YouTube star turned NASCAR driver Cleetus McFarland leaned further into his new NASCAR roots in a recent video where he gave up and coming NASCAR stars Connor Zilisch and Jesse Love a introduction to drag racing.
Cleetus McFarland, whose real name is Garrett Mitchell, is continuing to grow his relationships with drivers in the NASCAR garage, recently teaming up with drivers for runs down the drag strip at zMAX Dragway in a new YouTube Video.
Initially the drivers poked fun at drag racing because the format removes corners from the equation. Though, it did not take long for the NASCAR group to discover that drag racing is not the cakewalk many outsiders assume it to be.
Typically, in NASCAR, drivers spend entire races wrestling dirty air, managing tire falloff, calculating braking zones, side-drafting opponents, and navigating traffic.
So, from their point of view, drag racing appeared easy. Mitchell, meanwhile, immediately sensed they were underestimating the what lay in front of them.
Mitchell’s Richard Childress Racing NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teammate Jesse Love was the first driver to climb into the drag car. Once Love completed his run, he admitted, “I realized I lifted when I shifted like a NASCAR and I screwed it up.”
Then it was Connor Zilisch’s turn to go behind the wheel. After his run, Mitchell pointed out that Zilisch’s burnout had been smaller than expected, though he credited the young driver for maintaining control of the car.
Instead of panicking when the tires slipped, Zilisch feathered the throttle and salvaged the pass. Zilisch later acknowledged that he had “spun the tires.” Speaking about the sensation inside the drag car, he said, “That thing ripped.”
The centerpiece of the video, however, became Love’s Crew Chief “Downforce” Danny Stockman.
The entire group spent much of the video pestering him, questioning whether he would lift off the throttle, mocking his confidence level, and even placing bets on whether he could keep the car pinned from launch to finish.
Stockman leaned fully into the chaos. He launched the car, stayed flat-footed through the entire pass, recorded the cleanest run among the guest drivers, and instantly emerged as the star of the session.
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