IN PICTURES: NASCAR Rivals Kyle Larson & Tyler Riddick as Kids

Earlier this season, Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kyle Larson, had spoken highly about NASCAR’s most recent winner, Tyler Reddick. But many now know that both of them go a long way back.

This is because Larson and Reddick have known each other since they were little kids.

Recently, a couple of pictures of both of them surfaced on Twitter from their childhood and early racing days.

“I think I was five or six, maybe seven,” Reddick said about how long he’s known the defending NASCAR Cup champ. The Richard Childress Racing driver described how both of them grew up in California.

“We raced many years, I think I was, eight or nine. He started doing some open wheel sprint car stuff, I went different routes.”

Kyle Larson had predicted Reddick’s breakthrough earlier this season

In an interview before the Daytona 500, the Hendrick driver pointed to the Richard Childress Racing driver for having a breakthrough season.

WATCH THIS STORY: Richard Childress Gives All Important Update on the NASCAR Future of Tyler Reddick

“I think Tyler Reddick is going to have an amazing season,” Larson said. “I think he’s been the best car at all the tests, I think he showed last week at the Clash he’s really good.”

He continued, “I feel like when I watch him, I’m watching myself just because we’re both really aggressive and he seems to be even a little more aggressive and keep things in control better than I could back when I was running really hard in Ganassi equipment trying to run up front.”

Also Read: Tyler Reddick Cracks a Hilarious Self-Deprecating Joke After Defeating “Daddy Chase” Elliott at Road America

“I feel like he’s the guy I look at this year that’s going to have the breakout season and winning a lot of races.”

Now, it took Reddick some time to finally get that first win and get going on his “amazing season”, but now that he has, let’s see where he goes with it.