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Watch: Denny Hamlin gives his verdict on crooked start-finish line at Kansas

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Justin P Joy | Last updated 5/7/24

The NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas on Sunday saw history in making. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson beat RFK Racing’s Chris Beuscher with a 0.001 second margin in an aggressive laps last lap battle. It’s the closest finish to the race ever in NASCAR and might probably never get matched again if not for a tie.

The finish didn’t lack any controversies though, as initially it was thought that Chris Beuscher was the one who won the race and the No:17 crew started celebrating. But upon review it was found that Kyle Larson was on the top. RFK Racing protested the result highlighting the poor condition the finish line was in, which wasn’t even straight line. NASCAR cleared all the confusion, when they revealed the winner was chosen with the help of special camera set up at the finish line.

Now Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, talking about the crooked line on his podcast, shared his opinion on it. He pointed out that line should have been painted straight and it wasn’t a good look for the sport, as the line seems to have been drawn by a kid. He believes it was a basic thing that would’ve gotten the attention.

Listen, you never know what's going on with these tracks, but it's...That is one basic thing that we probably should pay a little more attention to…Paint the f------ line straight, Travis…It looks like Molly painted it. Denny Hamlin said via Action Detrimental.

Let's get one thing straight here… ️

"This is the start-finish line!" pic.twitter.com/DxWksNigj8
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) May 6, 2024

Denny Hamlin highlights how Kyle Larson stole the Kansas win from him

The JGR driver was actually fighting for the race win alongside teammate Martin Truex Jr. on the final alps at Kansas before the caution was called extending the race to overtime. On the overtime restart Kyle Larson took the lower lane and squeezed Hamlin to the middle to bring the fight to Beuscher. The move resulted in Hamlin finishing P5.

No, he just made the right move to split me there. It's such a tough spot, I definitely should've stayed on the outside. I thought he was going to choose the outside, but he made the right call for sure. Denny Hamlin said about the move.

It’s fair to saw that the crooked finish line did make the finish bit odd, but that doesn’t change the fact the race will go on to be on the history books and the drama would add little masala to it. Larson earned the iconic win outsmarting both Hamlin and Beuscher, the finish line issue would be forgotten soon.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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