“That’s what Cleetus does; he entertains people,” said Kenny Wallace of Cleetus McFarland, the YouTuber-turned-NASCAR driver. McFarland, who has his supporters and his doubters, has quickly climbed the ladder of stock car racing based on his massive fan following, his personality, and his eagerness to get better at his craft. During the ARCA race at Talladega, all three of those things were on display.

Cleetus McFarland came on the verge of making his words come true at Talladega

While Cleetus McFarland may not have won in the ARCA race at Talladega, he surely won over the fans with an iconic moment in his post-race interview. Despite a second-place finish, McFarland emphasized that the race on Saturday was his best experience behind the wheel of a race car so far.

McFarland having fun in the ARCA Series was something he touched on following Rockingham as well. “I love ARCA, I’m like ARCA’s No. 1 fan. It’s so fun, we don’t have to be rushed through our pit stops, and the competition is relatively easy for me to keep up with right now,” he told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

“Honestly, probably the most fun I’ve ever had with clothes on. It was freaking insane. Talladega!” he exclaimed in a post-race interview.

To his point, his previous race, his O’Reilly Series debut at Rockingham, finished with a disappointing 32nd-place finish. But in the ARCA race at the same track on the same day, he came home with a top-5 finish.

But while he had ‘the most fun’ in the ARCA race at Talladega, it could’ve turned out to be the biggest moment of his racing career so far. At one point during the race, the YouTuber told the FOX booth, “Brother, I am winning this thing. Mark my words, I am winning this race for Biff.”

His claim was not without reason. During the race, Cleetus McFarland found himself at the front of the pack, leading the race at one point.

Coming to the finish line, McFarland was fighting for the win with Gus Dean. However, it was Andy Jankowiak who took advantage of that battle for his first ARCA win in his 48th start, ensuring McFarland missed out on his first win by a margin of 0.111 seconds.

“Looking at that, I feel like I needed to back up a smidge. I left the No. 71 (Jankowiak), I’m pretty sure. I tried to go down. I didn’t have enough room, we started beating each other up, and then Andy passed us, got the W. Congrats to him,” McFarland said after the race.

But while the fun and competitive side of McFarland’s personality was on full display after the race, he also had a touching moment of realization, which made him emotional.

McFarland was left feeling emotional by the fans at Talladega

Following the ARCA race, Jeff Gluck remarked to Cleetus McFarland that he had ’emotion’ in his voice when he first got the lead during the race. McFarland admitted that he got ‘a smidge emotional’ simply over the realization that he was at the front of the pack and the visuals he saw from his windshield in the stands.

“I know a lot of people are supporting me, and I just saw some guys with their sleeves cut off in the crowd. And I was like, man, I’m so lucky, dude. I’m doing this obviously a lot differently than everybody else, where I’m coming with this huge following and trying to learn on the fly,” he described.

There’s no denying that McFarland’s route into NASCAR has been an unconventional and quite controversial one. Following a disappointing Daytona Truck race and a handful of ARCA races, he signed a deal with RCR for three O’Reilly Series races.

This left a lot of fans and insiders questioning NASCAR for approving the YouTuber solely based on his lack of experience and ‘nothing to show for it’ situation he was in. But just like he had his doubters, he also had his supporters, one of whom was Richard Childress, who simply claimed that his doubters were ‘jealous’. 

It’s also worth mentioning that his huge following of millions is a big factor for the teams and for the whole sport to induct him into the sport. But at the same time, NASCAR isn’t rushing with McFarland. He was denied approval for the O’Reilly race at Talladega because of his lack of experience at superspeedway racing.

McFarland also admitted that there are weekends when he performs ‘really terribly.’ But despite that, he has his fans who show up for him, as they did at Talladega.

And while he can put on a show for them and entertain them, in the ARCA race, he also proved that he’s beyond a showman and an entertainer, that he is a race car driver who is learning and getting better at his craft while also having fun at it.