{"id":61822,"date":"2026-10-17T14:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T19:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=61822"},"modified":"2026-10-18T11:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T16:16:33","slug":"nascar-saturday-phoenix-raceway-notebook-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/17\/nascar-saturday-phoenix-raceway-notebook-2\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Saturday Phoenix Raceway Notebook"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Reid Spencer <\/b>| <\/b>NASCAR Wire Service<\/b><\/p>\n

Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell enjoy rivalry that\u2019s not quite friendly<\/b><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Christopher Bell defined his relationship with Kyle Larson in no uncertain terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not friends,\u201d Bell said of his racing rival.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not surprising, given that Bell and Larson have been competing for the same trophies during parallel careers for well over a decade.<\/p>\n

Initially, they battled each other on dirt in such events as the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, where Bell and Larson have triumphed three times each. In 2020, Larson ended Bell\u2019s quest for a record-tying fourth straight Chili Bowl title with the first of his three victories.<\/p>\n

Now, Bell is chasing Larson in a quest for NASCAR\u2019s biggest prize, the Bill France Cup that goes to the NASCAR Cup Series champion, and while there may be mutual respect and admiration between the drivers, there is no friendship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Kyle and I have raced each other hard basically our entire career, and I think it\u2019s fair to say that we\u2019re different people, and we hang out with different people and I think were not friends,\u201d said Bell, who trails Larson by 51 points with three races left in the Chase presented by Mobil 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are acquaintances and will race each other hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a departure from solo driver interviews on the media center dais, the top three drivers in the Chase standings appeared together on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

The trio included Denny Hamlin, who is 49 points behind Larson entering Sunday\u2019s Freeway Insurance 500 at the one-mile track (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).<\/p>\n

Larson agreed with Bell\u2019s assessment but was quick to point out that their long-term rivalry has made him a better driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve said it in other press conferences; nobody\u2019s pushed me more than Christopher to become a better racer, so I appreciate that,\u201d Larson said. \u201cI think in all forms of sports, there\u2019s always athletes that push athletes, and he\u2019s been the guy to push me to be better because he\u2019s beaten me so much throughout my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the competitive rivalry, for sure. Like he said, we\u2019re different people and hang out with different crowds. We\u2019re just different. You\u2019re always going to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin acknowledged that it would be hard to maintain close friendships at the elite level of stock car racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cClose friends is difficult,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy when one is good and one is not. It\u2019s tougher when they\u2019re both good, because you\u2019re going to race each other a lot, and there\u2019s always going to be contact at times, and feelings get hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s 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 race track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chase Briscoe, who preceded the top three Chase drivers in the media center, offered a possible question as a way to create banter between Bell, Larson and Hamlin.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsk who would be the strongest without power steering, who could handle it best?\u201d suggested Briscoe, referring to post-race sparring between Bell and Larson after Bell lost power steering in the Chase race at Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Larson was quick to express doubt as to whether Bell had zero power assist in his car.<\/p>\n

\u201cZero percent power assist on an intermediate (speedway)? No way,\u201d Larson proclaimed on the \u201cStacking Pennies\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

In a subsequent media availability, Bell retorted, \u201cI hope it happens to him, so he can talk about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Briscoe\u2019s question was relayed to the three drivers on Saturday, Bell responded first.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely not me,\u201d added Larson.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have your answer,\u201d said Hamlin.<\/p>\n

That moment provided a good laugh, but underlying the levity is the very serious race for the Cup title. Larson has produced an unprecedented Chase record so far, finishing no worse than sixth and winning twice in the first six postseason races.<\/p>\n

The size of Larson\u2019s lead has only increased the urgency of those behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that you have to start by winning the day and then go from there,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cBut ultimately, with the races winding down, we\u2019ve got to start chopping into this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, certainly myself and Denny are both 50 back right now,\u201d Bell said. \u201cWe need to close that gap. But looking at the rest of the races, we are all going to be running up front and scoring stage points and competing for wins, so the difference maker is who gets those wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then Talladega (Oct. 25). Whatever happens at Talladega, the likelihood of a crash at Talladega is a lot higher at that track than other tracks. It can hinder your points that you take away. Between Talladega and race wins, that\u2019s going to be the deciding factor.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell enjoy rivalry that\u2019s not quite friendly AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Christopher Bell defined his relationship with Kyle Larson in no uncertain terms. \u201cWe\u2019re not friends,\u201d Bell said of his racing rival. That\u2019s not surprising, given that Bell and Larson have been competing for the same trophies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":61808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,395],"class_list":["post-61822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-g58","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2300711269-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1706","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61822"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61825,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61822\/revisions\/61825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}