How did NASCAR influencer Cleetus McFarland make his money? Exploring his business ventures, revenue stream, and more

Cleetus McFarland (Garrett Mitchell) is a leading NASCAR influencer, race car driver, and business mogul who has earned his fortune in a variety of business activities related to automotive content creation, racing, and merchandise. The largest source of his revenue is his YouTube channel, which has over four million subscribers. He releases compelling videos of car constructions, drag racing competitions, and auto culture, and earns revenue through advertising, sponsorships, and paid promotions.

Cleetus McFarland first entered the automotive content and social media world in 2011. He invested in 1320Video, a car media company that was started by Kyle Loftis and offered to take control and develop their Instagram when the site was still new and growing fast. McFarland has assisted in the development of the 1320Video Instagram page, which went from virtually nothing to about 10,000 followers, a huge number at the time, by sharing interesting automotive material.

McFarland's interest and commitment to work made him assume more roles, such as working on Facebook 1320Video, where he was ultimately paid to work. In an April 2024 interview with 1320video, Cleetus explained why he became a YouTuber in a niche like NASCAR.

"Fred filmed, and I was just running around, you know, taking pictures for the Instagram, and then that same weekend, Kyle was like, hey, I'm super slammed, like why don't you post some stuff on the Facebook too, so then I got access to that, so then from that point on, we were in the crew, like we were officially part of the team..."

He further added (8:30 onwards) :

"I would post, you know, a cool YouTube video with a title and a description, and then we'd put it on Facebook, and if people clicked on that link, we would generate ad revenue on Kyle's website, so that was how I made my money for Kyle, and then he would pay me, man, it was 100 bucks a week, I remember at the time, which is, you know, it's nothing, but I was just so happy to be doing it, and it gave me at least something to pay for, you know, food and gas and whatever."

At the time, McFarland was studying law but had already garnered a substantial following in the content creation space. And he quit school to be a professional “redneck” in his persona, Cleetus McFarland.

Cleetus McFarland also owns a 20% stake in Motion Raceworks, an Iowa-based manufacturer of performance automotive parts, which adds another revenue stream. He competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series and hosts his own racing events like "Cleetus & Cars" and the "Freedom 500."

In 2020, Cleetus McFarland acquired and revitalized the Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, renaming it Freedom Factory, further expanding his footprint in motorsports. All have contributed to his net worth being $10 million, according to CelebrityNetworth.

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Cleetus McFarland gave up everything to acquire Freedom Factory

The forgotten Desoto Speedway drag strip was discovered by Cleetus McFarland soon after his relocation to Florida. The track had been out of commission for many years because of financial difficulties and other complications, and it was literally a shabby hangar. McFarland saw the potential of it being a special playground for his automotive content and events, and even thought about turning it into a burnout stadium with a main pad that fans could have fun at.

He spent 2.2 million dollars, at least in part, using loans and selling his prize Porsche Turbo S to raise the money. In a February 2025 interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, he said (2:44 onwards):

"The DeSota had been sitting there for years, shut down because several reasons, bankruptcy, a couple times, you know, a driver that passed away, things like that. So I drove by, I mean, the place was a dump, but one day, I clicked in my brain as I started doing these burnout events..."

Cleetus McFarland further added:

"I didn't have the money, and then I sold my Porsche turbo S that I had 2011, like We just like sold everything we had, gathered it all up, and I literally went to that closing with everything I had. Damn it. Every dollar I had. And this was December 19th and then COVID hit. Yeah. My master plan of having all my fans out to make some money. Really, really. took a while. Really crushed me."

The acquisition in December 2019 marked a bold move to secure a legal and safe environment for the type of content Cleetus McFarland creates, given that street racing and other high-octane content often face restrictions and demonetization on platforms like YouTube.