Keelan Harvick Makes History as Youngest Allen Turner Snowflake Winner

Keelan Harvick added his name to the Five Flags Speedway history books early Sunday morning, scoring the victory in the Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 125.

It was a long time coming, quite literally, with the race concluding just before 3:30 a.m. CT on Sunday morning. It was worth the wait for Harvick, as he became the event's youngest winner at 13 years, 4 months and 29 days.

Harvick took the lead from Tristan McKee with 24 laps to go and held on to the top spot on a late restart following a mechanical issue for Jace Hale to ensure the victory.

The son of former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick initially took the lead with 50 laps to go in the 125-lap contest. Harvick qualified 15th for the event in a hectic Saturday schedule, shaken up by inclement weather throughout the week and delayed by more persistent rainfall on Saturday morning and afternoon.

However, he fell back to fourth on a restart with 46 laps to go, missing a shift on the restart. That put him in catch-up mode, chasing down Carson Brown, Kaden Honeycutt and McKee over the next 20-plus laps.

That was not enough to stop Harvick, however, who raced to the checkered flag in the marquee Pro Late Model contest traditionally held on the eve of the Snowball Derby.

"I know I messed up on that restart," said Harvick in victory lane on the FloRacing broadcast. "I just was in the wrong gear. Really sorry to my guys about that. I had to go that little extra way, but I wanted it that bad for these guys.

"They work really hard, and it's just really cool to get this win."

Father and son recently rewatched last year's Allen Turner Snowflake 100, the last installment of the event before 25 laps were added to its distance for 2025. They noticed the importance of keeping the car low on the racetrack on corner exit, and Harvick applied that on the track.

"Me and my dad rewatched the last Snowflake from last year. We just saw everybody coming off [the corners] low and straight. That's what I did, and it worked out.

"It's really cool to share it with these group of guys. They put so much work in it. It's really cool to bring this one back."

McKee held on for second place,

"He just had more drive off the corner. That's what it came down to. I could fire off really good. I just kind of lost the right-rear after maybe 15 or so laps there. That's how he was able to get around me.

"Just needed a little bit more forward drive, and I think we would have been really good there. Thank you to all my guys. They brought a really fast car all week. We just came up a little bit short."

Honeycutt, last year's winner of the Snowball Derby, finished third. With the extra 25 laps this year, teams were granted two tires and a chance to make adjustments. Honeycutt believes he had the car to beat before the pit stop, but didn't make the right adjustments to compete with Harvick and McKee at the end of the race.

"I really thought, after putting tires on, there was no one to have anything for us that first 75. I was biding my time, just riding around. We put tires on, and I was the third-place car. Those two were just really good on drive.

"Maybe I could have not changed as much, but every time I put tires on, this thing tightens up so much. I just wanted to make sure I didn't have that happen.

"This is really the first time I've been competitive in the Snowflake, run up front and leading laps. That's really awesome. Definitely learned a few things tonight, for sure. We couldn't finish it off, but these guys worked their tails off for me and they stayed up, and we got the top three."

Before Sunday morning, Hunter Robbins held the record as the youngest Snowflake winner, taking the victory in the 2005 edition of the event at 14 years of age.

A pair of multi-car incidents inside of 50 laps to go took out several contenders. First, Albert Francis and Craig Slaunwhite made contact while battling three-wide into turn one, collecting Jake Finch. Two laps later, Jade Avedisian, Casey Roderick, Kasey Kleyn, Jim Wall, and Aidan Potter fell by the wayside in a turn four melee.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy

Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 125 Unofficial Results