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RFK Racing Veteran Backs NASCAR on Chris Buescher’s Controversial Photo Finish Loss: “A Lot More Accurate”

Published 05/07/2024, 4:25 AM EDT

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Winning and losing are a part of racing and Chris Buescher went through both emotions at Kansas. As did his crew chief, Scott Graves. When winning makes you feel like you are at the top of the world, losing will break your heart into pieces. It will hurt even more when you lose a race only by a fraction of a second.

Buescher lost in Kansas on Sunday after a photographic finish. It was a close victory margin between him and Kyle Larson, with just a mind-blowing 0.001 seconds separating them, making it the closest finish in the sport’s history till date. And with such a tight finish also came a lot of confusion. However, after keen observation, Graves seemed to accept his fate.

So near, yet so far!

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After the photographic finishes at the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday night, there was some initial misunderstanding over who had won the race because of how close the finish was. From the looks of it, the #17 seemed to trump the #5. Even race commentators confirmed the same during the time, with RFK racing members erupting in celebrations over their driver’s first win of the season. However, things soon took a turn for the worst for the team, as Kyle Larson was announced as the victor.

But the decision wasn’t reached on a whim. Evidently, #17’s crew Chief Scott Graves met with the NASCAR officials for the final verdict.

Fox’s Bob Pockrass met with Gravis after the final results and shared that the team accepted the final decision in order to avoid any more misunderstanding. After the race finished, RFK Racing shared a picture of the start-finish line, which appeared to be painted unevenly.

He said, “I mean, they showed us the picture they create using the lasers. We were just wondering if they were using the painted line or not. They don’t. It’s actually, they have a photosystem that is a lot more accurate than that.”

Gravis further went on to accept the final decision to prevent any further speculation.“They showed us the picture of it and it is what it is. It doesn’t make it any easier to swallow, but as much as all these races are, you’ve got to at least question it and make sure your understanding of everything going on there and be able to accept that decision. So we did,” he added.

Having said that, it looks like the #17 RFK driver really took the setback to heart, as the driver talked about a gift being taken away from him.

Buescher heartbroken after Kansas loss

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Chris Buescher was denied his victory after a tight finish at Kansas on Sunday. He spoke about the final verdict and stated that he had a hard time processing the news but he handled himself pretty well during the post-race interview.

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,” Buescher said via FrontStretch

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Furthermore, the 31-year-old driver also shared how was pleased with the overall performance, with his speed and how well he and his team recovered from the end of Stage Two. However, he also revealed that despite everything, it’s them who didn’t have a trophy.

While there’s nothing that can ease the pain of such a setback, perhaps Buescher can take some inspiration from Kansas for the upcoming battles!

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Written by:

Sushmita Balakrishnan

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Sushmita Balakrishnan is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. Her journey as a writer in the world of motorsports started right after she completed her undergrad in journalism. Since then, she has covered multiple stories for F1 and NASCAR, allowing her to establish her current expertise in covering race reports and breaking news to the fans.
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Edited by:

Ariva Debnath