Why Kyle Larson needed NASCAR photo finish win more than Chris Buescher; NASCAR All-Star fan vote update

In terms of talent, Kyle Larson is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

Wins like Sunday's will help give him the résumé and highlight reel to match.

So, while you had to feel for Chris Buescher, who lost at Kansas on Sunday in the closest finish in NASCAR history, maybe Larson needed it more.

Not in terms of this season, where Larson already had a win and Buescher still needs one to lock into the playoffs. But beyond.

We're talking legacy, folks.

Because while Larson's talent is indisputable, the case for greatness, or goat-ness, still is.

Larson is 31 years old and has 25 wins and a championship. But think, 'What's Kyle Larson's defining moment as a NASCAR driver?'

Took a minute, right?

He has but two crown jewel wins: the Southern 500 last year and the 2021 Coca-Cola 600. Jeff Gordon has 17, for reference.

Larson is 0 for 11 in the Daytona 500 and 0 for 9 at Indianapolis and while a championship is nice, three or more are better. Especially with Kyle Busch and Joey Logano having each already won two.

And even though he's at the top of his game and the driver heap right now, with the parity in the sport, especially in the Gen-7 era, who's to say how long success lasts?

Yet we'll always have Sunday. And for the rest of time, the highlight will run, showing Larson squeezing a 6-and-a-half-foot-wide, blue peg into a 7-foot hole in the outside lane, scraping the paint off the wall and door slamming Buescher to the line for one of the most memorable victories ever. And that was after he dusted Denny Hamlin from the second row on the restart.

Frankly, there may not be another active driver that could've done what Larson did over Sunday's green-white-checkered finish. And its proof that at least for a moment — a race, a season, a few years or maybe, a generation — there was nobody better than Kyle Larson.

Let's go through the gears:

First gear

Ricky Craven, who was the victor in the previous closest NASCAR finish in 2003 at Darlington with Kurt Busch finishing second, took to Twitter to formally pass the belt, or the torch, to Larson and Buescher.

Busch, like Buescher, was also driving for Jack Roush at the time, putting the man known as “The Cat in the Hat” on the bad end of both of the Cup Series’ narrowest endings by a total of 0.003 seconds.

Second gear

While Darlington looms this weekend, beyond it is the All-Star break at North Wilkesboro.

With that in mind, a reminder that you can determine one of the events competitors via the fan vote.

Fans can visit https://www.nascar.com/fanvote to vote from a pool of drivers including Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Hemric, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Preece, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones, Alex Bowman, Ty Gibbs, Zane Smith, Kaz Grala and JJ Yeley.

Third gear

Another week, another flip-flop on the playoff bubble.

After Kansas, Brad Keselowski is now in the 16^th and final qualifying position while Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano check in at 17^th and 18^th respectively. Logano finished 34^th after crashing and scored just three points on Sunday.

Fourth gear

Hamlin is the active wins leader (four) and active leader in career average finish at Darlington at 8.4. Logano has been the best over the last six events at 9.3.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Kyle Larson builds on his legacy and a NASCAR points standings update