Who needs whom more between NASCAR and Cleetus McFarland? On one side, there’s NASCAR, which has a platform and has been trying to tap into a newer generation of audience for years. And on the other side, there’s McFarland, who wants a platform and has a massive audience. While a safe, idealist answer would be that both need each other, Kenny Wallace believes one of the two doesn’t need the other.

Kenny Wallace believes Cleetus McFarland can entertain fans

In a recently uploaded video on his YouTube channel, former NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace shared his thoughts on McFarland. He claimed to finally understand why the YouTuber turned racecar driver is ‘such a superstar’ now.

“It’s because there are so many people there from so many different areas in life. You got Travis Pastana. You got these guys that do this drifting. You got guys that are rally racers. It’s just not NASCAR fans. He puts on a show, and it doesn’t stop,” Wallace said.

The former NASCAR driver had recently taken part in the Freedom 500 at Freedom Factory, the racetrack owned and operated by Cleetus McFarland. The event also had motorsports legends like Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan in it as they put on a show for fans with things like burnout competitions, Crown Vic racing, and a ‘Van Prix.’

Wallace claimed that in a conversation with Bob Sergeant about the Freedom 500, they discussed how the crowd reacted to Dale Jr. making up places while running outside top 10 in the CARS Tour race at Nashville Fairgrounds. Wallace said that the way the crowd reacted to Earnhardt making up places, thinking he’s ‘passing for the lead’, is also the same at Cleetus McFarland’s Freedom Factory facility in Florida.

“Bob Sergeant says it best. They just want to be entertained,” Wallace mentioned. “That’s what Cleetus does. He entertains people. And that’s what I saw. It’s like it just never ends. So shout out to Cleetus and everybody that was down there.”

Having said that, Kenny Wallace made a big claim about Cleetus McFarland’s relationship with NASCAR.

“I think Cleetus wants to run NASCAR. I don’t think Cleetus needs NASCAR,” he said.

It’s worth looking at Wallace’s statement through the lens of fan following on social media. McFarland has close to a million followers on Instagram and over four million subscribers on YouTube. NASCAR’s official YouTube channel has less than two million subscribers on YouTube and over four million followers on Instagram.

Then there’s also the fact that McFarland has and continues to host sold out events like the Freedom 500 with superstar personalities which draws in the viewers and the revenue.

Therefore, it is safe to presume that Wallace’s statement of McFarland not needing but wanting NASCAR is true.

McFarland was denied by NASCAR to race in a marquee event

Irrespective of whether Cleetus McFarland wants or needs NASCAR, the reality is he is trying to find his footing in the sport. He started with ARCA Series, a Truck race earlier this year, got offered a deal with RCR for three O’Reilly races, had the first of those three at Rockingham, and tried to make the second O’Reilly race at Talladega.

However, NASCAR denied McFarland that chance solely based on the fact that he hadn’t shown enough progression.

As Steve O’Donnell said, “There’s some progression we need to see. Look, it’s a tough call. He’s a hugely popular driver. But these are the best drivers in the world, and we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got the right guys out there. There’s always controversy of who’s approved, who’s not approved, but I think it was the right call.”

To O’Donnell’s point, McFarland, despite his following and passion for racing, is still hugely inexperienced. He is someone who’s had less than 10 starts in the national series in total. So to let someone like him in a high risk race like Talladega could not only lead to problems for McFarland himself but to other drivers as well. Yet, it can’t also be denied that the day McFarland races in a marquee NASCAR race, the viewership of that race could potentially see a significant boost.

So it can be concluded that in some ways, NASCAR wants McFarland, but in some ways, the YouTuber wants NASCAR. The sweet spot would be a common meeting ground between the two where there is mutual benefit for the greater good.