Kevin Harvick and son Keelan, 13, at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
Keelan Harvick was at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Nov. 8 for the All America 100 pro late model race with his father, former NASCAR champ Kevin.
- Keelan Harvick, son of former NASCAR champion Kevin Harvick, began racing after getting into go-karts during the pandemic.
- At age 13, Keelan is now racing Pro Late Model cars on some of the same tracks his father competed on.
- Kevin Harvick supports his son’s career by challenging him on diverse and difficult racetracks.
It is not surprising that matters move fast in the household of former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick.
Just a short while after his son, Keelan, became bored during the COVID-19 pandemic and asked Kevin to take him to ride go-karts, Keelan is already racing Pro Late Model cars on some of the same tracks his father ran.
Keelan, who turned 13 this past summer, was at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Nov. 8, where he made his debut on the 0.58-mile track. He finished eighth in a 34-car field in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour All American 100. Corey Deuser won the race.
“When COVID hit, I had nothing to do, so I asked my dad if I could go to the go-kart track and I’ve loved it ever since,” Keelan said. “I got hooked on racing and my dad has supported me since then. I didn’t know I’d be this far along in just a few years, but I’m really happy to be here.”
Keelan Harvick likes racing where his father raced
Keelan was on the same track his father raced early in his career, which eventually included 60 NASCAR Cup wins, the 2007 Daytona 500 championship and three Brickyard 400 victories.
Kevin Harvick, who retired after the 2023 season and joined the FOX broadcast team, raced at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series in 1997 and 1998. In 2000, he ran in the last NASCAR event at the historic track in the Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) BellSouth Mobility 320, finishing fourth.
Keelan said the tracks he likes to run the most are those like Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, for a couple of reasons.
“One, I just think it’s neat to be on the same track he was on, and also because he knows the track and can tell me what to look out for,” Keelan said.
Harvicks’ motto: ‘How comfortable can you be being uncomfortable?’
What Kevin Harvick told his son about the unique Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway paved oval with an 18-degree banking was that it can be tricky.
“It’s a very difficult track,” Keelan said. “But I like that. I like being uncomfortable. It pushes you to the edge. And I like a track where you have to save tires, and you definitely have to save tires on this track. I’m pretty good at saving tires, sometimes.”
Ever since his son showed an interest in racing, Kevin Harvick has tried to put him on different types of tracks, and the asphalt oval at the Fairgrounds fits that bill.
“From the go-karts to the Legend cars to where we are now, we always try to go to different racetracks to be able just to have something that is different to pass, drive, whatever it is, to be able to get those different looks and have to figure out a new racetrack,” Kevin Harvick said. “Our motto has always been, ‘How comfortable can you be being uncomfortable?’ “
Kevin Harvick hopes Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway survives
An effort to bring NASCAR racing back to Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is being made by Speedway Motorsports, and Kevin Harvick would like to see it happen.
But more importantly, he wants to see short tracks like the one at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway survive so that his son and other young drivers will have places to race.
“It’s important to keep the short-track system healthy to be able to have facilities for young drivers,” Kevin Harvick said. “And this one is pretty versatile from the quarter-mile (track) standpoint to the 0.58-mile. It’s got a longstanding history in short-track racing in general. It’s important to preserve stuff like this. It’s not like they’re building them new on a consistent basis.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
