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…
Occasionally, the victor in a motor race isn’t the driver who crosses the line first. Formula One recently took a victory away from George Russell in Belgium, but NASCAR has also taken its’ fair share of wins away. These are the most interesting instances when NASCAR took wins away from Cup Series drivers.
The first NASCAR Cup Series race featured the winner getting disqualified. For some context, this series was known as the “Strictly Stock” division at the time, and the original concept was cars unaltered from the showroom floor. This meant almost any major change to the car was strictly illegal as it went against the series’s original premise.
Glenn Dunaway’s rear springs were modified to make his car faster when hauling moonshine. NASCAR took the win away and awarded it to Jim Roper. This was Roper’s only career Cup Series win.
The 1959 Daytona 500 is famous for its’ photo finish, but fewer people know that the official winner was not the one who was declared the winner on the day of the race. After battling back and forth throughout the final run of the race, Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp finished the race side by side, and both drove to Victory Lane. Originally, NASCAR declared Beauchamp the winner, but Petty protested the result to NASCAR.
Over the next few days, photographers sent in photos of the finish. Finally, three days after the race officially concluded, NASCAR declared that Petty won the 1959 Daytona 500 by roughly one yard. Beauchamp never won at Daytona, and his career ended after a terrifying crash with Petty during a 1961 Daytona 500 qualifying race.
Later in the 1959 season, Lee Petty protested another result, his son Richard’s first win. At Lakewood Speedway, Richard Petty was originally given credit for the win. However, Lee protested the result, arguing that he had lapped Richard during the race.
NASCAR sided with the elder Petty, and Richard was credited with a second-place finish. Ultimately, this became little more than a footnote as Richard went on to win 200 races and seven Championships.
In 1971, NASCAR hosted a race with no winner, and while Nascarman dives into the full story in the video above, we will give the cliff notes version. In essence, NASCAR had trouble filling out the fields at some races, so they would allow cars from the lower Grand American division to compete in Cup Series, then known as Grand National, events. However, these cars had a significant advantage on short tracks, and Bobby Allison caught on to this.
He drove a Grand American car to the win at Bowman Gray Stadium, a car that wasn’t up to the same spec as Grand National cars. After the race, NASCAR did not credit Allison or second-place finisher Richard Petty with the win. To this day, Allison’s win total is 84, tied for fourth all-time with archrival Darrell Waltrip.
Throughout its modern era, NASCAR shied away from taking wins away from drivers for inspection failures, preferring instead to hand out points penalties, declaring wins “encumbered” or hefty fines. That changed in the late 2010s when NASCAR reinstituted the practice of taking wins away.
It finally came into effect at the Cup level in 2022 at Pocono, when the top two finishers, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, failed post-race inspection. As a result, Chase Elliott, the third-place finisher, was given the win. He never led a lap during the race, and it’s unclear if Hamlin ever returned the trophy or checkered flag.
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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…
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Lionel has officially opened pre-orders for Garrett Mitchell’s (better known as Cleetus McFarland) first-ever NASCAR diecast.
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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.
