NASCAR influencer Cleetus McFarland highlights specific metric comparing difficulty of oval racetracks to superspeedways 

Garrett Mitchell a.k.a. Cleetus McFarland made his third ARCA start of the season in the General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Following his practice and qualifying session, the YouTube sensation was interviewed by Frontstretch’s Stephen Stumpf, and the former explained how the superspeedway felt different from an oval.

McFarland bagged a top-10 at Talladega Superspeedway a few weeks ago. Back in February, he took part in the Ride the ‘Dente 200 at Daytona International Speedway, home to the crown jewel Daytona 500, but none of that seemed to have helped the 30-year-old Nebraska native.

“It's a lot harder than a superspeedway,” Cleetus McFarland told Stumpf. “I would estimate 21.2 times harder. I was holding on to dear life out there. We all have to learn.”

McFarland started 11th and soon worked his way into the top 10. He was running P7 before the first caution of the day flew, setting the field for a restart. McFarland restarted on the front row and so, for the first time in his life, the YouTube celebrity thought that he was going to lead the field to the green alongside Truck Series regular Grant Enfinger.

However, things went south after that. His car spun, catching several cars in the mess, including the No. 55 of Isabella Robusto. Nevertheless, through sheer perseverance, McFarland delivered yet another top-10 (a P9 this time), his best finish in the ARCA Menards Series so far.

His next race is scheduled for September 11. Named Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the race will stream live on FOX Sports 1. That also happens to be the last race on McFarland’s 2025 racing schedule.

Cleetus McFarland takes responsibility for ARCA crash at Charlotte

Cleetus McFarland chose to stay on older tires after a debris caution and soon realized his mistake. But it was too late. His tires turned just when he hit the gas, and as a result, his No. 30 Rette Jones Racing machine took out Isabella Robusto’s Toyota.

Due to the impact, Robusto veered into the outside wall and bounced back into the track, where her car took another big hit before coming to a halt on the infield grass work.

Here is a clip of the incident:

McFarland knew he had messed up. Calling it a “rookie maneuver”, he apologized for his actions.

“I want to start off by apologizing to the team that I took out,” McFarland told FOX Sports (quoted by Yardbarker). “I think it was several cars. I just feel terrible about that, you know. Every time I go racing, I don’t want to get taken out. I’ve felt it, it sucks. I’ve been sent home. I made a complete rookie maneuver on the restart.”

“I feel terrible about it, I know those guys worked hard to be out here, and it sucks to send them home,” he added.

Cleetus McFarland must have found solace in the fact that his P9 finish was his career-best performance. Not everything goes as planned in NASCAR racing. The YouTube sensation will have to wait until September to change the narrative.