Kyle Larson’s true feelings emerge as JGR’s Christopher Bell matches the HMS driver’s championship year record

Until Sunday's (March 9) Shriners Children's 500, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson was the last driver to win three consecutive wins in the Cup Series. But following the Phoenix race, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell accomplished the same feat, winning three back-to-back races in the 2025 season.

After completing the 312-lap race, Larson was featured in a post-race interview with NASCAR on Fox and expressed his true feelings about Bell's achievement. The #5 Chevy Camaro ZL1 driver achieved the milestone during the 2021 season.

Kyle Larson first won at Atlanta Motor Speedway before clinching a win at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), and finally at Phoenix Raceway. He became the first driver to achieve the feat in the NextGen era and took home the Cup Series championship title the following year. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell became the second driver to reach the milestone, and Larson reflected on his true feelings about his on-track rival's achievement:

"I think it's, well, first off, it's, it's extremely tough to win two in a row, I feel like in the next gen era. And you know, for them to win three in a row is really impressive. Their team is just strong. You know, their race cars are really fast. Bells, a phenomenal race car driver, obviously. So, you know, the more wins you get, the more confidence you as well as your team gets," he said [00:10 onwards].

"And yeah, he's getting to go to Vegas, another track where he's stupid fast at, so yeah. And then, what is it? Homestead, maybe after that. So lots. I don't know where we go to homestead, but I'm sure we fast there as well. So yeah, it'd be it's good to get on a streak this early in the year... So yeah, it just sets your season up in a good spot," he added.

Kyle Larson qualified for the 312-mile race in P17 and paved his way up to the front row. He finished the race in third place, one spot behind Denny Hamlin in the runner-up position.

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"It almost happened, but we just came up a little bit short": Kyle Larson on his battle with NASCAR veteran Denny Hamlin

During the 312-lap race, former Cup Series champion Kyle Larson ran side-by-side with the Shriners Children's 500 race winner Christopher Bell's teammate Denny Hamlin. At that time, Larson hoped Hamlin would make a mistake, allowing him to pass.

Reflecting upon the same, Larson said (via SpeedwayDigest.com):

"I was hoping to help Denny (Hamlin) down the back and then they would get racing, like they did, and then maybe they would make a bigger mistake in front of us and we could sneak by. It almost happened, but we just came up a little bit short."

Kyle Larson was the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to finish in the top five drivers. His teammate Chase Elliott finished in P10, Alex Bowman ended his run in seventh, and pole-sitter William Byron was in P6.