Cleetus McFarland Is Over the Moon Despite Getting His “Bu** Kicked” on NOAPS debut

YouTuber turned racer Cleetus McFarland has shared his thoughts on his expectations meeting NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut.

Cleetus McFarland Is Over the Moon Despite Getting His “Bu** Kicked” on NOAPS debut

Cleetus McFarland (Via motorsport.com)

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Rockingham was special for Cleetus McFarland, as it marked his debut in the second division. He produced the race that was expected of him, finishing P32 in the RCR Chevy, without any major incidents. The weekend also saw him securing his career best finish in the ARCA East run (P4).

Talking to CW after the race, Cleetus McFarland admitted that he got his bu** kicked in the race with how significant the competitive gap was. He wanted to finish better, but asserted that they still met the expectations of them. The solid finish gives the driver the opportunity to prove his worth, and learn more about his limits.

O’Reilly, as predicted got my bu** kicked. But I finished the race. Our goal as a team was to finish the race and not get last. So, we did meet our goals. We did have higher expectations, or higher wants — I think we got to 26th for a minute and I was like so excited just to hear that that literally the next corner I went in and spun out because I was just going too danged fast for my own abilities.

Cleetus McFarland said post-race.

Further talking about the point, the YouTuber turned racer joked about getting involved in some close calls and driving in a pace beyond his current capabilities. Fortunately, his mistake didn’t hurt any of rivals and helped him to avoid being in the headlines, something all his supporters wanted for him.  

I mean I think I spun out 50 times, almost died 10 times. And overall I’m here with a car that’s not destroyed. I didn’t ruin anyone’s day, which was my main goal. I did want to stay out of the news more. You know, Dale Jr. said, ‘Please, stay out of the news.’ That was my goal. But several times I just overdrove the corner, and then the one time I lost it and caused a caution.

Cleetus McFarland added.

In the same conversation, the star racer also admitted that if he was able to avoid making some stupid mistakes, a top-20 finish was on the table for him. But him overestimating his skills and in tough moments ended up costing him big times. But these moments are important for a driver to learn race craft.

I think I could get top 20 if I just eliminated a few of my stupid mistakes. Let’s talk about one that was really dumb. What was it, lap 3? I went three-wide on the bottom. I don’t have enough skill for that. I don’t know what I was doing, but I was excited and I had a run on the guy. I’m like down to the bottom, then I lost it.

Cleetus McFarland asserted.

Cleetus McFarland gets the backing from Kyle Petty after Rockingham run

After the race, ex-racer Kyle Petty shared his thoughts on the YouTuber turned racer performance. He praised the driver for finishing the race despite challenges and not running any driver’s day. It was one of the good race’s he needed to shut up the haters.

Cleetus McFarland
Cleetus McFarland (Via wired.com)

I have to say, Cleetus did what he needed to do. He ran every lap. A lot of them were on the apron, I’m going to give him that. He got down on the apron a few times. But at the same time he didn’t tear anything up. He didn’t really get in anybody’s way, and that’s what he needed to do to shut up guys like me, to make me quit talking about him.

Kyle Petty said.

The comments from the veteran are on point about McFarland. He has now gained some positive mentum and needs to take advantage of it, to not only earn more racing opportunities but also fix his reputation. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the young racer in the coming days.

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