NASCAR influencer “glad to see” YouTuber Cleetus McFarland’s future racing plans

Renowned NASCAR influencer, Taylor Kitchen opened up about Cleetus McFarland's recent involvement in the ARCA Menards Series. Through her recent social media post, Kitchen revealed that McFarland's addition has helped the ARCA Racing Series get more recognition, and she was glad that the latter has decided to continue racing in the series.

Kitchen, who is well known for the Above The Yellow Line podcast, took to her official X account, to share a post on McFarland. The post by Racing America on X was about McFarland's confirmation of racing in the ARCA Menards Series in the future. She quote-tweeted the post and wrote:

"With ARCA receiving some of its best viewership ratings in over a decade, the "Cleetus Effect" cannot be denied. Glad to see he has plans to race again at the ARCA level."

Cleetus McFarland or Lawrence Garett Mitchell, a popular YouTuber and part-time racing driver, made his debut in the ARCA Menards Series last weekend. He raced at the 2025 Ride the 'Dente 200 that took place at the Daytona International Speedway.

ARCA Menards Series, the feeder series to NASCAR, usually has lesser viewership compared to the top three national series races — the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the Truck Series. However, McFarland's recent addition improved the scenario drastically.

As per Fox Sports journalist Kaitlyn Vincie, Cleetus McFarland's debut race's post-race spot in the ARCA Series received a huge viewership of about 5.8 million. That too when the popular YouTuber, who has over 4.16 million subscribers finished the race in 30th place after suffering a wreck.

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Cleetus McFarland urged fans to stop sending "unnecessary" hate to fellow driver

There was massive anticipation surrounding Cleetus McFarland's debut race in the ARCA Menards Series. Even though he started the race on a decent note, his race was undone after fellow ARCA Menards driver Amber Balcaen collected him. Balcaen lost control of his car and collided with McFarland and Kyle Steckley.

ARCA Series driver Garrett Mitchell (30), driver Kyle Steckly (29) and driver Amber Balcaen (70) wreck during Ride the ‘Dente 200 at Daytona International Speedway. - Source: Imagn

Following the wreck, fans took to social media to criticize Amber Balcaen heavily. The 29-year-old driver from Nebraska noticed the criticisms and asked fans to stop sending hate to Balcaen on the internet.

"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."

"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.

Cleetus McFarland raced for Rette Jones Racing and drove the #30 entry. He also tested for RJR in the pre-season test prior to the Daytona race at the Daytona International Speedway. Brenden Queen of Pinnacle Racing Group claimed the Ride the 'Dente 200 victory. William Sawalich of Joe Gibbs Racing and Jason Kitzmiller of CR7 Motorsports finished the race in second and third places, respectively.