A NASCAR spokesman took to X on Tuesday to respond to Denny Hamlin’s call for the sanctioning body to improve the quality of its cameras in the aftermath of the photo finish during this past Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway.
NASCAR spokesman Mike Forde said that the quality of the photo comes down to several factors.
“Good ?/comment here from @dennyhamlin. He’s not alone,” Forde wrote. “The quality of the photo has many factors: sunlight (which is why the Derby photo was clearer), humidity (it rained earlier), distance from S/F line (the cam is on the cold side of PR). Here are two examples during daylight.”
Forde added: “Also, a more accurate term for it is “image.” This is not a “photo”, but many thousands of frames that build an image.”
Denny Hamlin calls for NASCAR to upgrade cameras after Kyle Larson-Chris Buescher photo finish
The finish at Kansas was one of the greatest in NASCAR history as Kyle Larson edged out Chris Buescher by 0.001 seconds to steal the victory. Speaking on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Hamlin argued that because of where Larson was on the racetrack during the photo finish, it was difficult to make a decision on who won the race in the photo NASCAR pumped out to its social media channels.
“I agree we should upgrade the camera slightly,” Hamlin said. “I think you could have said too close to call. It should have taken longer to [decide the winner] because first thing is how do they call that? … Since the 5 [Larson] is on the banking, there’s a reflection on the front of that splitter that is blurred forward…
“I think they got it right. I’m just saying what’s the harm in us upgrading our camera? … 100% right, you can upgrade it. … Upgrade the camera because we’re not done with photo finishes. Just for the sake of the photos that they pass around social media, you would like to be clearer, yes, or no? That’s why it’s worth the investment.”
The finish was the closest in NASCAR history, dethroning Ricky Craven’s two-thousandths of a second-margin victory over Kurt Busch in the 2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington. Buescher initially thought he scored the victory, his team erupting into celebration on pit road. Upon further review, it was Larson by the narrowest of margins who crossed the checkered line first.
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