Kyle Larson’s spotter Tyler Monn met with Chris Buescher’s spotter after Kansas finish

Kyle Larson’s spotter Tyler Monn made sure to speak with Chris Buescher’s spotter Mike Herman following the closest finish in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Of course, the No. 5 of Larson defeated the No. 17 of Buescher at Kansas Speedway by 0.001 seconds, and the moment will live on for many seasons to come. Herman and the No. 17 team originally thought they won the race, but it was determined Larson and company would be headed to victory lane after review.

Speaking with NASCAR’s Jessie Punch afterwards, Monn elaborated on his conversation with Herman following the race, and the feelings the No. 17 team was working through at that moment.

“I went down to Mike Herman. We’re really good friends,” Monn recollected. “We’ve known each other for awhile. I said, ‘Man, that was the closest ever,’ and he was still like, he looked at his timing and scoring too and saw it was 0.000 across, and obviously, it looked super close at the line, you know. He was upset, and I just went down there and kind of said you know, ‘Good job,’ right. He feels the same way about me.

“Obviously, if you’re in that situation, you’re going to be, you know, everybody was bummed out when they said, when (Kyle Larson’s crew chief) Cliff [Daniels] said you know, we finished second. Same way with them. But Mike Herman does a good job. The No. 17 does a good job. All night, they battled their way up there. They had a penalty, started in the back and they got their way back up there. So good effort. Obviously, we’re on the great side of it, but those guys still did a great job.”

Alas, Tyler Monn certainly feels for Mike Herman and the No. 17 team as a whole, but that won’t stop him from properly celebrating being on the right side of history, as Kyle Larson and the No. 5 crew ended up taking the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway on Sunday.

Denny Hamlin takes issue with 0.001 margin of victory for Kyle Larson over Chris Buescher

Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin is doing some sleuthing, believing the 0.001 seconds that separated Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher on the final lap at Kansas Speedway seems a little fishy.

During his latest Actions Detrimental podcast episode, Hamlin explained why he believes NASCAR simply made up the margin of victory, and that the No. 5 and the No. 17 might’ve finished in a dead-tie, unwilling to trust the photo produced by the governing body.

“I almost feel like the 0.001 is just a made up number at this point,” Hamlin exclaimed. “Like, how can they say it’s 0.001, if the electronics say the other way around? [It showed 0.000] on my bus, as well. I have timing and scoring in my bus, right by my couch, so I can kind of watch races and watch lap times, and pay attention to some things. It said triple zeros on mine, as well. That’s what I’m saying. I think it’s just made up. … You can’t tell time by a by a single photo. You can’t. 

“You see an inch, but you don’t know. You can’t quantify that. That’s why I’m saying — if timing and scoring showed triple zeros, as a tie, like I think they just add the one on the end, just to say it was closer. Because they can’t say it’s triple zeros, because then people would say, ‘We got a tie then, it’s a tie.’ … It was pretty close to it, for sure.”

That’s certainly interesting commentary from Hamlin, especially when you consider Buescher and Larson were tied according to many scoring loops. Still, NASCAR determined via photographic evidence, using lasers as well, that Larson was the winner, and there’s no going back on that.