Popular YouTuber Cleetus McFarland (real name Garrett Mitchell), made his fourth ARCA Menards Series start of the year on Thursday, driving the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford. After starts at Daytona, Talladega, and Charlotte, McFarland was making his short track debut in ARCA.
NASCAR also allowed fans to ride onboard with him via an in-car camera streamed on YouTube, which reached over 35,000 live viewers at one point.
In his Daytona debut, the 30-year-old was involved in multiple wrecks before recording a DNF in 30th place. Talladega went a lot smoother, scoring a top ten finish. He made his next appearance at Charlotte, where he was at the epicenter of a restart melee, later apologizing for his part in the incident. He went on to finish ninth in his career-best finish.
Bristol recap
Garett Mitchell (Cleetus McFarland), Rette Jones Racing Ford
Photo by: Jonathan Bachman – Getty Images
At Bristol, he qualified 20th and was set to get his first taste of racing at the world’s fastest half-mile, running between 15th and 20th for most of the event.
He had a front row seat to the first wreck of the race, as Andrew Patterson and Takuma Koga collided on the frontstretch. He avoided becoming part of that wreck, and carried on without much drama for most of the race.
He fell three laps down as eventual race winner Brent Crews set a blistering pace, and was battling for 15th when disaster struck. With just over 20 laps to go, he suffered a right front tire failure and touched the outside wall. He made it back to the pits without triggering a caution, losing four more laps in the process.
McFarland finally returned to the race seven laps down, soldiering on to finish 17th.
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