Kevin Harvick’s former right-hand man ‘proud’ by Keelan’s ‘amazing’ Late Model display

Keelan Harvick, son of retired NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick, did not disappoint in his Late Model Debut at Florence Motor Speedway on Friday. Impressed at his performance, Rodney Childers, who catapulted Harvick’s 2014 championship-winning season with Stewart-Haas Racing, lauded the budding speedster.

Keelan kept the No. 62 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) machine away from trouble as he finished 8th in the 96-lap event. Before racing against the best in the Late Model category, Keelan had spent two full seasons driving Legends cars all around the country.

Here is a video that shows Harvick giving his son a few words of advice before the 12-year-old prodigy strapped himself to the driver’s seat:

“Everything you would normally do, just do it. It’s just a big car, nothing different.”

Safe to say, Harvick’s advice worked. So much so, that Childers marveled at Keelan’s driving prowess and tweeted,

“So proud of this kiddo.. He did an amazing job. 👊🏼”

Like an experienced race car driver, Keelan climbed out of his car basking under the spotlight. Giving his team a shout-out, Keelan said (via NASCAR),

“I feel really good. I can’t thank these KHI guys enough. They put in a lot of work. It’s definitely cool to get my first one under my belt, but I can’t wait for the next one.”

This year in July, Keelan emerged victorious in the Cook Out Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He also won the Legends feature at New River All American Speedway and recorded a runner-up finish in his maiden Street Stock appearance.

Kevin Harvick surprised to watch Keelan race from a “parent’s standpoint”

Kevin Harvick reacted to Keelan’s recent top-10 run. The proud dad was surprised when he watched Keelan drive a full-size Late Model. After all, to him, Keelan is just a kid who often has trouble doing daily chores.

“He surprises me all the time just with, he’s 12, So, watching him race in the car it’s weird because some days he has a hard time wiping his butt let alone driving a full-size stock car,” Harvick said of his son during a post-race interview with the Short Track Scene. “From a parents’ standpoint seeing your 12-year-old kid in that full-size car is different.” (0:26)

Keelan will now prepare for his upcoming season, running more Late Model races under an agreement between KHI and Rackley WAR. Fans will also witness the father-son duo face off against each other in select Pro and Limited Late Model races next season.

“Yeah I think next year we’ll probably run eight to twelve of these Limited Late Model races. We’ll run a lot here at Florence just because I like the rules, you can buy tires. We can give him a good, quality experience here,” Kevin Harvick further stated. (1:38)

In addition to mentoring his son for future races, the 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion will also act as a consultant to Rackley WAR’s Truck Series program. Dawson Sutton, a former development driver under the banner of Rackley WAR, will pilot the No. 26 truck for the team full-time next year.