13-year-old Keelan Harvick made a huge step up in his racing career by signing a driver development deal with Toyota Racing Development earlier this week. He has won some of the biggest late model events in the country and is already a renowned racer in many circles. In light of this recent update, 2023 Cup Series champion, Ryan Blaney, shared a fantastic story about Harvick.
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Blaney was on the Door, Bumper, Clear podcast when news of Harvick’s deal with Toyota broke. He expressed his surprise at Toyota bagging his future instead of Hendrick Motorsports and continued, “We were at a Panthers game. We are in our little area. Kevin’s there. These fans are hollering over at us, ‘Keelan! Keelan! Can you sign? Can you sign?”
“Kevin and I are standing there like, ‘F*** us, right?’ I got a picture of Keelan handing back a hat to this guy, and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s coming. New wave, man.”
Blaney’s story portrays Keelan‘s quick-growing popularity and the performance he displays on the race track to support the clout. As for the reasons for signing with Toyota, they were really simple in his mind.
He said in a statement, “They win a lot, and I want to be with an organization that wins.”
Manufacturers take different approaches when it comes to developing drivers. Toyota and Chevrolet both boast the best facilities and staff that help drivers from physical and mental standpoints. Furthermore, Toyota works very closely with Tricon Garage in the Truck Series.
Keelan Harvick just signed a long-term contract with… Toyota?
The news dropped while @Blaney was recording DBC: pic.twitter.com/0ZWrBWckJS
— Dirty Mo Media (@DirtyMoMedia) February 23, 2026
It allows its drivers to race for the team occasionally to prove their mettle and see what racing at the top is all about. So, in many ways, Keelan now has a direct path to the Cup Series. His father, Kevin, the 2014 Cup Series champion, too, is certain that Toyota is the way to go at this juncture. Surprisingly, he himself never drove for the Japanese carmaker.
He said, “We’ve concentrated a lot on development and have a theory on how it should go, and I felt like the Toyota process matched what we would do. I think that the effort that Toyota puts into, not only the driving piece of it, but the human piece of it, is very important to us as a family. That was really one of the biggest reasons why we went this direction.”
Drivers need to be at least 16 years old to drive in the Truck Series. So, it will be a while before Keelan gets his first NASCAR start. In the meantime, he will be working with the very best on becoming NASCAR’s next big superstar.
