“I was riding a horse”: Cleetus McFarland reflects on his top 10 finish in ARCA race at Talladega

Garrett Mitchell, popularly known as Cleetus McFarland, shared his thoughts after he finished the ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega on Saturday in 10th place. McFarland, a YouTuber turned driver, took to the track for the second time this season after his first race at Daytona International Speedway earlier this season.

ARCA Menards Series hosted the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 26, where Lawless Alan claimed the victory ahead of Thad Moffitt and Isabella Robusto. McFarland, who was running in 10th place till the last lap, capitalized on the last-lap wreck and finished the race in the Top 10.

Following the race, McFarland spoke to the media and shared his thoughts in the post-race interview. He said:

"I'm telling you, they're getting on radio like 'keep your momentum' and I'm like, 'brother, this sucker is wide open.' You know what I'm saying? So we fell out of the draft and dude, it felt like I was riding a horse out there. You know what I mean? Everyone is blowing by me. And thankfully, a caution came out. We stayed on the lead lap.

"They come on the radio, Kevin Hamlin -- shoutout to my boy, but he's saying, 'brother, you cannot get out of the draft.' And they just start telling me stuff. I'm using knowledge from the Biff-meister [Greg Biffle]. He taught me everything I know. I got out there, read the air with the dog we had and stayed in there," he further added.

Thanks to his immense popularity, he was able to pull over 70,000 viewers in the ARCA Menards Series race, which itself is a record. As per statistics, McFarland pulled the aforementioned numbers from his in-car camera on NASCAR's YouTube channel.

---

Max Papis hailed Cleetus McFarland over his Talladega drive: "A badass racecar driver"

Max Papis, the renowned Italian race car driver, praised Cleetus McFarland after his valiant Talladega Superspeedway race on Saturday. Despite the issues with the valve during the General Tire 200 ARCA race, McFraland pulled off a Top 10 finish.

ARCA Series driver Cleetus McFarland (30) comes out of turn four during the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway - Source: Imagn

“He’s just a badass racecar driver, that he fakes to be a YouTuber,” Papis told the Frontstretch about Cleetus McFarland. “I don’t think he’s the opposite. … He’s an amazing person outside the car, inside the car. … Just wanted to give him my support and my love.”

As of April 2025, McFarland has over 4.28 million subscribers on the popular streaming platform, YouTube, and his latest video on the Google-owned platform was about the Talladega Superspeedway race, which amassed over 430,000 views in just five hours!