“We’re Not Friends!” Christopher Bell Reveals Bitter Truth Behind His Relationship with Kyle Larson

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is just four races away from crowning its champion. Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson is leading the charge with the Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe close behind. The fight is testing the relationship dynamic among the leading pack.

Ahead of this week’s race at Phoenix, Larson, Hamlin and Bell sat together in a media session. Among many question that came at them was about the relationship between the No:20 and No:5 driver. They have racers each other hard for wins since their junior years in the dirt series and according to the TRD driver their relationship can’t be defined as friendship, as they are more like acquaintances.

I mean, I don’t know. I think Kyle and I have raced each other really hard basically our entire career. I think it’s fair to say that we’re different people, and we hang out with different people, and we’re not friends, but we’re acquaintances, and we’ve raced each other hard.

Christopher Bell said ahead of Phoenix race.

The comment from Christopher Bell shocked Denny Hamlin like many in the garage, who joked it’s going to be the media headline for the week. Kyle Larson soon responded to the comment, admitting that they are not friends. That doesn’t mean they don’t respect each other though, as they have pushed each other to the limit for many years to be better but them being different people holding them back from becoming close.

No, yeah, I mean, I would agree with that, and I think we’ve said in other press conferences, I think nobody’s pushed me more than Christopher to become a better racer, so I appreciate that. And I think in all forms of sports, there’s always athletes that push athletes, and he’s been the guy for me to push to get better because he’s beaten me so much throughout my career. I appreciate the competitive rivalry for sure, but, yeah, as he mentioned, I mean, we’re different people, and hang out with different crowds, and, yeah, just different, so you’re always gonna have that.

Kyle Larson responded during Phoenix pre-race media session.

Denny Hamlin reveals challenges behind friendship in NASCAR after Kyle Larson-Christopher Bell drama

Later the No:11 Toyota driver Hamlin addressed the friendship dynamic among drivers in the garage. He admitted that it is really hard to have relationships with rival drivers, especially if both drivers are capable of winning races. There will be too much drama among them, owing to on-track incidents that would mess-up everything.  

Close friends is difficult. I think you can have friends but close friends at this top level, especially. It’s easy when one is good, and one is not. It’s tougher when they’re both good, because you’re gonna race each other a lot, and there’s always gonna be contact at times, and feelings get hurt.

Denny Hamlin said.

What’s more difficult is to have a close friendship, especially when the drivers are young, because they might not be able to remain composed every time they have incidents on the track. Only the drivers that are truly capable of separating their on-track and off-track life can remain good friend’s.

So, I think it’s difficult to have really close friendships, but I think that there is an ability to separate on track from off track and still get along with someone really well off the racetrack.

Denny Hamlin added.

There are exceptions though, such as the Ryan Blaney–Bubba Wallace duo, two capable drivers who are close friends. Their history before NASCAR played a key role in them being close. Majority of racers in the garage don’t have that luxury, making it hard to build a friendship.

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