ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — It wasn’t pretty, but Cleetus McFarland accomplished his goal at Rockingham Speedway on Saturday (April 4).
The YouTube star, whose real name is Garrett Mitchell, may have only finished 32nd in the North Carolina Education Lottery 250, but he actually finished in his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut.
When informed that he finished one spot better than he qualified, McFarland responded with, “Woo, one position.”
“But did I ruin anyone’s day besides my own?” McFarland said. “No, I did not.”
McFarland’s approval to run at Rockingham was a controversial decision by NASCAR after he crashed out of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Daytona International Speedway back in February just six laps in. Early in Saturday’s race, McFarland had a moment that nearly echoed Daytona. He forced three-wide almost immediately at Rockingham, and the contact sent him sliding down the track. But he saved the car and continued going.
“Spun out early,” McFarland said. “What the hell was that? … Did you see that on lap 3? I went three-wide. I abandoned the whole plan of chilling, and I went three-wide, spun out, got past that.”
Not long after that, McFarland nearly had a day-ender when Blake Lothian spun right in front of him. But he was able to dodge that incident and kept going.
“I did avoid one crash, and that’s probably because my sleeves were cut off,” McFarland said.
On lap 206 of the race, McFarland spun by himself. Once again, he avoided hitting anything.
“Oh, the third one was just my own,” McFarland said. “[I] went in the corner too fast.”
McFarland had two other spins on the day, which he detailed post-race.
“Then I think the fourth one, the guy below me hit me,” McFarland said. “That one I’ll take only 50% credit for. And then the last one, I think the guy hit me going into [turns] 1 and 2. I was trying to stay out of his way.”
The person who hit McFarland in his last spin was his Richard Childress Racing teammate Austin Hill, which happened partially because McFarland was at a tire disadvantage after the previous spin.
“When I spun out on my own and killed my tires and then had to go back on my first set of tires, I went out and I’m thinking to myself, all right, I cannot do anything stupid again,” McFarland said. “And then those tires were so toast there at the end. He’s [spotter Frank Deiny] like, ‘Leaders are coming. You got to get it.’
“We’re trying to stay out of the way. At that moment, I was like, I have put myself in the worst position I could possibly be in right now. I am way in over my head. But I knew we just had to get to the end, and that’s what we did.”
Even with the tough outing, in which he finished six laps down, McFarland climbed out of the car to a tremendous amount of fanfare and seemed just as enthusiastic about his NASCAR journey as he was to start the day.
“Well, this is a hell of an opportunity, and obviously, I got my ass kicked today,” McFarland said. “But I learned so much, and I made so many mistakes.”
He was filled with energy even after a grueling doubleheader in which he finished fourth in the ARCA Menards Series East race earlier in the day.
“Physically, I’m fine,” McFarland said. “Physically, I feel good. The cool shirt in this car, whatever this thing’s called, damn, that thing’s sick. I mean it keeps you cool.”
By finishing the race, McFarland may quiet down some of the talk of whether or not he should have been approved. McFarland did offer some insight into how the online criticisms have impacted him.
“All this internet talk, it’s got me thinking maybe I shouldn’t come back,” McFarland said. “Sike, see you guys in two weeks at Talladega. That’s right.”
McFarland entered Rockingham as a means to get approved to race at Talladega Superspeedway in the O’Reilly Series later in April. NASCAR still has to make a decision on whether he did enough on Saturday to get approved for that race. The multiple spins may hurt his case, but the fact that he did not impact any other driver’s race could help it.
“I’m trying to learn and I’m just so happy I didn’t ruin anyone else’s day today,” McFarland said.
Michael Massie joined Frontstretch in 2017 and has served as the Content Director since 2020.
Massie, a Richmond, Va., native, has covered NASCAR, IndyCar, SRX and the CARS Tour. Outside of motorsports, the Virginia Tech grad and Green Bay Packers minority owner can be seen cheering on his beloved Hokies and Packers.
This guy talent is much ado about nothing. Why so much talk?
NASCAR has always loved hype.
Sure, go ahead & approve this clown for Talladega NASCAR, then after he causes the Big One, we can all see his incompetence. Being a”star” on YT doesn’t make one capable of being a professional racer.
He can’t do anything worse at Talledega than merge back from pit road in front of the oncoming pack, can he?
Maybe crash into a jet dryer? lol
If he causes a Big One at Talladega it will be used as more fodder for NA$CAR ads. Genius!
Way to go Cleetus I’m a big fan. Just competing in these races shows you have talent. Your the man. Good luck pulling for you man.
He absolutely has no talent. He has a Youtube following where he acts like the redneck he really isn’t and that’s what young, internet addicted people like to laugh at. A big following means sponsors for RCR, who needs them. He’s a hack.
I did see a tiny silver lining in this race…it affirmed the O’Reilly series really does have some talented drivers, and not just steering wheel holders.
Of course, “Cleetus” isn’t one of the talented drivers. His incredibly poor showing affirmed that someone who likes cars, and likes to drive fast, cannot just magically make up for the experience and skill even most young O’Reilly drivers have.
Wonder why he can call himself “by one name” and act “like the redneck he isn’t,” when other people who want to have the lifestyle THEY want are discriminated against. Double-standard, anyone?
So exactly what people thought would happen actually happened. The kid has no experience driving a stock car and should be in late models at best (or maybe street stocks given how embarrassing that performance was on Saturday). And of course the media falls all over themselves trying to give this guy credibility.
I wonder how the other drivers feel about this guy. They worked their butts off to get where they are and he basically is handed a ride. Then they are asked questions about what a great effort he made in the race. What a joke. I’m glad Kligerman called him out in the post race on Saturday.
Its ridiculous that even with his inexperience, he gets a ride, but a truck series champion isn’t allowed to race. I really hope this experiment is finally over.
Even though I like Garrett and understand the financial reasons why NASCAR is allowing this, I agree with much of your assessment of the situation. He would definitely benefit from time in Street Stocks and Late Models, but he DID finish top 5 in the ARCA race. Perhaps he should spend more time there instead of leaping straight into the deep end?
Still don’t understand how they can sleep at night allowing him in at Daytona/Talladega when he hasn’t mastered short tracks, much less the intermediates and large tracks.
I agree, he should be nowhere near the Superspeedway races.
I may sound like I don’t like the guy, but I do like his attitude. The problem is, the O’Reilly series is not the place for beginners to learn how to drive a Nascar race car. I thought that was common knowledge. Given all the fawning over him this weekend I kinda question that now.
ARCA makes all the sense in the world to me. For many years, it’s been a mixture of young talent learning the ropes, old rich guys living a dream, a few weekend warriors, with the rest being people like “Cleetus” who have no experience or discernible talent, but do have financial backing.
As we saw this weekend, the disparity of equipment from top to bottom is much greater in ARCA than in O’Reilly. People like “Cleetus” can achieve good finishes in ARCA, because they can afford equipment far beyond what most of the field has to work with.
In O’Reilly, if you can’t drive, you will get buried by the competition, and only with dumb luck will you finish the race.
For sure, he needs more seat time in ARCA before he should get into another SuperSpeedway race.
But he impressed Kyle Petty, that has to mean something right? (/sarcasm)
Hilarious.
In top 10 equipment, “Cleetus” did the following:
Qualified 35th of 38 drivers.
Nearly wrecked before lap 10, trying a “hold my beer” three wide move.
Went one lap down by lap 24.
Spun multiple times.
Finished six laps off the pace, despite little if any damage to good equipment.
Nearly ruined a full time teammate’s day, with contact between them, because “Cleetus” was a mobile chicane, despite being multiple laps down.
But oh yes, let’s put him in the field for Talladega. Surely, nothing bad will happen. I mean, “Cleetus” likes cars and stuff, so clearly he’s a talented driver, and not a weapon at all on the track!
I don’t begrudge “Cleetus” taking the opportunity, as many if not most racing fans would do the same. I do begrudge NASCAR and RCR for allowing this clown show to take place, and for allowing “Cleetus” to use his stupid alter ego. I just hope the only things damaged are the reputations of the companies backing him (NASCAR/RCR), and not competing equipment, or even worse, competing drivers.