UPDATE: Cleetus McFarland Will Race in the NASCAR O’Reilly Series This Year
What’s Happening? YouTube star-turned-NASCAR driver Garrett Mitchell, best known by his online persona Cleetus McFarland, has signed a part-time deal to…
NASCAR is unique from other sports in that fans are fans of a driver more than that driver’s race team. Jeff Gordon feels that teams should work at changing that as Toby Christie of Racing America reports.
I think we have a role as race teams to build our brand up, maybe not as much as the star power of the driver, but in a way where drivers — and we’ve seen this recently with Jimmie Johnson, Dale Jr., and myself, several big drivers that have huge fan followings stepped away from the sport, and I think it had a big impact on the sport. Because the fans seem to not have a connection to the team as strongly as they did to the driver.
Jeff Gordon in Racing America
What can race teams do to connect more with these fans as Jeff Gordon theorizes? How much would it help the sport if those connections could be made?
Before looking at potential solutions, it’s important to look at the situation as a whole. NASCAR has not been so much about the race teams during its entire existence. In the early days, it was about what kinds of cars were on the race track along with the drivers, but not the team owners.
As time went on, it became less about the cars and more about the drivers, but most of the drivers drove for single-car teams. As a result, if fans were to gravitate towards a race team, they were going to gravitate towards one driver anyway. On top of that, every competitor out on the race track is ultimately competing for themself.
Yes, you have teammates, but, only one driver gets the trophy, unlike other sports. As a result, it’s easier for fans to root for a driver on the track than the team he drives for. As a result, when that driver retires, fans may have a hard time investing in the sport like they once did.
The one they root for is no longer competing. It’s as if the Carolina Panthers just retired from the NFL and never competed in the sport again. Race teams have a hard time picking up that slack because fans are attached to the driver, not the race team.
Appeal to Home Fanbases
Not every race team could do this because most race teams are based out of the same area North Carolina. However, race teams that have bases in other parts of the country could work to build their brand with their home fans. Trackhouse is the most prominent race team that could do this as they have offices in Nashville, Tennessee.
They could try to promote their race team to the people of Nashville. Not just bring Ross Chastain or Daniel Suarez to an event, but bring all drivers to an event to present Nashville with their “NASCAR team”. Again, not everyone could do this with how many race teams there are in North Carolina, but, some teams could.
More Closely Color the Team Cars
There needs to be some distinguishing qualities between the cars on a race team, but maybe having the cars run similar paint schemes to each other could help more closely distinguish them. Now, this does depend largely on sponsors, but, whenever teams have a chance with drivers that have the same sponsor, they could give them similar elements to show they are a team car.
As it is now, every race car on the track tends to look completely different from the next, which makes it hard to distinguish which race teams are represented on the track. Now, this is not exactly practical given sponsor obligations and driver brands. However, if this could happen from time to time, it could help better attach fans to a team brand.
Promote the Owner’s Championship
As it stands now, the drivers Championship is the one Championship that fans largely pay attention to. If NASCAR could find a way to make the Owner’s Championship more appealing to fanbases, it could allow come to more attach themselves to race teams. Again, NASCAR would have to find a way to make this appeal to the fans and make it fair.
As we suggested below, maybe NASCAR can come up with some sort of an aggregate system to separate the Owner’s Points from the Driver’s Points somewhat. NASCAR needs to give the fans a reason to care about the Owner’s points to make this work, and it could allow some fans to watch for which teams are doing well rather than just an individual driver.
Could this actually happen? It’s tough to say just because of how long NASCAR has been about the drivers more than the race teams. It would take a lot for a change to be made in this direction, but NASCAR cannot go too far in one direction either.
If they go too far towards promoting the race teams over the drivers, then the drivers lose their star power, which is why a lot of people watch in the first place. Maybe there can be some promotion done by the race teams to better connect with fans, but, they would have to be careful.
Garrett Mitchell, better known by his online persona Cleetus McFarland, says his 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series schedule isn’t set in stone, something the YouTube star explained to Dale Earnhardt Jr on the latest episode of The Dale Jr Download.
One of the biggest surprises in recent NASCAR news is that YouTube star Cleetus McFarland, whose real name is Garrett Mitchell, will make his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut next month at Rockingham Speedway.
Mitchell, who has just won a NASCAR National Series start to his name, will make this start with Richard Childress Racing in their No. 33 car as part of a part-time development contract that will see him make starts in 2026 and 2027.
Per Mitchell, his contract will cover three races per season, though he hinted it could be more in a Facebook post. Nonetheless, fans are eagerly awaiting an official schedule of what other tracks Mitchell and RCR will tackle in 2026.
Unfortunately, fans will have to wait a little longer for this schedule, as the 30-year-old Floridian explained during a recent interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr, his 2026 schedule is still up in the air a month ahead of his first race.
During an interview on the latest episode of the Dale Jr Download, Mitchell told Earnhardt that while he plans to race the superspeedways after Rockingham, with his sights set on Talladega’s April 25 or October 24 race weekend, the decision lies in the hands of NASCAR.
“NASCAR said I cannot run Talladega unless I go to Rockingham first and do well,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell then clarified that while he will have a rookie test for Rockingham, the race at Rockingham will determine his eligibility to race at Talladega.
What’s Happening? YouTube star-turned-NASCAR driver Garrett Mitchell, best known by his online persona Cleetus McFarland, has signed a part-time deal to…
Mitchell, who has two ARCA starts at Daytona and one at Talladega, has already taken a rookie test this season at Rockingham for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Despite a minor crash during this test, Mitchell was cleared to race in the season-opening race at Daytona, crashing himself in a single truck spin five laps into the race, after a valiant qualifying effort.
Even with the barrier of Rockingham in the way, fans are already somewhat concerned about McFarland’s skills, given the result of his short time behind the wheel of a truck.
During this episode of The DJD, Mitchell expressed his intentions to work his way up the ladder and learn, but with the caveat that if an opportunity presents itself to him, he will take it, using the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series as a metaphorical example.
“I don’t want to drive a Cup car right now. But, brother, if someone calls me and says, ‘We got a spot in a Cup car in the Daytona 500?’ I mean, what am I supposed to do?” — Cleetus McFarland
Despite his doubters, with the support of RCR and their developmental tools, Mitchell seems confident about the opportunity, already getting in some sim time with RCR.
Either way, no matter how much support he has in his corner, Mitchell is diving in headfirst once again with this opportunity.
What’s Happening? Despite his internet fame, Garrett Mitchell, by his screen name Cleetus McFarland, has recently taken to stock car racing…
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Lionel has officially opened pre-orders for Garrett Mitchell’s (better known as Cleetus McFarland) first-ever NASCAR diecast.
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
YouTube star-turned-NASCAR driver Garrett Mitchell, best known by his online persona Cleetus McFarland, has signed a part-time deal to race with Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series for the next two seasons.
UPDATE 3:00 PM EST: Per RCR Mitchell will make his debut at Rockingham Speedway on April 4.
What’s Happening? Despite his internet fame, Garrett Mitchell, by his screen name Cleetus McFarland, has recently taken to stock car racing…
What do you think about this? Let us know your opinion on Discord or X. Don’t forget that you can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
