YouTube star, Cleetus McFarland returned to ARCA racing action this week as the series took on the Last Great Colliseum of Bristol Motor Speedway. Unlike many of the other tracks where he made his stockcar racing debut this year, McFarland has competed at BMS in the past, granted that was when the surface was covered in dirt. In 2022, he made two starts at the venue in the Stadium Super Trucks Series, where he finished 12th and 3rd, respectively.
This marked only the fourth start of the year for McFarland in the ARCA Menards Series. He ran first the season-opening race at Daytona back in February. In that race, McFarland was running in the bottom half of the top 10 when he was caught up in a multi-car incident not of his making. He followed that up with another superspeedway start at Talladega. At ‘Dega, he scored his first top 10 of 10th. A few weeks later, he competed in the event at Charlotte, where he scored a 9th-place finish. Bristol was a questionable pick for his next race as it has proven to be a very difficult track for young, inexperienced drivers. However, with Greg Biffle acting as his driving coach in the pit box, he was hoping to make some noise in Thunder Valley.
Ride along with Cleetus tonight at @ItsBristolBaby!
Watch now: https://t.co/nTr6gLOLOD pic.twitter.com/IDyMCdcbkz— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) September 11, 2025
Cleetus McFarland started this evening’s race in the 20th position. And, considering the nature of BMS and the ARCA Menards Series, it didn’t take him long to fall behind. By the halfway break, McFarland was running 18th and was two laps off the pace of the leaders. By the 50 laps to go mark, he was running 17th, three laps down. As the field took 25 laps to go, he was able to get around for the 16th position. However, two laps later, he had a right front tire go down. Feeling the tire coming out from under him, he slowed the car down and made modest but not catastrophic contact with the outside wall.
After the incident, he quickly shot down pit road. The incident did not draw a caution. His team changed his tires and made small repairs before McFarland rejoined the race, 7 laps down. He went on to finish in the 19th position, his first-career running finish outside of the top 10.
Tricon Garage driver, Brent Crews, drove the JGR No. 18 Mobil 1 Toyota in tonight’s ARCA Menards Series race at Bristol. Crews started the race on the pole and led the whole way, leading all 200 laps. Following a late-race caution involving Timmy Hill, Brent Crews got a great restart in overtime. He went on to win the race. It was the 50th career win for JGR in ARCA.
Heading into tonight’s race, Butterbean Queen had a 42-point advantage over Lavar Scott for the ARCA points race. Thus far, he has scored six wins on the year and ran solidly in the top 5 all night long. However, the No. 28 Chevy was just no match for the JGR No. 18. Nevertheless, Queen remained the head and shoulders above the favorite for the 2025 ARCA Menards Series Championship. He ran 2nd for most of tonight’s race before a big slide in the second half of the race cost him a couple of spots, as he fell down to 4th. On the final restart, he managed to climb back up to 3rd, where he finished.
That does it for ARCA action at Bristol! What did you think of the race? How about Cleetus McFarland’s performance tonight? Let us know your thoughts! And don’t go anywhere! We’re only halfway through this Thursday Night Double Header at Bristol. Up next: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff action!
