Garrett Mitchell was standing on a tarmac in Sarasota on December 18, 2025, waiting. Greg Biffle and his family were supposed to land at any minute. Mitchell had a $10,000 Christmas gift ready, while Biffle was bringing racing pigeons as a surprise. Tragically, in news that shocked the NASCAR world, the plane never landed. With the loss still fresh, Garrett, better known as Cleetus McFarland among fans, sat down with Jeff Gluck to open up about the lingering grief and the coping habit he knows isn’t healthy.

“I struggle with not stopping to think about it,” Mitchell said on Gluck Cast. “Some people struggle because that’s all they can do — they stop and think about it. For me, I struggle with not stopping. I just keep going. That’s how I cope.”

Mitchell confirmed the news of his friend’s death before authorities did. Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina, their 14-year-old daughter Emma, their five-year-old son Ryder, and three others were killed when their Cessna Citation crashed at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina on December 18 last year. The aircraft went down while attempting to turn back in dense fog after its instruments reportedly failed.

Six months later, Mitchell, who has more than four million subscribers on his popular YouTube channel, signed a two-year deal with Richard Childress Racing to pilot the No. 33 Tommy’s Express Chevrolet for three races a year in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The base salary is $1, a deal that itself goes back to Biffle.

The former NASCAR champion spent his final year coaching Mitchell through his stock car journey, using his own industry connections to get him in front of the right people. RCR came and handed him the opportunity because Biffle made the calls.

Now, Mitchell is racing for a man who cannot watch him do it. And he is being honest about what that actually looks like day to day. He is not calling it healthy. He knows the difference. But he also knows who he is doing it for.

“I think about what Biff would want us to do,” Mitchell continued. “I definitely don’t think he’d want us to sit around and cry about it. Now it’s like — let’s go racing. Let’s keep the momentum alive.”

That is exactly what Mitchell has done. He launched the “Be Like Biff” movement, named after Biffle’s habit of dropping everything to give his kids or even a random fan ten minutes of his time. It is now a permanent sign-off in every video, and the No. 33 car carries it on the rear bumper. After the memorial in Charlotte, Mitchell organized a “Burnout for Biff” in Mooresville. Even before that, he released a 41-minute tribute video just days after the crash, documenting their entire friendship.

The mission Greg Biffle left unfinished was that he wanted to coach Mitchell to a Daytona 500 start. He had already done that for him through ARCA debuts at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, and Bristol. Mitchell went back to Daytona for 2026 preseason testing with one goal: to finish it himself.

Mitchell’s determination to carry on Biffle’s legacy becomes easier to understand when looking at the kind of person he was. Long before becoming a mentor to the YouTuber, Biffle had built a reputation as one of NASCAR’s fiercest competitors and one of its most respected figures away from the track.

The Man He Is Racing For- Greg Biffle

Biffle was one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers and the first driver ever to win championships in both the Craftsman Truck Series (2000) and the Xfinity Series (then the Busch Series, now the O’Reilly Series) in 2002. He made 515 Cup starts, won 19 races, and took the checkered flag at Daytona in his rookie season. His best shot at a Cup title came in 2005, when he won six races and finished second in the standings behind Tony Stewart.

Off the track, he ran his foundation for nearly 20 years, supporting no-kill animal shelters and veterinary clinics across the country. After Hurricane Helene, he flew his personal helicopter through mountain canyons from sunrise to sunset, delivering food, water, and Starlink terminals to families cut off from the outside world.

“It feels good to be able to get supplies and things in need to these people that need the help the most, that are still cut off,” Biffle said at the time.

Biffle also turned his property, including his front lawn, into a staging base for other pilots doing the same work. He used his popularity on social media to connect with more people willing to help during one of the most devastating hurricanes in recent times. For Mitchell, it was inspiring to witness, and their bond only deepened.

Mitchell and Biffle first met at a racing event in 2024, where the latter, as a Polaris ambassador, helped secure sponsorship for Mitchell’s YouTube channel. They stayed in touch, spoke at length about how much they cared for their families, and discovered a shared passion for flying helicopters and building Crown Victorias. Cruelly, a year and a half. That was all their friendship got.

“I’m sad about everything,” Mitchell said. “I’m just trying to keep my head up.”

Mitchell knows the grief is not going away anytime soon. Racing, making videos, and carrying the “Be Like Biff” message have become his way of honoring the friend who changed his life. Every lap in the No. 33 is a reminder of the dream they shared, one Mitchell is now determined to see through on his own.