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…
NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr addressed Cleetus McFarland’s recent return to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series during the latest episode of his podcast The Dale Jr Download.
Cleetus McFarland’s second NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Nashville Superspeedway was far from what his loyal fanbase had hoped for.
The Richard Childress Racing driver, who goes down in the NASCAR record book by his real name, Garrett Mitchell, brought home his No. 33 in 35th, a small fall from his first career race at Rockingham, where he finished 32nd.
Mitchell, who is still earning his stripes with the backing of RCR and its driver development program, has made it no secret he has a lot to figure out at NASCAR’s second-highest level.
This weekend, the rookie had two noteworthy moments: getting loose in front of Jesse Love before going a lap down and spinning in turn three later on during that same lap.
While there are plenty of opinions on Mitchell’s progress as a driver, there are those who see the mistakes as a true part of the process, including NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.
During the latest episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr Download, Earnhardt was passive about Mitchell’s progress, saying that the 31-year-old made “a lot of mistakes” but saluted him for not being the story of the weekend by not making or breaking the weekend for one of his competitors.
“Well, it was a lot of mistakes. Listen, everybody in racing that gets into it is going to bust their ass underneath somebody. . . And so, you know, he’s getting pushed to try to get the lucky dog there when he spun out coming to the stage end. Jesse [Love] was trying his ass off to help him, waiting on him to either stay on the lead lap or pass this guy or whatever, which was kind of funny. But he’s out there running laps. . . I don’t think that he that he made or ruined anybody else’s race.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Still, despite complimenting him for staying out of the way, like many fans and online personalities in the NASCAR community, Earnhardt thinks more work in the sport’s lower divisions will go a long way toward helping Mitchell secure future OAP Series starts.
“I thought he did fine,” Earnhardt said. “My whole feeling about his deal is if he could get himself two full seasons or a couple years in ARCA, running all the ARCA races, all of them, short tracks everywhere, if he could go do that, I think he would be way better off to try to tackle this O’Reilly stuff.”
Mitchell’s quick ascent to the top levels of NASCAR is one of the more spirited debates this season.
After just five ARCA Menards Series starts and a lackluster Truck Series debut at Daytona in February, Mitchell signed a part-time developmental deal with RCR.
Initially, the deal was planned to see the Floridian work his way from Rockingham to Talladega Superspeedway. However, after his outing at The Rock, NASCAR officials still needed to see more of him on track and opted to limit the tracks he could race on.
This past weekend, NASCAR fans felt this ruling was justified; still, that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be out there racing in the OAP Series now and then, something that Earnhardt agrees with.
Still, the two-time Daytona 500 Champion added that these part-time starts will continue to be filled with struggles as Mitchell tries to figure out the new level.
“While I don’t mind him running the one-off O’Reilly race every now and then, I just think he’s gonna be frustrated,” Earnhardt said.
In particular, Earnhardt thinks this frustration will stem from small victories on track, leading him to realize that his RCR car should be running ahead of certain other drivers.
But, once again, Earnhardt thinks that any amount of seat time, be that in a Late Model or ARCA car, will go a long way towards on-track success for Mitchell.
“If he’s in it to have fun, run good, and still learn at the same rate, you could go do that in the ARCA series and then, he’s got a Pro Late Model that he built, he’s got a racetrack, I would be at that racetrack running laps,” Earnhardt said.
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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