Kevin Harvick’s son Keelan made a statement with a top-five finish in his first Late Model Stock car race. 

NASCAR has a long history of familial ties and generations passing the racing torch. Kyle Busch’s son Brexton has made strides forward, as has Owen Larson — son of reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle. 

Now, Keelan Harvick is turning heads. While his father is often in the booth analyzing NASCAR racing these days, following his title-winning career, Keelan is looking to ignite his own successful career on the asphalt. 

Aged 13, Keelan has proved his mettle as a racer and recently stepped up to Late Model Stock cars. His first race in the new series — the South Carolina 400 at Florence Motor Speedway — proved chaotic and arguably more closely resembled a demolition derby rather than stock-car racing. 

Florence Motor Speedway is a challenging circuit to master, a bullring where cars run closely together, and one mistake can eliminate half the field. Plenty of vehicles were taken out, but Keelan held on to finish fifth in his first race.

Sign up to our NASCAR newsletter here.

After the checkered flag, Keelan — who was still catching his breath — said: “Definitely just a lot of stuff happening in that race … can’t thank my KHI guys enough, they brought me a really fast car.”

Keelan admitted his car suffered a bit of damage following a big pile-up in turn 2: “They all just checked up and had nowhere to go.” 

When a reporter asked what he learned about hanging in there when everything is going wrong, Keelan replied: “Yes, sir … they just told me they’re gonna keep wrecking … and I was just lucky enough to get through it all and not tear up the car anymore.”

Given Harvick is retired, the 49-year-old is reportedly getting his son to put in the work each morning before school. It will be interesting to see how his career develops and whether Keelan can continue to climb the ranks.

DON’T MISS

Keelan will try to qualify for this year’s Snowball Derby in Pensacola. The Snowball Derby is a prestigious race with the likes of Donnie Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, Ty Majeksi, Noah Gragson, and more, all past winners — but if Keelan won, he would be the youngest ever to claim the checkered flag.