Rockingham Speedway (Rockingham, N.C.) — Cleetus McFarland had finished his O’Reilly Series debut and had something to say.
“All this internet talk got me thinking, maybe I shouldn’t come back,” McFarland told me and other reporters as he stood outside his car with a big smile.
“Psyche. See you guys in two weeks. Talladega.”
YouTube star Cleetus McFarland held his own in his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race.
There was a reason for the YouTube content creator to smile. He had done what was asked of him, as he completed 244 of the 250 laps. But most importantly, he didn’t ruin anyone’s day Saturday at Rockingham.
He did have four spins — a couple of true spins and a couple of others where he just got sideways. He also avoided a spinning car.
The 31-year-old McFarland likely did what he needed to do to be approved for Talladega, although NASCAR could require him to go from the 0.94-mile Rockingham to the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas before doing the high-banked 2.66-mile O’Reilly race at Talladega. He does have experience at Talladega, though, in an ARCA car.
It has been an eventful couple of months for McFarland, who bought a racetrack (DeSoto Speedway) six years ago in Florida to produce content for his YouTube channel. He does some drag races and also produces content with a fleet of Crown Vics that he owns. With now 4.67 million subscribers, he reaches an audience that NASCAR desperately wants.
McFarland has caught the NASCAR bug and ran a few ARCA events last year. He was able to race a truck in February at Daytona, which lasted a handful of laps before he crashed on his own.
Embarrassed and frustrated, he didn’t know where his NASCAR journey would take him. But Richard Childress Racing reached out, with Ty Dillon — a grandson of Childress who races Cup for Kaulig Racing — being the one who felt RCR could give McFarland the support he needs.
So they worked up a plan to get him to race Talladega, and the first step was Rockingham, a shorter but fast track just short of a mile in length. McFarland was able to test there a few weeks ago because all rookies get one test.
“When I got this opportunity from RCR, I knew I was going in over my head — just like all these people who are scrutinizing me think,” McFarland told me and other reporters on a virtual news conference four days before the race. “But I’m not going to shy away from a great opportunity such as racing for Richard Childress Racing.”
[NASCAR POWER RANKINGS: Chase Elliott Makes Move After Big Win]
McFarland completed thirty second in his debut, one spot higher than the place he began. And he admitted he was over his head.
“Oh yeah,” he stated afterward. “I had a ton of confidence. Then I spun out. Then about 50 laps into the race, … I received my confidence again and I am feeling good.
“After which that carried on for some time. After I spun out by myself and killed my tires, after which had to return on my first set of tires, I went out, and I am pondering to myself, ‘All proper, I can’t do something silly once more.’ … I’m method in over my head, however I knew we simply needed to get to the tip, and that is what we did.”
For McFarland, it was all about studying. So being on the rear of the sector after a spin or after he sped on pit highway, it was all a studying expertise. He simply didn’t need to break anybody’s day, and he didn’t.
“I did keep away from one crash, and that is most likely as a result of my sleeves had been minimize off,” he quipped in referring to his signature trend model.
Cleetus McFarland is a fan favourite wherever he travels.
McFarland’s occupation is social media, so he had heard all that was stated about how he shouldn’t have been permitted to race in O’Reilly (previously Xfinity) till he had extra truck occasions.
“Nearer to Daytona, once I had the large screwup within the truck, I used to be feeling a bit of down on myself,” McFarland stated. “At this level, the file is so damaged of individuals nonetheless speaking about it, I do not care as a lot.
“On the finish of the day, all these guys can say no matter they need about me. But when Richard Childress known as them and stated, ‘Hey, you need to come drive our automobile?’ All of them would have taken that chance, too.”
The veterans within the collection acknowledge that.
“I do not envy that place in any respect,” stated Justin Allgaier, the 2024 O’Reilly Sequence champion who leads the 2026 standings. “I do know that as we speak needed to be actually robust on him, and particularly with form of a number of the social media stuff that he is had going in opposition to him in the previous few weeks.
“So I used to be happy with him placing the trouble in and making an attempt to ensure that he was the place he wanted to be out to go and have a stable day.”
Would Allgaier draft with him at Talladega later this month?
“I am unable to reply that, as a result of I feel there is a couple that we race with weekly that I do not know that I need to draft with at Talladega,” Allgaier stated.
Cleetus McFarland (No. 33 automobile) completed thirty second in his O’Reilly debut.
Allgaier famous that McFarland did a very good job within the earlier race Saturday when he completed fourth within the ARCA East occasion. At that degree (consider it like rookie-league baseball and O’Reilly as AAA), he could be aggressive. And he’s studying how a lot work it takes to be aggressive on the larger ranges.
NASCAR retains its approval course of considerably subjective as a result of drivers have quite a lot of experiences. Or in McFarland’s case, not a lot conventional racing expertise. Some will view his presence as superior due to the notoriety – few drivers get the cheers he does after they get out of the automobile. And a few view his presence with disdain as a result of he hasn’t adopted the standard path of studying in both the sprint-car or late mannequin ranks.
“If NASCAR is letting me do it, I am in,” McFarland stated. “I am right here. And nobody can save me however myself at this level. … It is as much as me.
“They will complain as a lot as they’d like, but it surely’s taking place, and they also higher buckle up.”
To Waive Or Not
NASCAR has a choice to make this week on whether or not to grant Kaulig Racing driver Corey LaJoie a waiver to make him eligible for the playoffs. LaJoie changed the suspended-then-reinstated-then-resigned Daniel Dye within the Kaulig No. 10 truck.
LaJoie, who had tried to make the Daytona 500, had been registered as a Cup driver. A driver can change his main collection as soon as throughout a 12 months, however then his factors get reset to zero in each his earlier and new collection.
Corey LaJoie faces an uphill battle in trying to make the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Sequence playoffs.
With solely 11 races left within the common season, it could be onerous for LaJoie to make it into the top-10 in factors to make the Chase. He’s 84 factors out of tenth. It might take at the very least a number of wins, and the Kaulig gear with the brand new Ram entries seemingly isn’t as much as that degree.
But it surely nonetheless will set a precedent on whether or not NASCAR will grant a waiver — the foundations stay {that a} driver should try to begin each race to be Chase eligible — in a scenario the place a group and driver half methods. NASCAR granted one to Matt Kenseth after Kyle Larson’s suspension in 2020, however Larson was nonetheless underneath suspension when Kenseth was named the driving force. On this scenario, Dye has been reinstated after completing the sensitivity training that was required after his comments mocking gay men on a livestream.
One space the place NASCAR gained’t grant a waiver is evident. Corey Heim, the defending truck collection champion, leads the standings regardless of lacking two races. NASCAR won’t grant a waiver for a driver who doesn’t have sponsorship or a experience. It doesn’t need to encourage groups or drivers to take weekends off to concentrate on sure occasions. Whereas that’s a lot much less seemingly on this new factors system, the place a win not will get a driver an automated bid into the postseason, it’s nonetheless a risk.
In The Information
— Casey Mears will attempt to get to 500 profession Cup begins by trying to qualify for 5 races with Beard Motorsports: Each Talladega races, Indianapolis, Daytona and Homestead.
— Carson Ferguson, who completed second within the RAM “Race for the Seat” driver tryout present/competitors, will likely be within the Kaulig No. 25 truck this weekend at Bristol. He additionally will nonetheless do Martinsville later this 12 months as deliberate.
Below The Radar
Rajah Caruth picked up his greatest end within the O’Reilly Sequence as he positioned fourth at Rockingham this weekend.
Stat Of Word
That is the primary season during which Richard Childress Racing doesn’t have a top-10 end within the first seven Cup races.
They Mentioned It
“It means every little thing.” — William Sawalich after his first profession O’Reilly Sequence win.
In Inside The Storage, Bob Pockrass takes us behind the scenes of the motorsports world the best way solely he can.
