Back when Cleetus McFarland was unable to finish the Daytona race in the Truck Series this year, Tommy Baldwin was highly critical of him. In his Door Bumper Clear podcast, Baldwin slammed McFarland and NASCAR, claiming he was not ready to race in O’Reilly after his RCR deal. Little did he know his words would come to haunt him quite soon.

Back then, Tommy had said, “The guy doesn’t even know the difference between a Pro Late Model and a Super Late Model; there are two different divisions, like, this is what you need to be driving. This is how you need to be starting; these are things you need to be doing.”

Fast forward to the present, his son, Luke Baldwin, was racing at the Martinsville Speedway in the O’Reilly Series. Just like McFarland, Luke Baldwin does not have a lot of experience racing in the national series. And the audience did not forgive him for his mistake.

They are calling out Baldwin in a similar manner and questioning his approval, echoing the same criticism that Tommy Baldwin used against Cleetus McFarland. Though it might not be Luke Baldwin’s fault entirely.

“Yeah. The brake pedal just kind of went to the floor while I was racing the 45 and just had nothing to slow me down there. So, yeah, I’m not sure what exactly it was, but that’s kind of just what happened.”

But the fans are having none of it at all. In their eyes, Baldwin’s son deserves the same treatment that was bestowed upon Cleetus McFarland after his wreck at Daytona.

NASCAR fans question Luke Baldwin’s approval

During the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Freddie Kraft was the first one to mention the approval process for Cleetus McFarland. As expected, one of the fans was there to tag him and ask him in a similar manner about Baldwin’s son. “Freddie Kraft W** is this approval process can’t even make it 50 laps at Martinsville.”

And just like that, a war broke out in the comments against Luke Baldwin. Nearly every viewer was comparing him to McFarland and calling out Tommy Baldwin for the same. “He ran out of talent. I think the approval process needs to be looked at. This is getting out of hand.” Just like Tommy Baldwin, the fans were targeting his son for his lack of experience.

“It’s because of the approval process. Can’t keep letting these nepo babies with no NASCAR experience in the top 3 divisions.”

Not only that, they are also raising questions about Baldwin getting his O’Reilly seat due to nepotism. “He made fewer laps than Cleetus. WHO approved him to run? Oh yeah, birthright NASCAR.”

Although some fans were concerned about his crash. Just like Baldwin mentioned in his interview, they felt like there was something wrong with his car. “Something had to break the way the car jumped; that was a hard hit. Glad he’s ok.”

One of the other users also tried to remind everyone of Luke Baldwin’s prior experience to try to defend his presence on the track. 

“People are making comments about the approval process as if he didn’t have a shot at a top 10 here in trucks last year and have several starts in the modifieds, with a few near wins. Ever since the Cleetus Daytona wreck, ‘approval process’ is the new hack, so stupid.”

For now, it doesn’t seem like the criticism is going away anytime soon. His father’s comments about another driver are a major factor in deciding the fans’ attitude towards him. While it may not be his fault entirely, Luke Baldwin can’t escape the trolls so easily. However, it is good that he was able to escape unscathed in a scary incident like this.