Keelan Harvick wins first CARS Tour West Pro Late Model race of season in Las Vegas
- Mar 29
- 3 min read
by Rence Brown
Keelan Harvick won Saturday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading the majority of the race to earn his first CARS Tour West Pro Late Model victory of the season in the 125 lap Terrible Herbst Showdown.
“The car was really good,” Harvick said. “The Rackley guys brought me a really fast car, so I just really appreciate all their hard work.”
Harvick started from the pole and led the field of 24 cars to the green flag, briefly fending off a challenge from Rackley WAR teammate Vito Cancilla in the opening laps.
“It was really cool racing Vito as my teammate,” Harvick said. “Our cars were really close just because we’re teammates. It was cool to see the other version of my car racing against me.”
After opening the season with a runner-up finish to his father Kevin at Tucson Speedway, Harvick followed it up with a win to build early momentum.
“It’s good momentum,” Harvick said. “It’s my first win of the season, so it’s really cool to get that first one off our backs. Hopefully we can keep it going.”
The first caution flew on Lap 15 after Ryan Phipps spun in Turn 2. A second caution on Lap 24 involving Phipps, James Hamlin and Brad Clark in Turn 1 brought out a red flag for cleanup.
On the Lap 25 restart, Cancilla worked the outside lane to take the lead and paced the field for the next 10 laps before Harvick worked his way back to the top spot.
Taylor Mayhew moved past Cancilla into second on Lap 39. One lap later, Cancilla, while working through lapped traffic, made heavy contact with Darren Clayton off Turn 2, ripping off his right-front fender but continuing on.
A Lap 42 restart saw Dylan Cappello apply pressure for the lead, but Harvick answered, pulling away to nearly a one-second lead within 10 laps. Cappello made another run following the halfway caution, but Harvick stayed out front.
The final caution flew on Lap 67 after Billy Coles spun exiting Turn 2, with the Canadian continuing on without damage, setting up a long green-flag run to the finish.
As lapped traffic came into play with 30 laps to go, Cappello closed the gap to a few car lengths in one last shot, but Harvick responded by stretching the lead back out to nearly two seconds to secure the win.
Cappello said after struggling early in the weekend, the team found the right balance to run up front.
“This weekend didn’t start great,” Cappello said. “We were struggling with balance and just trying to figure the car out, but we hit on something in the final practice and got it where I was pretty happy with it. We went a little further in that direction for the race and it was really good.”
Mayhew said the car showed speed early before tightening up over a run, later discovering a flat right-front tire.
“I felt like we were pretty good at the beginning, but as the run went on it got tighter and tighter,” Mayhew said. “We ended up finding out in victory lane that the right front tire was flat, so that definitely didn’t help.”
Despite the issue, Mayhew still came away encouraged with a podium finish.
“Overall, it was a solid night,” Mayhew said. “I can’t thank my crew enough for getting me here and giving me a good car. I’m really proud of the effort.”
Despite the damage from contact with Clayton, Cancilla fought back through the field to finish fourth.
“Once I went back out, I could definitely feel the car was a lot different, especially with the aero,” Cancilla said. “I was losing speed at the end of the straightaways, but I was able to make some of it back up on corner exit. We had a really fast car, so I’m glad we could drive back through the field and finish fourth.”
Kyle Keller rounded out the top five, crediting his team for their effort throughout the weekend.
“It was pretty good,” Keller said. “We just lacked a little bit through the center, but my Wilson Motorsports team kept working all weekend. We were just a little short, but it was a good points night for us.”
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