Kevin Harvick wins CARS Tour West Pro Late season opener

Author: Rence Brown

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The CARS Tour West Pro Late Model class was back in action on Saturday afternoon for the first time competing at Tucson Speedway in the season opening SoundGear 125. Where NASCAR Hall of Famer and series co-owner Kevin Harvick battled son Keelan, in a physical paint swapping and door banging family affair, that saw father beat son in the first victory of 2026 and the first at the track since 1995.

Keelan Harvick won pole position earlier in the afternoon and led he field to the green in the 125 lap feature around the 3/8 mile oval. The young teenager quickly pulling away to an early lead. However a caution on lap five put a brief pause his command of the field, as No.24 of Mia Lovell found herself in the turn three wall with heavy rear end damage to her car.

Just as the field went back racing William Sawalich, whose weekend was already plagued by engine issues in final practice, came to a halt on the front straight, this time with throttle linkage problems. His Rackley-WAR team was able to repair the throttle linkage and driver of the No.25 rejoined the race.

When racing resumed on lap 9, Kasey Kleyn was the one to watch. Having started tenth, the driver from Washington state put on quite the show for the next 10 laps, racing his way up to second position before the No.1K went for a spin off turn four. The caution once again flying for the third time in the first 20 laps.

On the ensuing restart Colton Hale, the younger brother of defending CTW PLM champion Jace Hale, charged past the young Harvick to take command of the lead. The younger Hale held his nerve as lap after lap, he held off a determined Harvick for the top spot, as the field got into an early rhythm.

Lurking in the background was Kevin Harvick, who fell back early to begin the race but seemed to find his speed the longer the race run went on, picking off drivers one by one until he was within sight of the two young drivers. His progress however would momentarily stall for due to a competition caution on lap 59.

When racing resumed once more, Hale now had to contend with both Harvick’s. As the laps ticked away the three were in tussle for control of the race, when the caution flew once more but this time for the No.22Y of Nash Youngren and No.88 of Tanner Emond. Both drivers hit oil and came to rest in turn three, bringing out a red flag for track cleanup.

As the sun began to set and the chill of a Janurary evening set in across the desert, the battle for the lead heated. From the moment racing continued, the young Harvick wouldn’t allow the driver of the No.12H to get away as easily, the unrelenting pressure finally gave Keelan the chance he needed and he reclaimed the top spot, with his father dispatching Colton shortly after for the second position.

As Colton slid back to third, he would go for a spin on lap 78 turn four in front of the field but luckily got away without anyone tagging him and not sustaining major damage.

With the lights now illuminating the racetrack, it set the stage for the first Harvick V Harvick battle of the year. With Kevin’s car once again getting faster as the longer the run went on, this time persistently putting pressure on his son. It wouldn’t go without incident as the pair would make contact multiple times, with Kevin even picking up some valence damage in the process. Keelan tried to move his father for position, only for the wilily veteran to repay the favor a turn later, with multiple cross-overs between the two in hard wheel to wheel combat.

With 15 circuits remaining, lapped traffic got heavier for the leaders, inviting Haeden Plybon and a hard charging Sawalich to close in on the two front runners. Kevin wasted no more time and finally passed Keelan for the lead and started to pull away slightly from his son and the field.

As the checkered flag fell on the field, it was Kevin Harvick who prevailed, winning in a family duel to start the season strong in Pro Late Models in a father/son 1-2 finish.

Post race Kevin discussed the contact the pair made battling for the win, in what would be a teaching moment the elder Harvick gave his son on track.

“I had him the first time and we kind of got hung together there off of (turn) four and it kind of shot me down the racetrack just a little bit.” Harvick explained. “So I didn’t get a great entry into (turn) one and lost that battle there. Then the second time I think he thought I was gonna roll the top and he tried to, or he thought I was at the top and then tried to cross me over. I don’t remember exactly what happened right there, but when he didn’t get there and then he moved me in the next corner, it was game on.”

Harvick then went on to explain his cars strength and where he capitalized his opportunities racing around the southern Arizona track.

“The strength of my car today was just to drive up off the corner and I’d kind of found a little better groove through (turns) one and two than most everybody.” Harvick explained. “I thought my car was better than most everybody’s on the long run anyway. With that 40 some lap run there at the end, I was able to take advantage of rolling that top. Hopefully the crowd enjoyed it, it’s fun to be in Victory Lane.”

Sawalich overcame his own adversity, scoring a third place result in his first ever CTW race with it also securing the Rackley-WAR sweep of the top three positions.

“We were running good, we got up to maybe seven or so and the throttle linkage came off.” Sawalich remarked. “So we went and fixed that, then drove back through the field. That was really fun. I think I kind of used my stuff up a little bit to try and do that, but still we were really fast in the end and still closing in on leaders in lap traffic. It was a really fun race, really fun track and hopefully I can come back (in the future).”

Second place starter Haeden Plybon, ended the race in fourth, holding off an inspired drive by Kasey Kleyn who rallied from an early spin and contact to round out the top-five.

After the race a frustrated Kleyn felt he missed an opportunity for an even higher finishing position, while also putting the field on notice that he will be a force to contend with this season and not one to be messed with.

“I qualified 10th and moved my way up to I think fourth before we got chopped off and just spun out.” an aggrieved Kleyn said. “I had to go to the back (of the field) for that and then we drove our way back up to 10th, then the guy beside me just doesn’t know how to use his brakes and runs me in the wall. So I had to come back in the pits to fix the car and then drive all the way back to the front again. So no one else had to pass as many cars as me and I still was able to beat the majority of the field.”

Ken Bonney, Cody Dempster, Kyle Keller, Robby Sawyer and Chase Burgeson rounded out the rest of the top ten.

The next CARS Tour West Pro Late Model weekend is March 28 as the field takes to The Bullring in Las Vegas.

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