After last night’s CARS Tour Pro Late Model race at North Wilkesboro Speedway, NASCAR fans are talking about a lot. However, one thing on the minds of NASCAR fans is Keelan Harvick, the 12-year-old son of NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick.
Thursday evening, Kaden Honeycutt dominated the Reverend Sour Mash Whiskey 75 at North Wilkesboro, leading 99 of 100 laps en route to his fifth career win in the CARS Tour Pro Late Model series. Honeycutt, who races full-time in the Craftsman Truck Series, won the series championship in 2025, and was far from the only big name in this race.
Other notable drivers in the race included Truck Series regular Dawson Sutton, Cup Series driver (and race winner) Josh Berry, and a host of other CARS Tour regulars and winners such as Jade Avedisian. However, the standout amongst this field of veteran and rookie racers was 12-year-old Keelan Harvick.
Harvick made his mainstream debut in the NASCAR world during the 2020 NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. However, Thursday’s race, which served as the inaugural race of NASCAR’s upcoming All-Star weekend, shed new light on the talent of the second-generation driver.
This was not Harvick’s first race of the season. After an illness caused him to miss his debut at Jacksonville, North Carolina’s New River All-American Speedway in March, Harvick made his debut at Cordele Motor Speedway on April 12. After his finish at Wilkesboro, he has one top-five and three top-tens in four CARS Tour PLM Races this season. He also won the pole in his debut at Cordele.
NASCAR fans, some tuning into a CARS Tour race for the first time, were impressed with Harvick’s talent. The young racer carried himself with the poise of a pro, laying down a 17.741 second qualifying lap. Harvick held the pole through several other qualifiers. However, Harvick would start the race fourth, with Honeycutt taking the pole.
During the race, the young driver held his own against this packed field of NASCAR.CARS Tour regulars and champions. Harvick drove his No. 62 machine to a third-place finish in front of notable drivers like Josh Berry, Luke Baldwin, and Max Reaves.
There was already hype for Harvick’s future prior to this weekend. However, this only grew this past weekend. It will be some time before we see Harvick in a NASCAR National Series race, but he has the potential to be a future star of the sport.
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