Keelan Harvick, the 13-year-old son of former NASCAR Cup Sequence champion Kevin Harvick, took his first main step towards a future NASCAR profession Monday by signing a long-term growth take care of Toyota Racing Improvement.
The deal permits Keelan Harvick to run late-model races with Rackley W.A.R, a corporation that fields a full-time entry with driver Dawson Sutton within the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence.
Harvick has already constructed a powerful early resume. In 2025, he received 4 Professional Late Mannequin races on the CARS Tour and two in CARS Tour West competitors, changing into the primary driver to seize Professional Late Mannequin victories in each sequence in the identical season. He beforehand honed his craft in Legend vehicles earlier than advancing into late fashions.
“I’m actually grateful to have this sort of alternative with Toyota Racing Improvement,” Harvick stated in a information launch.
A daily driver’s license is just not required to compete in NASCAR, neither is it required to race in lots of different racing sequence, although approval is commonly wanted from tracks or sanctioning our bodies. That permits younger drivers corresponding to Keelan Harvick to compete.
Keelan Harvick is the son of NASCAR royalty
Given his racing lineage, it is unsurprising that Harvick has such a possibility this early in his profession. (His dad received a NASCAR title in 2014.) Keelan has grown up in racing, and with a Cup Sequence champion and future NASCAR Corridor of Famer in his father, Kevin, to mentor him, he’ll have loads of help alongside the way in which.
A take care of Toyota additionally is sensible for Harvick, given NASCAR’s present developmental panorama. Chevrolet has loads of groups competing in NASCAR’s Truck and O’Reilly Auto Elements Sequence, however has an enormous group of younger expertise — Rajah Caruth, Corey Day and Carson Kvapil, amongst others — transferring up the ranks, making it a crowded ladder to the highest.
In the meantime, Ford’s presence in NASCAR’s developmental sequence has shrunk considerably. There are solely two full-time Fords within the O’Reilly Sequence competitors in 2026. Kevin Harvick drove a Ford at Stewart-Haas Racing for the ultimate eight years of his Cup Sequence profession (2017-24).
Like Chevrolet, Toyota additionally has loads of younger expertise — Brent Crews, Isabella Robusto and Kaden Honeycutt, amongst others — working their means up the ranks. However seeing as any Truck Sequence or O’Reilly Sequence begins for Keelan Harvick are 4 or 5 years away, there’s time for that expertise to maneuver up or be pushed out, a extra unlikely situation at Chevrolet.
The partnership with Rackley W.A.R and Toyota as a complete may show helpful when Harvick can run choose Truck Sequence races at age 16.
