NASCAR Pumps The Brakes On Cleetus McFarland’s Talladega Ambitions

ROCKINGHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - APRIL 03: Cleetus McFarland, driver of the #33 Tommy's Express Car wash Chevrolet, looks on during practice for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black's Tire at Rockingham Speedway on April 03, 2026 in Rockingham, North Carolina. (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images) Getty Images The upward trajectory in NASCAR of Garrett Mitchell has hit a bit of a roadblock. For those who have not been paying attention, Mitchell is best known as “Cleetus McFarland” to his millions of YouTube subscribers.

Cleetus is his redneck alter ego, a character who built a following based on someone with no shirt sleeves, driving obnoxiously loud cars, who seems to scream ‘Mercia (cue the Bald Eagle cry here). He’s made a living by doing such things as turning a former oval track in Florida into the Freedom Factory USA where he stages races that feature ancient Crown Victoria’s and mullets waving in the humid breeze. This in addition to such events as the Florida Man Games.

It’s led to a brand funded by YouTube ad revenue, attracting young fans who cheer on all the antics. This all seemed to give Garrett Mitchell aka Cleetus, an idea that he wanted to race an actual stock car on a real track. He tried his hand at the lowest level, in the ARCA Menards series, which is owned by NASCAR.

Debuting last season, he complied a respectable record in that series, scoring two top 10 finishes one of those a 10 th place at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track, and a Redneck version of the Vatican in the heart of Alabama: prime habitat for Cleetus McFarland fans. After testing a NASCAR Truck at Rockingham Speedway, he entered the season opening NASCAR Truck series race at Daytona in February. He started 12 th but was swept up in a crash on lap 5 and finished 37 th .