When Dale Earnhardt Jr. compares a grassroots event to the Cup Series of the 1980s, it carries a little more weight than routine praise. His connection with Cleetus McFarland has grown beyond their shared love of fast cars, too. In April 2025, ahead of McFarland’s first ARCA race at Talladega, Earnhardt took him around the 2.66-mile oval, showing him its tricky spots and sharing advice on qualifying and pit-road technique. That early vote of confidence now makes his latest assessment of McFarland’s racing all the more meaningful.

“When I watch this, I do see some flashbacks and qualities of mid-80s Cup racing. It’s the kind of action that sent us off the launch pad into the stratosphere back then. Stock Cars being delightfully stubborn. Drivers who are hell bent to will them to victory. If you look beyond the show, you might see what made racing ‘taxi cabs’ such a big deal decades ago,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. posted on X.

He did not just praise the entertainment value of Cleetus McFarland’s latest racing spectacle. Rather, he connected it to a period when stock car racing was building the identity that eventually made NASCAR a major American sport. His comments came in response to Kenny Wallace, who shared footage of the LeMullets action and suggested NASCAR would put its logo on this kind of racing, calling it the new Cup Series.

The comparison was a pointed one. The 2.4 Hours of LeMullets is hardly a conventional stock car event, but its rough-and-ready competition clearly reminded Earnhardt of something he believes modern racing should not lose.

The 2026 edition took place on November 13 at McFarland’s Freedom Factory in Bradenton, Florida. The 3/8-mile oval hosted a full-contact Crown Victoria endurance race, with teams of two sharing cars equipped with nitrous kits. Drivers had to survive an hour and a half of racing, including a mid-race driver change, around a layout featuring a tight backstretch chicane. The result was the kind of chaotic action the event has become known for.

McFarland and NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar emerged as the winners for the second consecutive year. Their victory came after a dramatic fight involving Ty Dillon, who was sharing his car with his father, Mike Dillon. Hocevar made a move on Dillon as the white flag came out, only for Dillon to return the favor entering Turn 1. The battle continued through the chicane, where Hocevar regained the advantage and held on to win. Denny Hamlin and Alex Presley finished third.

LeMullets has been held annually since 2020 and is part of the broader racing culture McFarland has built around the Freedom Factory. The event brings together NASCAR competitors, automotive creators and grassroots racers for a spectacle that prioritizes close contact and unpredictable action. It is a very different environment from a Cup Series race, but that does not mean the driving lacks intensity. That distinction is central to Earnhardt’s praise: beneath the spectacle, he sees drivers wrestling heavy stock cars and refusing to give up positions.

The event also arrives as McFarland prepares for a much bigger commitment to professional stock car racing. Richard Childress Racing confirmed in October that he will compete full-time in the 2027 ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet with Robert Strmiska as crew chief. It will be his first full season in the series and a major step in his effort to build the experience needed for higher levels of NASCAR competition.

McFarland has already sampled NASCAR’s national series in 2026. He made his O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut with RCR at Rockingham, finishing 32nd, before making another start at Nashville. He also made three Craftsman Truck Series starts with Niece Motorsports. His 2027 ARCA deal is confirmed, but no additional O’Reilly or Truck Series schedule has been announced.

Earnhardt has played a meaningful role in that journey. McFarland has made no secret of how much the NASCAR Hall of Famer’s experience and advice mean to him. Their connection became especially visible in April 2025, when Earnhardt helped prepare him for his first ARCA start at Talladega. He took McFarland around the 2.66-mile superspeedway, pointing out its bumps and quirks and demonstrating how to approach a qualifying lap. McFarland later spoke about how memorable it was to work with one of the sport’s biggest names.

That support has not meant automatic approval of every step McFarland wants to take. After watching his early 2026 O’Reilly starts, Earnhardt advised him to spend more time in ARCA and Late Models before moving into tougher assignments. He believes McFarland needs consistent seat time, not a rushed path to the top. It is the kind of honest guidance that makes his latest compliment stand out. Earnhardt is not simply celebrating a friend’s event; he is recognizing the racing qualities he wants the sport to preserve.

For McFarland, receiving that kind of endorsement from a driver he has long admired makes the moment even more meaningful. And for Earnhardt, the LeMullets spectacle offered a reminder that stock car racing does not need to look polished to capture what made it special in the first place.