Keelan must have been just a six-year-old when a summer weekend didn’t go quite as planned: The quarter-midget didn’t go over well, Kevin letting his son drive the golf cart which Keelan plowed into a pine tree and whatnot. But Dad had it covered. The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion picked up his son on pit road for a victory burnout at Michigan International Speedway before coming to a stop on the start-finish line. And although Mama Harvick didn’t sign off on all the extracurriculars, father-son duo has always been a step ahead with Keelan already having been exposed to the taste of success.

Keelan is now 12 having already won the 2024 INEX Young Lions Asphalt National Championship. Driving the Joe Ryan Racecars’ No. 62 vehicle at Southern National Motorsports Park, a four-tenth-mile racetrack in North Carolina, he came awfully close to a Legends race victory that promised a hefty $25,000 prize money for the winner but ultimately finished third on Sunday. The event itself ended up being pretty choppy, and pretty exhaustive for the young buck… something his mother couldn’t help but notice.

Kevin Harvick’s stud drove up and took the lead from Landen Lewis, his JRR teammate, but daunting circumstances with frequent number of cautions and restarts eventually dropped him down the ladder. Keelan was ecstatic after the 70-lap race, and that’s only reasonable. It was just his third time attempting a single-car qualifying, locking himself into the feature qualifying 10th but ultimately starting at P8 after pole shuffle. Despite being dragged down the field, he never dropped lower than sixth to ultimately finish at P3. Not to forget, three JRR cars dominated the podiums – Lewis, Jacob Staten, and then Keelan! He posted on X,

“Solid weekend with a 3rd place finish! Congrats @landenlewis99 on your win! 1,2,3 for JRR!” In the post-race interview, a level-headed Keelan gave a decent read on his outing. “I just got shuffled back on the restart, but I can’t thank Joe Ryan Racecars enough for bringing me a fast racecar every week, it wouldn’t be possible without them. I just made a mistake on the restart and it cost me a lot.

“I definitely knew that I needed to be more aggressive, but I just knew that it was going to be hard to beat these two guys, because they’re really good and I just needed a little bit more from myself.” Knowing how exhaustive the race was, a concerned mother in DeLana felt convinced to deflect Keelan’s attention away from the pressures of a racetrack. She suggested a much more peaceful sport instead.

“Proud of you Bruddy, although might I interest you in some golf clubs???? I think I’d be an awesome golf mom. 🤗” 

Indeed, Keelan is growing up fast and already donning high-duty roles in the motorsports world. He produced his first Limited Late Model start at Florence Motor Speedway and executed it remarkably. He saved tires and perfected restarts, maneuvering a full-bodied car to an amazing 8th-place finish among 30 older competitors. After his third-place finish last weekend, Keelan realized his shortcomings: “I just made a mistake on the restart and it cost me a lot. I definitely knew that I needed to be more aggressive.”

No wonder his mother is concerned about taking too much pressure. On top of that, Piper Harvick also seems fixed in racing – she secured a P2 finish in the Kid Kart class last year. Yet, DeLana Harvick’s suggestion is not so far-fetched, as it is a second interest for Keelan’s dad.

Hitting balls instead of wheeling cars

Even though golfing may seem like a polar opposite activity for Keelan, the sport has had its share in the Harvick family. Kevin Harvick may be the 2014 Cup Series champion, having replaced the legendary Dale Earnhardt in Richard Childress Racing. But in 2010 he picked up the most unlikely hobby to take his mind off racing.

After playing at Augusta National Golf Club, he felt inspired by its historic par-3 12th hole. So Harvick built its replica and duplicated minute details — from Rae’s Creek to the Hogan Bridge and the azaleas. “We just had an empty spot in the backyard where the grass wouldn’t grow,” the former driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford said about his Charlotte home.

For Harvick, golfing was a way to unwind. “(Golf) was the opposite of what I do on the weekends,” he said in 2017. “It was quiet, there was nobody around. It was a great release for me to get away from racing.” Although the roar of crowds on a golf course does not match the roar of engines on a NASCAR racetrack, there is one similarity. Right-handed golfers look left when they strike the ball and drivers always turn left! On the other hand, Kevin Harvick Management Inc. manages three PGA Tour players: Vaughn Taylor, Chesson Hadley, and James Hahn.

No wonder DeLana Harvick is offering Keelan a respite from his racing stints. However, it is all up to the young speedster, whose exemplary prowess is already paving the way for a successful racing future.