Cleetus McFarland recently revealed a part-time deal with Richard Childress Racing that will see him compete in three races in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this season, with his debut set to come at Rockingham Speedway. Often seen as a driver with limited stock car experience, McFarland now has an opportunity to grow and sharpen his skills with the backing of an established team, something veteran NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin recently pointed out.

Denny Hamlin highlights how RCR could benefit Cleetus McFarland

In the recent Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin recalled how Kevin Harvick, a former NASCAR driver, mentioned a simulator in Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast. With this, Hamlin shed light on how McFarland can now use the simulator and gather more on-track experience.

“Well, and I heard Harvick actually brought up a decent point on this, that he is now, by signing this, going to have access to a simulator. So that might be because now he’s signed with a team that has one with a manufacturer that has one.”

Following this, Hamlin mentioned that even though racing on a track cannot be compared with racing in a simulator, it is still better than having no experience at all. Given how big a team Richard Childress Racing is, having several simulators is no big deal.

“So he potentially could get a lot more seat time now that he’s up high enough in the ranks,” Hamlin said. “So it’s nuts again; nothing still beats on-track experience, but this, you know, has it. Hopefully you’ll have some more simulator time with that.”

Notably, Cleetus McFarland recently signed with a team that has a dedicated ECR Engine optimization, especially built for providing race engines. As a result, it is expected that RCR will have a simulator ready for McFarland.

As per the agreement, McFarland, who goes by the real name Garrett Mitchell, will drive the #33 Chevrolet Camaro SS entry for them at Rockingham Speedway, a ride Kasey Kahne drove last year.

The next two races are lined up next year, and if the Rockingham race turns out well, one can expect the number of races to go up. NASCAR allowed McFarland to race in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series after the renowned social media star tested with the Chevrolet at Rockingham in February this year.

The YouTuber tested for O’Reilly Auto Parts days after his Craftsman Truck Series debut at Daytona. Despite having only a few races to his name, Cleetus McFarland now has both Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race approvals to his name, something Kyle Busch was not too happy about.

Kyle Busch called NASCAR out over Cleetus McFarland’s approval

Kyle Busch was not a happy man after NASCAR allowed Cleetus McFarland to run in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series this year. Speaking to Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, the Cup Series driver, who also drives for RCR, mentioned McFarland’s lack of race experience and put up the example of his son, Brexton Busch, who has more experience than him.

“I mean, he just, I don’t know,” Kyle Busch said. “I don’t know how many races he’s run. Denny Hamlin ran 10,000 before he got here, right? So, I don’t know if Cleetus has run 10 or not, but there’s definitely a need to have ample experience. My son has probably run more races than he has, and he’s 10 years old. You know what I mean? So, I don’t think that sits well with many of us.”

McFarland, who has over 4 million subscribers on YouTube, has always been a social media star before stepping out to race professionally. So far, he has six ARCA races and one NASCAR race to his name.

With that said, one would agree that McFarland’s fame might have given him an impetus for a NASCAR debut, which is not the case for a driver who has to come up through the ranks, such as CART, midget, dirt, ARCA, and then finally NASCAR.