Has NASCAR finally found the answer to bringing back the good old days? And if the answer is getting names like Cleetus McFarland and Squirrel McNutt inside the racecars, is it worth the backlash from big names inside the sport? Irrespective of the answer, the numbers don’t lie, and the numbers favor the two YouTubers.

Cleetus McFarland and sidekick key to NASCAR restoring its glory?

The ARCA East race at Hickory pulled the largest ever number in its history with a total of 175,000 viewers. While nothing remarkable happened in or before the race, the participation of one driver was something notable, which journalist Jeff Gluck also highlighted.

“NASCAR says this was the biggest ARCA East/K&N East audience in the last decade and traffic to the NASCAR Channel was double its usual daily average. You’d certainly have to think this was a lot due to Cleetus sidekick Squirrel McNutt (George Siciliano) making his debut,” Gluck wrote.

McNutt is a regular character in McFarland’s YouTube videos. In fact, Cleetus McFarland is all set to make his much-anticipated O’Reilly debut this weekend at Rockingham. And many believe that McFarland could be the one who ushers in a new era of fans to bring back the old era.

Ever since the era of Dale Earnhardt passed, NASCAR has been trying to tap into the cultural zeitgeist. Back in the 1990s, the sport was huge because of the huge personalities like Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Over time, the personalities lessened and so did their weight and pull. But in the last decade, the weight and the pull were nowhere close to what they once were. Since then, the sport has been trying to get back to its glory days of high ratings and high viewership.

NASCAR has tried everything, from a new car to a varied schedule, to inventive forms of marketing to going back to historic tracks, to testing grounds on new tracks. However, the key seems to be getting names like Cleetus McFarland, who is watched and loved by millions, and bringing his viewership to NASCAR.

One of the big names who believes in that theory is none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. The Hall of Famer claimed on his podcast that he wants McFarland racing in NASCAR and bringing his followers to the sport. It’s worth mentioning that McFarland currently has over 4 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. NASCAR has less than 2 million. He has over 900,000 followers on Instagram. Chase Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, has less than 500,000.

But while many are excited about the idea of getting McFarland in NASCAR, there are many who are cautious as well. Kyle Busch was very vocal about his lack of experience as a racecar driver in a stock car with regard to NASCAR giving him the approval to race in the O’Reilly Series. The approval system was something Brad Keselowski also called out.

Freddie Kraft was particular in his criticism of McFarland as a racecar driver, circling his Truck appearance at Daytona, and the early crash, which could’ve wiped out the whole field.

But despite all the criticism, Cleetus McFarland is unfazed.

McFarland isn’t going anywhere for the next 2 years from NASCAR

Cleetus McFarland recently addressed the backlash he has gotten since the announcement of his RCR deal. McFarland would run three races for the organization in the O’Reilly Series, the first of which would be at Rockingham.

He claimed that being a YouTuber has prepared him enough to deal with criticism. McFarland stated that anyone who would’ve gotten a chance to drive for RCR would’ve taken it, especially when NASCAR is letting him do it.

“I’m here, and no one can save me but myself at this point. Once I get on that track on Saturday, it’s up to me. So, they can complain as much as they’d like, but it’s happening, and it’s for two years. So they better buckle up.”

With that said, it’ll be interesting to see how McFarland fares in his O’Reilly debut and whether he brings in the same level of viewership increase as his sidekick did in the ARCA race.