Kyle Larson addresses Denny Hamlin rivalry resurfacing at Chicago: 'It's part of racing'

This season has once again brought out the fantastic rivalry between Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin in the NASCAR Cup Series. That isn’t a bad thing, it’s a great thing for the sport and for fans sitting at home.

While Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin shied away from the “rivalry” tag for the last two years, it is undeniable at this point. Yes, they are friends off the track. When it comes to being on the track, they are two championship contenders who win a lot of races, so they are often next to each other.

Before today’s Chicago Street Race, Larson addressed the situation.

“Quite literally, right?” Larson said when asked if he could play at Hamlin’s game. “No, I mean, I think we at the 5 team do a good job of looking ahead and looking through certain things and dramas at times. So, that’s our plan, that’s our mentality and I think that’s allowed us to win a championship in the past. Keep focusing on the racing, we were able to do that and get the pole here today in the Valvoline Chevy and we’ve got a great car, too. So, we’ll see what the weather does here shortly and go race.”

Larson was asked if he and Hamlin get into it again, and how he will react. Yung Money is going to keep his cool.

“Like I said we’re just focused on what’s ahead and that’s trying to do our best to win races. It’s part of racing sometimes, part of stock car racing when you’ve got bodies that are tough. We’ll see. Like I said, just focus on racing at this point and controlling the things we can control.”

We’ll see if Kyle Larson can keep his cool in the race.

Kyle Larson thought SVG was ‘playing with’ him

Speaking of Kyle Larson, he doesn’t have a rivalry with Shane van Gisbergen but they put on a show on Saturday. These two drivers exchanged haymakers during Stage 1 of the Xfinity Series race.

When you have two great drivers giving their all on every turn and every lap, it makes for a great product. I could have watched a 1 vs. 1 of Larson and SVG, to be honest. It was one move after the other, keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire 110 miles.

Now, Larson and SVG are not rivals. But they love to race one another. They are drivers who learn as much as they can and take in as much data as they can manage. If there is something the other one is doing better, they will find out about it.

Kyle Larson races the best of the best. That means he has run-ins with drivers like Denny Hamlin, SVG, Ross Chastain, and others. Run up front, you are gonna mix it up with the front runners.