Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson will both be vying for a Championship 4 spot at Martinsville on Sunday. The NASCAR stalwarts have come a long way from competing on the dirt tracks that shaped their early careers. As they prepare for the battle to be the 2025 Cup Series champion, Bell has reflected on how the relationship between them has changed over the years.
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Bell and Larson have a lot of respect for each other, and that’s something that’s carried over from their early racing days to NASCAR, where the eyes of the world are on them.
“I feel like we have a really good mutual respect for each other, and it feels like we cheer for each other a little bit more than what we did dirt racing,” Bell told the press at Martinsville. “I think we have that bond, maybe of like, you know, he’s one of my guys and I’m one of his guys, right? Certainly, it feels like we are more on the same team and less against each other now.”
Larson was already an established star in the USAC and World of Outlaws scene around the 2012-2013 period, when Bell was just beginning to emerge as a national dirt star. Bell’s association with Keith Kunz Motorsports, the team of which Larson was an alumnus, put them in direct competition with each other.
Over the years, they competed head-to-head multiple times in the Chili Bowl Nationals, USAC National Midget Series events, and more. Their first NASCAR Cup Series race together was the 2020 Daytona 500. From then till now, they have raced for every square inch of track surface to craft a taller legacy for themselves.
However, they never developed a bitter rivalry, like other former friends in motorsports had in the past.
Even now, with the stakes so high heading to the final race of the Round of 8, Bell only wishes for them both to race in the season finale at Phoenix. He quipped, “I would love it if we both could make it and we could have this battle next week. There is still a chance that both of us could make it. That’s what I would love to have.”
Larson’s thoughts about the rivalry with Bell
Just like the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Larson, too, has developed a huge admiration for his rival’s race craft over the years. He said in a teleconference on Wednesday that their rivalry has evolved over the years and that when Bell wins a race, he doesn’t get as upset now as he used to when they were racing on dirt tracks.
Larson added, “I hated seeing him beat me all the time on dirt. Like, it really, not affected me, but it pushed me to get better, which was nice. So I appreciate that as a competitor. But yeah, I mean, he was in the same equipment as me and beating me every night for three years, it seemed. And then, I would say once he got to NASCAR, though, I always really like seeing him do well.”
Larson believes that the competition between him and Bell is a reflection of the dirt racing community and its drivers. With Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin securing their spots in the Championship 4, Bell and Larson will both try to make it in at Martinsville.
It would be nothing short of a prophetic storyline if these rivals came down battling each other for the championship at the final stretch of the Phoenix Raceway.
