What’s Happening?

YouTube star turned ARCA Menards Series driver Garrett Mitchell, better known by his screen name Cleetus McFarland, is set to race during the 2026 ARCA season, but, in a recent YouTube video, Mitchell revealed that he almost stepped away from driving this past offseason.

Last year, Garrett Mitchell was the surprise of the NASCAR season, with the longtime face of the Cleetus McFarland YouTube channel getting behind the wheel of an ARCA Menards Series car for the first time.

In four starts throughout the 2025 ARCA season, Mitchell scored two top-ten finishes. However, his real impact on the sport was best seen off the track, where he helped generate high viewership numbers and online interactions for NASCAR and ARCA during his races. 

Entering the off-season, McFarland looked set to return to NASCAR, having teased another part-time schedule after his final start of the 2025 season at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

In spite of his plans, this past off-season took a saddening turn for Mitchell when his friend and mentor, NASCAR legend Greg Biffle, alongside his family and three others, died in a plane crash en route to visit Mitchell and his family in Florida.

In his latest YouTube video, which highlights his day of ARCA preseason testing at Daytona, Mitchell revealed that the passing of his mentor almost led him to end his racing career and give up on his ultimate goal of racing in the Daytona 500.

“I’ll admit to you guys that a month ago, when everything happened, I didn’t ever want to step foot in a NASCAR garage again. 
I didn’t want to race.” — Garrett Mitchell

Even though he felt the need to step away from the driver’s seat, Mitchell says he decided to return to racing after asking himself, “What would ‘the Biff’ want?,” a question that has pushed him back on track to making the Daytona 500 down the road.

After all, as Mitchell has said in recent interviews, it was Biffle who laid out the roadmap for the 30-year-old upstart to work his way to NASCAR’s top level and the Daytona 500, a mission that Mitchell says, in the wake of Biffle’s passing, he is “prepared to finish.”

“The mission continues. I don’t know what it’s gonna take to get to the Daytona 500, but I know I gotta keep racing. Last year, I learned so much, and now I gotta start climbing the ladder.” Garrett Mitchell

Mitchell’s 2026 Schedule

During an interview with SiriusXM NASCAR radio ahead of last week’s preseason ARCA test at Daytona International Speedway, Mitchell said he would race in roughly five races this season, including the races at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway.

This would expand on his four-race 2025 schedule, which included Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, and Bristol. In his four starts last year, Mitchell finished no better than ninth, with only one DNF for the then-rookie driver.

In his recent upload to YouTube, Mitchell confirmed two more tracks he will race at during the 2026 season: the April 18 or September 25 race at Kansas Speedway (he did not note if it was the spring or fall race) and the June 5 race at Michigan International Speedway.

As a bonus, Mitchell also teased that there will be more to come regarding his 2026 NASCAR schedule, though he’s going to “wait a little” to announce these plans.

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