Very few father-son duos have been able to race against each other. Of course, there are the likes of Pettys and the Earnhardts, but in the modern era, it is hard to find this chemistry within the garage. Only recently, Kyle Busch raced against his son, Brexton, at Millbridge Speedway, sparking that tradition back to life, and following in his footsteps was Kevin Harvick, who got beaten by his son, Keelan, at the Kern Raceway during the CARS Tour West, Pro Late Model race.
The younger Harvick was able to weave his way through the traffic with just a handful of laps remaining. With the leaders, including his father, Kevin, mired in a multi-car wreck, Keelan threaded the needle and found himself in the victory lane. This was his second win of the year in the full-bodied late model car, with his first one coming at Florence Motor Speedway. There was an element of luck involved in this win, which is why Kevin Harvick had a few pointers for his son after the special event.
“I have a laundry list of things we need to go over… It’s the first time I’ve been able to drive the car and directly relate tire management, brake pressures, and adjusting to track changes.” Kevin’s post-race analysis targeted Keelan’s steepest learning curve: adapting to changing track conditions. During the 150-lap CARS Tour West Pro Late Model race at Kern, Keelan secured the pole and led early but struggled with tire degradation. By Lap 112, his lap times dropped 0.8 seconds—a consequence of overdriving Turn 2 and overheating his right-front tire, which Kevin radioed him about mid-race. This aligned with Kevin’s broader critique: short-format racing in go-karts and Legend cars doesn’t teach the “you got to develop that tool bag of options of things that you can do in the car.”
“What a race between [Jacob Gomes] and [Buddy Shepherd]… I hate that we got tangled up, but that’s part of short-track racing. [Gomes] wiped me out, but I know he was going for it.” The pivotal teaching moment came on Lap 144. While battling Shepherd and Gomes for the lead, Kevin overdrove Turn 1 on cold tires after a pit stop—a mistake he called “Dad overdriving the car.” The resulting crash handed Keelan the lead but exposed his inexperience managing worn tires on restarts. Though Keelan held off Kenna Mitchell to win, Kevin emphasized raw speed alone wouldn’t suffice in longer races.
“I was trying to get the lead too early and ended up costing us both the lead. It cost the whole team there on that one,” Kevin admitted afterwards. That comment underscored a shift: Kevin’s longtime emphasis on patience in Cup racing—maintaining track position until tire wear eased—clashed with Keelan’s aggressive push. Yet, Kevin valued the teachable moment: “Running really fast laps is one thing, but car management is something they don’t learn in go-karts or Legends because those races are too short. Now you have to make your car last,” he said. At the race’s end, Keelan’s triumph marked the first time Kevin ceded a checkered flag to his son on the same track, cementing a milestone in their shared journey.
HE DID IT!@KeelanHarvick wins the Battle of the Harvicks and scores his first @CARSTourWest victory at @KernRaceway! pic.twitter.com/2NwCcgMhCe
— NASCAR Regional (@NASCARRegional) June 1, 2025
Starting off the race on pole and making the most of the opportunity presented to him during the clutch moment, Keelan has been implementing his lessons on the racetrack. With more mentorship and tips from his father, the 12-year-old is only going to hone his race craft better for the rest of the season.
Harvick was a busy man this weekend, as after guiding his son Keelan to victory lane, he discussed the Nashville race. And this time around, he had words of wisdom for Carson Hocevar.
Kevin Harvick offers advice to Hocevar after Nashville incident
Hocevar is known to ruffle some feathers with his aggressive driving style on the racetrack. At Atlanta, the likes of Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, and Ross Chastain were all frustrated with his shenanigans that helped him bag a runner-up finish. Well, he was successful in repeating these heroics in the Music City, but he dumped Ricky Stenhouse Jr. into the wall. What followed was a wave of criticism, but he was unfazed. “If he wants to talk, I’ll be glad to talk. I feel like it’s just a product of this, unfortunately.”
Hocevar wasn’t looking to shoulder the blame for Stenhouse’s first DNF, and this is where Kevin Harvick feels the Spire Motorsports driver will have to tread carefully. “I don’t know how he’s handled those scenarios up to this point. If I were Spire and I were in the management position, the most important thing is to handle it correctly, with the competitors, politically. There is a political side of this that, you know, unfortunately — it’s consistent,” Harvick said on the Happy Hour.
He added, “You just hope that it doesn’t bite him at the wrong time, and you’re in a position to win a race or whatever the scenario is, and it takes those results away, But ultimately, he’s gonna get the results, because he fast.” Hocevar knew that, given his speed and performance in the past few races, he could be in contention to win the race in his backyard this weekend. And he played his cards well in reaching out to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and clearing any confusion ahead of the big event.
For the time being, this rivalry isn’t going to blow up at Michigan, but looking at history and how Stenouse has dealt with his rivals, there’s a lingering thought that he might get even with Hocevar. If not at Michigan, at some other racetrack.
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