From YouTube sensation to second-place finisher?
Yes, indeed. Garrett “Cleetus McFarland” Mitchell gave ARCA Menards Series fans a Cinderella story to root for Saturday (April 25) that nearly came up with the perfect ending.
One week after McFarland turned heads at Kansas Speedway until an oil line ended his race early, he nearly wound up at victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway. He came up 0.111 seconds shy of his first career win, finishing second to Andy Jankowiak in the Alabama Manufactured Housing 200.
It was easily McFarland’s most competitive race to date within ARCA. Staying inside the lead draft from the start, he stayed patient and first took the lead on lap 48, leaving tens of thousands of rowdy Talladega fans celebrating.
McFarland held the lead for 19 total laps, leading 18 before Gio Ruggiero retook it for one lap, then led once more. When The Big One collected many drivers, including McFarland’s friend and teammate George “Squirrel McNutt” Siciliano, McFarland surrendered it to Isabella Robusto, though he wasn’t out of contention.
When the race resumed, with a one-lap, green-white flag finish, McFarland was the leader when the field entered the tri-oval. But at Talladega, the start/finish line is closer to turn 1 than the middle of the tri-oval, and the victory slipped away from McFarland.
As Jankowiak celebrated his triumph, albeit in near disbelief, McFarland triumphantly climbed atop his No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford on pit road as if he had won himself. The FOX Sports broadcast jokingly called the finish a tie.
“Well, looking at that, you know I think I needed to back up a smidge to get that help that was behind me,” McFarland said post-race. “I kind of, you know, left the No. 71 I’m pretty sure and tried to go down. I didn’t have enough to get past Will. We started beating each other up and then Andy passed us, got the W, congratulations to him.
“What an insane day of racing. The greatest day of racing I’ve ever been a part of in my life right there. My team, [spotter] Kevin Hamlin, did such a good job. The Rette Jones Racing [car] missed some three-wide shots. Honestly, that was probably the most fun I’ve ever had with clothes on. It was freaking insane. Talladega!”
Due to inexperience, McFarland was denied entry into the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Talladega. Nevertheless, he learned a great deal in ARCA action, posting his career-best finish and second ARCA top five of the season.
“You know, I got a lot of confidence today,” McFarland continued. “You know, when we’re rubbing like that at 180 [mph], I’m like ‘Wow, you can actually move the car around a lot.’ We were pretty sideways.
“You know, I learned a lot about drafting today, I would say more than anything. When I was tight, it was because there was someone on my bumper and then I got into the No. 97 (Jason Kitzmiller) up there coming out of [turn] 2. I think it was the No. 97. I had my wheel turned more than I could possibly turn it and I was just getting shoved and then I just came up and got him, so sorry to the No. 97 team.
“I don’t know how they ended up after that, I don’t know if they slid or crashed. Like, that’s something that I just didn’t know. Someone’s on me, I got to expect to be super tight and that scared the crap out of me. I thought my race was done right there but pushed through, got Mr. Sam on my hood. Almost won it.”
McFarland will next be on track in NOAPS competition at Nashville Superspeedway on May 30. He’ll have until then to celebrate his day at Talladega and think through what could have been.
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.