Cleetus McFarland’s 2026 NASCAR Racing Schedule
What’s Happening? Despite his internet fame, Garrett Mitchell, by his screen name Cleetus McFarland, has recently taken to stock car racing…
Wednesday night, YouTube star Cleetus McFarland took a hard hit during Berlin Raceway’s Tekton 250 Battle at Berlin Late Model Race.
For McFarland, whose real name is Garrett Mitchell, this race is part of a broader effort to expand his racing skills, with several uploads to his massive YouTube channel over the past few months showing the building progress of his first late model.
Of course, the race at Berlin would be a challenge for Mitchell, with a stacked field including his friend and NASCAR Cup Series star Carson Hocevar, as well as former NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Ty Majeski.
Furthermore, Mitchell was facing some of the best Late Model drivers in the country, including legend Bubba Pollard and eventual race winner and Spire Motorsports prospect, Tristan McKee.
The Florida native’s first race at the track ended with just 19 laps to go, spinning in turns three and four and damaging his car after colliding with Keith Herp mid-spin, but avoiding a collision with then race leader Evan Szotko.
In the infield after the crash, Mitchell said to FloRacing, “Well, I just suck,” apologizing about the incident, something he added to in a video uploaded to his social media after the race.
When all was said and done, the No. 33M would come home 19th.
In the video, Mitchell opened by pointing out that Herp got the worst of the crash, noting that he had already gone over to chat with his team and apologizing again during the video.
Mitchell says that he just “overcooked” the corner and got loose. Still, he was humble about the learning process, acknowledging that racing on the grassroots level is just as hard as racing in NASCAR.
“Completely got my ass kicked tonight, but I learned a lot, man. The racecraft that you need to pass somebody when there’s really just no good place to pass was insane. It was so competitive. . . this is just as hard as the big series in NASCAR.” — Cleetus McFarland
The 31-year-old closed out the video reassuring that the damage to his new Late Model is fixable, but that he has to “get back out here and keep learning.”
While Mitchell has yet to set a firm Late Model racing schedule, he has made a combined nine starts across two ARCA divisions and the lower two NASCAR National Series this season.
His next start in NASCAR will come in October, driving the No. 4 truck for Niece Motorsports at Talladega Superspeedway.
What’s Happening? Despite his internet fame, Garrett Mitchell, by his screen name Cleetus McFarland, has recently taken to stock car racing…
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