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Many a so-called expert, including myself, will tell you that NASCAR needs more characters and less corporate spokesmen. After all, the most beloved characters in NASCAR history include the outspoken Tony Stewart, the Intimidator Dale Earnhardt and the King Richard Petty, to say nothing of former shine runner Junior Johnson, Alligator Wrestler Cale Yarborough and guys with names like Tiny, Fireball, and Lake Speed.
In 2026, amid lawsuits and social media discussions about how horrible the playoff format was, there’s been a throwback on the horizon. He doesn’t come from the traditional old school background of racing modifieds and legend cars on dirt tracks, nor was he honing his skills on iRacing. Instead, he used YouTube to promote him and his buddies racing all types of contraptions, including Ford Crown Victorias.
He’s Garrett Mitchell, aka Cletus McFarland and, to use a wrestling term, he cuts one hell of a promo. While he’s talking about “flying like a bald eagle,” he’s also talking about having the greatest day of his life, after climbing behind the wheel of a race car. The best part about it is that he’s got Dale Earnhardt, Jr. among many others in his corner.
To quote the Dukes of Hazzard (if we’re still allowed to reference that show in 2026), Cletus McFarland is “just a good ol’ boy, never meaning no harm.” He may not have come up the traditional way but he is a throwback to when the drivers loved to race and put on a show for the fans.
But while Cletus may be fun to watch and listen to (something tells me he should put out a YouTube video of his greatest races with a commentary track), he hasn’t proven – YET – that he can make the ascension from entertaining to successful driver.
He has but a handful of ARCA starts on his resume (with a best finish of sixth at Charlotte in 2025) and made his Craftsman Truck Series debut earlier this year at Daytona, only to spin out and end his day after six laps.
I bring this up because it has been announced that Cletus will be making his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at Rockingham in April, the first of three starts in the series this year, driving for Richard Childress Racing.
A couple of points I need to bring up:
- I like Cletus. He seems like the guy next door who just happens to be brilliant enough to have taken an unorthodox path to get to do what he loves to do.
- As anyone who has ever read any previous Track Talk articles will know, I love Richard Childress Racing. Austin Hill may be giving Carson Hocevar a run for his money as my current favourite driver and is certainly my favourite O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver.
- It’s important to note that Cletus isn’t going to be competing full-time in the O’Reilly Series. He’s only signed for three races in 2026. (His level of competition for next year will, no doubt, depend on his results.)
- I have never understood how “social media stars” are famous. (This is a much longer article for another website/blog.) You can strike me out on three badly thrown pitches so I never became a baseball player. I was the short un-athletic kid in school so I never became a basketball player. I can’t skate so I never became a hockey player. I could shoot a video and post it on YouTube so why am I not able to become a YouTube star and turn that into a vocation? (And I know the answer, because Cletus has done it better than I ever could.)
- NASCAR needs to be doing a LOT more to develop the next wave of drivers. When Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano retire, there needs to be drivers to replace them, not just in the seats but in the marketing. Making the Craftsman Truck Series, the O’Reilly Series and the ARCA Series little more than extra practice and an ego boast for Cup drivers and focusing on the Owner’s Championship has already cost NASCAR innumerable chances to develop their next superstar.
- However, the road from local tracks to the Cup Series needs to be a lot like real life, a marathon, not a sprint. In the haste to get a woman into the Cup Series, Danica Patrick got rushed through the lower series, only to disappoint mightily when she piloted the #10 car for Stewart-Haas Racing, a top-notch ride that put her aside Kevin Harvick, who won a Cup championship and Kurt Busch who won the Daytona 500 during her tenure at SHR. Did she just not have what it takes in terms of skill or just experience? It’s a question that will never properly be answered.
Those half-dozen points combine to form my overall opinion on the news of Cletus McFarland, social-media-star-turned-part-time-race-car-driver. It will certainly create some headlines, although probably only on NASCAR-related sites. His pre- and post-race interviews will be required watching, along the same lines as Ben Rhodes’ post-championship celebration press conferences are. But just how much success will McFarland have? I’m going to err on the side of caution. With only three races and after only about a half-dozen total starts in NASCAR, he’s most likely not going to set the world on fire. Cletus, RCR, and NASCAR in general should be satisfied if his three DNFs or back of the pack finishes don’t take out any other cars, including leaders as he’s being lapped.
Maybe that’s okay to shoot for, just three races to get the feel of the cars in the O’Reilly Series. Give him a benchmark to draw from in 2027. However, if Cletus is serious about a future in stock car racing (and maybe this is all just to give him content for his YouTube channel), he should be coming up the right way. And I would suggest the following for anyone, from Cletus McFarland to Danica Patrick to Ty Gibbs: Put in a full year in ARCA. That’s it. Concentrate on learning how to drive 3000-plus pound stock car. If you’re doing well (consistent top-10s and top-5s), then put another year in ARCA while making spot starts in the Trucks. After that, go to the Trucks for two years (one year solid on trucks, the next peppered with some O’Reilly starts). Repeat for O’Reilly before moving up to Cup. You’re going to find out a heck of a lot more about a driver’s ability and skill level and the ability to earn a Cup ride based on those skills.
As I’ve said before, I like Cletus. I think that with the success to back him up, he could do great things in and for NASCAR. He could bring in the audience he has cultivated with his YouTube channel (even if I don’t understand why that’s a major thing).
BUT…
No one is going to watch for very long if, race after race, he’s running 35th, is laps down, or is DNFing after a handful of laps. His colourful phrasing about wrecking is only going to be entertaining for so long. It’s great to market this guy as the good ol’ boy who found his way into a major NASCAR ride but the reason why Earnhardt and Petty and Gordon and Johnson became stars is because “they were ordinary men who did extraordinary things,” to quote the late Ken Squier. While Cletus may epitomize the “ordinary man” (and that will be the appeal as many people will see a lot of themselves in him), it will take many more starts in NASCAR before he has the experience and the skill to do those extraordinary things.
This is not to say it couldn’t happen…some day. A bad start in ARCA here, another in Trucks there does not a career make anymore than a sixth-place finish at Charlotte does. Even the results of his foray into the O’Reilly Series won’t define what he’s capable of doing. However, making starts in the second-highest series in stock car racing doesn’t feel like the right move for a driver who hasn’t even completed a full season in NASCAR’s answer to Rooke-A ball.
Too much, too soon could have Cletus McFarland looking like a bumbling buffoon who somehow snuck onto the track to record video for his social media feed when a slower pace to Cup might have seen him flying like the bald eagle he wants to be.
johnmilner.ca 