When Michigan International Speedway announced on June 3 that Cleetus McFarland would serve as both grand marshal and driver in the DQS Solutions & Staffing 250, the reaction in the garage was already mixed. Then, for him to also give the command was unusual enough. But what made it genuinely uncomfortable for fans was what he said, and what he didn’t. And of course, NASCAR found itself at the center of the criticism.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I just have three things to say: Be like Biff! Do it for Dale! And drivers, start your engines!” McFarland screamed from inside his truck.
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This was only his first start in the series since his debut at Daytona. And those three things were for Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt – rightfully so – and the start of a race. Kyle Busch, who held the all-time win record with 69 victories in the same series whose command McFarland was now giving, and who died sixteen days earlier, got nothing. Not a word.
The first two commands were expected.
After Biffle, his wife Cristina, son Ryder, and daughter Emma were killed in a plane crash at Statesville Regional Airport on December 18, 2025, while flying to visit McFarland in Florida, McFarland released a 41-minute tribute video titled “The One and Only Greg Biffle.” At the end of it, he added “Be Like Biff” as a permanent addition to his video outro, alongside his existing “Do it for Dale” catchphrase, a nod to Earnhardt that has been part of his brand for years.
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In that order, many naturally thought Kyle Busch’s name would have been next.
The setting further worsened what he said, as it was the same track, the same weekend, where Richard Childress spoke to cameras for the first time since Busch’s death and grieved publicly. It was where the Truck Series itself was running for the first time since Busch died, the very series he dominated across two decades, and it was where Busch’s extension with RCR would have been announced had he been alive.
Not to forget that, in a way, McFarland and Busch were teammates, driving for Richard Childress Racing. The only difference being that McFarland piloted RCR’s NOAP Series operations.
And to be clear, McFarland and Biffle had only known each other for roughly 1.5 years, as they met through Hurricane Helene relief work in late 2024. The bond was genuine and deep, but it was not decades-long. That’s not to say that the emotional weight behind Biffle’s mention was not real and deserved. Nobody is begrudging the Biffle tribute. What fans are asking is why the driver with more Truck wins than anyone in history wasn’t named in the same breath.
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Fans furious with McFarland after missing out on Kyle Busch’s mention
“Does Cleet have something against Kyle Busch? I cant recall him ever talking about him in his VODs and obviously shafted him here. Hes the winningest truck driver and you dont recognize him while youre sitting in a truck? Weird,” a fan wrote.
Well, the reason some pointed to was how Busch had publicly flagged concerns about McFarland’s NASCAR entry just ten weeks earlier.
“I mean, he just, I don’t know,” Busch said, via Noah Reed. “I don’t know how many races he’s run. Denny Hamlin ran 10,000 before he got here, right? So, I don’t know if Cleetus has run 10 or not, but there’s definitely a need to having ample experience. My son has probably run more races than he has, and he’s 10 years old. You know what I mean? So, I don’t think that sits well with many of us.”
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While this sounded like a dig, Kyle Busch didn’t have anything personal against McFarland. His comment was rather targeting NASCAR’s side of the operations, which allowed someone with such a lack of experience behind the wheel of the Truck and even the NOAPS. Many others had raised their voices against this. So, fans didn’t find this justified.
“NASCAR is just milking this dude…. Dosent belong in nascar nothing more than a YouTuber,” another fan said.
That sentiment has been present since McFarland’s NOAPS deal was announced. The subscriber count McFarland carries, over 4.75 million on YouTube, does not automatically translate to competitive readiness, and the sport’s gatekeepers know it. What it translates to is eyeballs on weekend broadcasts and new social content pipelines
In fact, that appeal was a major reason Michigan Speedway embraced the idea in the first place. Track president Joe Fowler called McFarland “a natural-born entertainer” and “one of the biggest names in racing today,” adding that there was little doubt he would energize the crowd before climbing into the truck himself.
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Moreover, when Ty Dillon took the idea of onboarding McFarland, Richard Childress indirectly admitted the marketing strategy POV.
“You know, Ty Dillon, when he came to me, and he talked about it, I said, ‘What a great idea, not just for RCR but for our sport,’” Childress said. “Here, Cleetus, which is Garrett (Mitchell), has close to five million followers. And if we can get 10% of those new fans coming to races and looking at the racetrack because of Cleetus… and I know he brought people to Rockingham, brought people watching the race.”
And of course, as if it wasn’t already odd for fans to see a driver with a YouTube background piloting a race, it felt even more unusual to see him serve as grand marshal while competing in the event. The grand marshal is typically a celebrity, dignitary, or special guest rather than an active participant.
“He gave the command from inside the truck? Who do yall think this guy is man lmao this is getting beyond ridiculous,” one fan said.
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And then considering how the race went for McFarland, the criticism simply became sharper. “All that just to run 25th today. Hopefully he doesn’t wreck ANOTHER car.”
Cleetus McFarland’s race at Michigan included a spin, lost track position, and ultimately a 25th-place finish. However, it also marked the first time he completed an entire NASCAR Truck Series race, logging all 125 laps after crashing out just six laps into his series debut at Daytona.
“The whole day was a huge learning experience; finishing was enough for me,” McFarland later said. “And what did we get, 25th? I mean, that’s great. Honestly, that’s phenomenal.”
McFarland also pointed to a mid-race slide as evidence of his progress. Unlike Daytona, where a similar moment ended his race almost immediately, he was able to recognize what caused the truck to step out and save it before disaster struck.
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In fact, in some ways, it was even better than his previous NOAP Series outings. And yet, it was far from being competitive, which made it easy to understand why many remained skeptical about the opportunities he has been given.
That said, it was most likely not deliberate that Cleetus McFarland missed out on paying tribute to Kyle Busch, but it still struck many as odd given the timing and setting. Whether fair or not, the moment reignited an existing debate about why McFarland has been elevated so quickly through NASCAR’s ranks: because of his potential as a racer, because of the audience he brings, or perhaps a combination of both. It is currently tough to say what the future holds for him in NASCAR, but if the results do not improve, it will become increasingly difficult for him to escape the “milking” allegations from critics.
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