NASCAR is known for its nail-biting finishes, and this year was one for the history books. All three national divisions — Truck, Xfinity, and Cup — had races come down to a winner crossing the line just a few thousandths of a second ahead of their competitor.
Now, this list is usually dominated by drafting tracks, and while they do make up about half of this year's top ten highlight, but it was a popular 1.5-mile oval that topped this list. It's actually the first time since 2017 that a track other than a drafting track has claimed the No. 1 spot. But before we highlight the closest finish ever, we have a few more to get to first... .
10. Xfinity at Talladega - Jesse Love vs. Riley Herbst - 0.141s
Note: A Truck race at Bristol also featured a 0.141s margin of victory, but we chose 'Dega as it was the more dramatic of the two finishes
The 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie of the year, Jesse Love, claimed his one and only victory of the season at Talladega. While he powered ahead of Brennan Poole, Riley Herbst charged from outside the top-five and snagged second place with a four-wide move up the middle. While those two squabbled over the first loser, Love was left to capture the checkered flag.
9. Trucks at Texas - Kyle Busch vs. Corey Heim - 0.112s
No one thought this would be the last time we saw Kyle Busch in Victory Lane this year, but that would be his fate. No driver has more wins than KB in Xfinity or Trucks, and he collected his 66th victory in the Trucks earlier this year at Texas. Though Corey Heim nearly got alongside Busch after harassing him for a few laps, he just couldn't quite get there in the end.
8. Xfinity at Atlanta - Austin Hill vs. Chandler Smith - 0.106s
Cars were running out of fuel all over the place in NASCAR overtime, but not Austin Hill. He charged from fourth to first and held off Chandler Smith with oval rookie Shane van Gisbergen in tow. Despite the chaos of the finish, it was still expected that Hill would pull it off, as he usually does at the reconfigured Atlanta. The driver of the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet has won four of the last five races there, and remains one of the best pack racers in the lower leagues of the sport.
7. Cup at Nashville - Joey Logano vs. Zane Smith - 0.068s
This is perhaps the single most significant finish of the entire season. Without it, Joey Logano does not go on to become a three-time Cup Series Champion. It's another race where fuel became a critical issue for most of the field, and the Team Penske star stretched the fuel to make it last for his only win in the regular season. Perhaps just as impressive was the driver who nearly denied him — Zane Smith, who was within a tenth of a second of pulling off a stunning upset that would have shocked the NASCAR world. But as fate would have it, Logano won the race and the championship, while Smith remains winless and yet to secure a seat for 2025.
6. Cup at Daytona - Harrison Burton vs. Kyle Busch - 0.046s
While Smith failed to pull off a Cinderella story for the ages, Harrison Burton was able to land that glass slipper in the iconic Wood Brothers No. 21. With a push from Parker Retzlaff, who was aiming to write his own underdog story, Burton cleared Busch and blocked hard in the run to the finish, hanging on to win for the first time in his Cup career while his father Jeff watched on from the NBC booth. It was just as special for the Wood Brothers, collecting their 100th victory and their first since the 2017 season.
5. Trucks at Talladega - Grant Enfinger vs. Taylor Gray - 0.041s
Grant Enfinger was leading the line of trucks on the final lap of the opening Round of 8 race at Talladega. A victory here would guarantee any remaining playoff driver a spot in the Championship 4. Taylor Gray made his move to the outside, while the veteran Enfinger held the bottom. They both lost their pushers — they were caught in a spin behind the leading duo — leaving Gray and Enfinger to drag race to the line in the closest finish of the 2024 NASCAR Truck season.
4. Cup at Talladega - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. vs. Brad Keselowski - 0.006s
It was a three-wide photo finish at Talladega in the fall but shockingly, it wasn't even the closest three-wide photo finish of the year! After a difficult season, Ricky Stenhouse Jr was trying to spoil the playoff party in the Round of 12. Brad Keselowski was clear of him exiting Turn 4, and chose not to block. Both had Hendrick drivers pushing them, but Stenhouse had the bigger run in the final seconds of the race. He surged ahead, keeping his edge even as his pusher William Byron threw it to the far outside to make it three-wide at the line. It was a big win for one of the few single-car operations left in the sport with Stenhouse collecting his fourth career Cup win -- all of those on superspeedways.
3. Cup at Atlanta - Daniel Suarez vs. Ryan Blaney - 0.003s
These final three finishes are about as close as you can possibly get, and this one at Atlanta asserted itself as one of the five closest finishes in the entire history of the NASCAR Cup Series. Daniel Suarez had never won on an oval as a Cup driver and was coming off a winless 2023 season, when opportunity presented itself. On the final lap, Kyle Busch shot up the middle between Ryan Blaney and Suarez, in a daring move that left them gridlocked through the final corner. Suarez nosed just far enough ahead of the two that he ended up the victor, besting Blaney by just 0.003, Busch, in third, was only 0.007s back of the win, which made it the closest three-wide photo finish ever.
2. Xfinity at Texas - Sam Mayer vs. Ryan Sieg - 0.002s
A driver/owner who has been racing in NASCAR's second tier for over a decade without a win, Ryan Sieg was in a perfect position to finally pull it off at Texas earlier this year. However, Sam Mayer was rapidly closing in and got alongside Sieg with just half a lap to go. Mayer sailed off into Turn 3, allowing Sieg to cut back under him. They slammed doors and crossed the line nearly dead-even, leaving all to wonder who won the race. By just 0.002s, Sieg was denied in a heartbreaking, but sensational showdown in the Lone Star state.
1. Cup at Kansas - Kyle Larson vs. Chris Buescher - 0.001s
In 2003, Ricky Craven and Kurt Busch were part of the closest recorded finish in the history of the NASCAR Cup Series at 0.002. Decades passed and nothing could top it ... until this year. Chris Buescher was desperately trying to hang on to the lead, running the high line as he entered the final corner.
But it was just not high enough. Kyle Larson was able to sneak to the outside of him — and the race to the line was on. Larson turned down into Buescher who ended up on the apron as Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott closed in on both of them.
At the line, it was so close that FOX Sport's Mike Joy seemed to think it was Buescher, and the RFK Racing team agreed, who started celebrating! However, that euphoria only lasted a moment as timing and scoring placed Larson ahead by just one one-thousandth of a second -- etching this finish into the history books as the closest finish ever.
