, which had Buescher’s #17 Ford transponder register itself as the winner after crossing the penultimate ‘timing loop.’ Just a car’s length ahead of the actual finish line alongside race-winner Kyle Larson. Regardless, after careful reviews via high-speed “line scan” imaging technology, NASCAR determined Larson as the official winner after a short delay.

Buescher was understandably distraught in his post-race interview, stating, “I haven’t seen a replay other than just a picture… I sure can’t see it in that picture. That sucks to be that close. I still can’t see (it).” 

Regardless, NASCAR analyst Todd Gordon, a former crew chief for Team Penske, offered some insight on the confusing finish line photo from Kansas during the post-race dissections on Inside the Race. He used his expert knowledge to explain the high-tech equipment behind the image: “This isn’t a picture. That’s why the background is kind of blurred here because the picture is taking anything that’s moving… So the wall, the line, the racetrack. They’re not moving. Those slices get blurred together… And this is the same technology used across many different sporting events.”

But Hendrick Motorsports’ icon, Steve Letarte, shut down all claims of an intentional heartbreak for Chris Buescher when he said, “I think that’s a point worth clarifying… This isn’t a NASCAR thing. IndyCar uses it, NASCAR uses it, Kentucky Derby uses it, the Olympics use it… Really anything that is trying to determine the winner at a finish line uses this type of technology. The most important part of this is the finish of the race. It is not to be debated or argued. I agree that the start-finish line could be more defined.”

Letarte contradictorily continued, “I agree with all of the sentiments that I hear from the fans out there and some of the frustration. But it’s clear…” Nevertheless, with Buescher’s Kansas wounds now assumedly healed, considering his humorous “Cars” trilogy reference on social media harkening to his current situations, the NASCAR analyst duo continued to explain exactly what led to the confusion in the first place.

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Letarte elaborated, “So NASCAR has determined that the loops and the transponders will be used to score the field from, basically the entire race.” Officials and timekeepers use timing loops to register accurate timing data from the aforementioned transponder, an electronic device attached to the rear of each 2024 NextGen car.

As per his partner, “There is a (separate) cable built into the racetrack that when the transponder comes over. It picks up the signal on a transponder. They say, as we talked about it, this is good to like plus or minus one and a half thousandths of a second. But when we get to the finishes we’ve had. This doesn’t carry through to what we need.”

The former crew chief of Dale Jr and Jeff Gordon then elaborated on his partner’s take on this issue, as he stated,  “NASCAR has determined when we’re going to use loops, and that is all race long until we pay points, which is the finish of the stages. Or (at) the finish of the race we’ll go back to the high-speed cameras.” 

Nevertheless, Letarte concluded the controversy, by clarifying the unofficial happiness that many displayed with an official explanation straight out of NASCAR’s very own production: “We saw the #17 of Chris Buescher’s team basically celebrating. That’s because the electronics and the loops put him in front of Kyle Larson when they crossed the line… And that’s you know, basically the difference between the electronic timing and scoring in the camera itself. That’s really the point of this whole conversation, just like in the Kentucky Derby, just like in the Olympics….” The slow-motion high-speed camera is always the final decider claims Letarte.

The excitement now awaits moving to Darlington next week. Buescher has claimed the podium before at the 2023 Southern 500, with a career-best P3 finish. Interestingly, Larson was the winner of this race as well. Although the #45 Toyota of Tyler Reddick separated the potential playoff combatants last September, Buescher’s newfound tenacity will certainly shine through sooner rather than later on the early-season race winners of the 2024 NASCAR season.