“We’re not enemies…we respect each other. We’re rivals.” These were Christopher Bell’s words two weeks ago after a thrilling Atlanta race. Indeed, both Bell and Kyle Larson have competed against each other on various occasions from their dirt racing origins right up to the NASCAR Cup Series. But in the 2025 season, Bell has been outsmarting Larson – who washed up against another such encounter at Phoenix Raceway. Yet, Larson chose to play fair with his rival.

Kyle Larson confesses to choosing the righteous path

Well, NASCAR is a beating-and-banging sport. In several situations, you cannot score victories unless you take a little risk and upset your rivals. However, Kyle Larson steered clear of such a controversy at the Shriner’s Children 500 race at Phoenix Raceway. Using Goodyear’s option tires optimally, the Hendrick Motorsports driver shot into the top ten by stage 1 despite starting 17th. He slowly moved up the ranks until becoming a force to reckon with by lap 224, when he was running third.

The last few laps witnessed a fierce battle between Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, and Denny Hamlin. Entering Turn 3 on the final lap, Bell forced Hamlin to lift, allowing Larson to charge to the inside for a three-wide dash. However, the No. 5 driver didn’t force the issue, allowing the race to end cleanly. Seeing his rival, Bell, complete a three-peat would’ve been a crushing sight. But he wasn’t going to pull off Austin Cindric 2.0 after the COTA controversy. And in the pit road interview, Larson deemed it to be the right call. “I felt like that was our only hope. Yeah, I felt like I made the correct decisions there.”

Kyle Larson also emphasized that had he put in too much force, things would have turned haywire. “I don’t know, I’d have to look back at it. I thought being patient to try and keep them side by side down the back was good. I could have shot to the bottom, but I felt like I would have wrecked everybody there. Yeah, just kinda gave ourselves a shot for them to maybe get into each other and us sneak by.” 

Lastly, the Hendrick Motorsports driver piled up praises for his No. 5 HMS team. Slicing up track positions from 17th place to third is no mean feat, as Kyle Larson said: “Good to finish third. I felt we were going to be lucky to finish top ten. Pit crew did a great job there that last stop. They made good adjustments compared to our first option tire… Yeah, got better, but need to be a lot, lot better to have a shot to win here in the fall when it really matters. Great to get a solid finish in here. It’s been kind of a struggle for us here to start the year. Happy about that. Go to Vegas and try to do good again.”

Evidently, Kyle Larson maintained a level of respect for his old dirt racing rival. In fact, even Larson’s crew chief hails the two racers’ iconic clashes on the track.

Saluting something pure

The two stars paced each other almost equally across their careers. After rising through their dirt racing ranks, Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson soared in NASCAR. Larson clinched the 2021 championship after winning ten races, while Bell made the Cup Series championship 4 twice (2022, 2023). Yet both were a little slow on drafting tracks. The two drivers were a combined 0-for-75 on drafting tracks. However, 2025 has been their breakthrough year as both Bell and Larson walked away with podium finishes from Atlanta.

That friendly rivalry elicited a heartfelt response from Cliff Daniels, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports crew chief. “Those two are so good at finding different lanes and finding grip and building a run and all those things. They’re both so good at it and they push each other a lot at it. Kyle and I talked about it over the winter. It’s a lot of fun to see Bell back in the mix on dirt tracks. I know that those two are going to push each other in a great way competitively, dirt, pavement, whatever they drive. It’s fun to watch those two battle.” Daniels watched them battle yet again at Phoenix Raceway, which posted similar results for both Bell and Larson.

As Christopher Bell soaks in his third consecutive victory, his rival is preparing to break his streak. Let us wait and see when Kyle Larson storms back into his victorious streak this season.