As one of NASCAR’s greatest rivalries, the rivalry rarely compares to the heights of Petty vs Pearson or Earnhardt versus Gordon. Without a question, though, their numerous encounters on the dirt track have developed an intriguing dynamic before Sunday’s championship race between Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell.
Bell won the following week at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn the second position, but Larson defeated Bell at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to secure the first of four positions in Sunday’s championship-deciding season finale.
Bell and Larson will finally compete for the largest trophy to date in their fiercest competition among the championship candidates (William Byron dates Ryan Blaney’s youngest sister and called Blaney his “brother-in-law” last week).
“I’m not sure how the fans feel about it, but I really enjoy racing against a guy who wasn’t in the Cup Series when we first started racing together,” Larson remarked.
In nine complete Cup Series seasons, Larson has amassed 23 victories. While driving for Hendrick Motorsports, he won the Cup title in 2021. In his four Cup seasons, Bell had six victories while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. In 2017, he took home the Truck Series championship.
The only race that mattered for the most of their careers was the yearly Chili Bowl Nationals in Bell’s home state of Oklahoma. In little open-wheel midget cars, Bell won it three times in a row from 2017 to 2019, while Larson consistently finished short.
In 2020 and 2021, Larson secured back-to-back victories, marking his breakthrough.
The relationship between the two hasn’t always been cordial; they were once colleagues in the dirt midget class at Keith Kunz Motorsports, where Bell appeared to routinely outperform Larson when both had equal equipment.
Larson claimed, “He kicked my ass like every race for a few years straight.” “I’m not sure if I ever defeated him. He put a lot of pressure on me to improve as a driver, particularly when it came to the dirt track aspects.
Two years ago, there was a brief but public rivalry between the two over a NASCAR incident that happened on the road course at Watkins Glen. Larson claimed Bell disregarded an apology text, while Bell claimed Larson “cried to the media” about the snub before Bell could reply.
After a long period of silence, they finally worked out their differences and continued with their jobs. Bell is back in the championship four for the second year in a row but is aiming for his first championship, while Larson is competing at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday for his second Cup title in three years.
It’s clear that there is a certain amount of respect after Larson defeated Bell in the final laps to win Las Vegas and earn a championship berth.
“It was merely my way of expressing gratitude and respect for forcing us to compete,” Larson stated. He’s always been a really clean, fair racer. There have been countless races in stock cars, primarily on dirt tracks. In our fights, I’m usually the one who is aggressive or the aggressor. Most likely occasionally cross the line into dirtiness.
I have the utmost respect for him if he can race me clean like that. Always been. He’s among the best racing car drivers in the world, in my opinion, and if his team would let him, he could accomplish everything I get to do outside of NASCAR.
Larson is permitted to race outside of NASCAR by Hendrick Motorsports, and he plans to try his hand at the Indianapolis 500 in May of 2019. Bell’s extracurricular racing has almost entirely been discontinued by Joe Gibbs Racing.
However, Larson deserves the credit for Bell’s inclusion in NASCAR with a top team.
In 2014, Bell had an offer from struggling Roush Fenway Racing on a development deal, which would have removed him from Toyota’s program if he signed. After Larson was lost to Chevrolet, Toyota intervened to prevent Bell from driving a Ford vehicle.
