"It's totally unnecessary": Cleetus McFarland sends clear message to fans targeting NASCAR driver after Daytona incident

Lawrence Garett Mitchell, popularly known as Cleetus McFarland, touched upon the recent criticism of fellow ARCA Menards Series driver Amber Balcaen. Speaking about this in his recent YouTube video on his channel 'Cleetus McFarland,' the popular social media star urged fans to stop sending hate to the other driver.

During McFarland's debut race in the ARCA Menards Series, he suffered a wreck after Balcaen lost control of her car and collected him. The wreck during the 2025 Ride the 'Dente 200' at the Daytona International Speedway also involved Kyle Steckly.

Following the crash, Balcaen started receiving staunch criticisms on social media as fans began to call out the driver from Canada. Pointing it out, McFarland stated that they should not cross the line and go out all with their criticism.

"Some people really cross the line in sending hate towards this other driver," McFarland said. "It's totally unnecessary okay. Her and I talked, it is what it is. We crashed and now we gotta just move on." (2:20 onwards)

"So some people like I said, cross the line, acting like this crash was just outrageous to happen. It does happen all the time in the sport. So we got to get used to that a little bit and we can't just be going crazy on other drivers if they cause an accident for me," he added. (3:13 onwards)

It was Cleetus McFarland's first-ever race in the ARCA Menards Series as he raced in the #30 entry for Rette Jones Racing. Prior to this, he also participated in the pre-season test for the series at the iconic track.

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Cleetus McFarland sums up his 2025 Daytona outing

Garrett Mitchell, aka Cleetus McFarland, shared his thoughts after the 2025 Ride the 'Dente 200' at the Daytona International Speedway. In his post-race video on YouTube, the popular YouTuber who has over 4.16 million subscribers on the Google-owned platform summed up his ARCA Menards experience.

Garrett Mitchell (#30 Kenetix Ford), aka Cleetus McFarland enters into the tri-oval during practice for the ARCA Menards Series Chilli's Ride the Dente 200 on February 14, 2025, at Daytona International Speedway - Source: Getty

Here's what he said:

"Man, it's been a lot of fun. We just had a good car and we were in great position, you were doing a great job on the racetrack. What a steward of listening to what everybody told him, I don't know how you can remember everything we have said."

Brenden Queen of Pinnacle Racing Group claimed the victory, ahead of William Sawalich of Joe Gibbs Racing and Jason Kitzmiller of CR7 Motorsports.