YouTube star discovers NASCAR decision on letting | Sports News

YouTube star Cleetus McFarland, actual identify Lawrence Garrett Mitchell, has damaged ground by attaining what most YouTubers will not on this planet of skilled sports activities exterior of Jake and Logan Paul.

McFarland will attempt a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series begin at Daytona International Speedway in a decision that can decide whether or not die-hard and conventional racing followers settle for McFarland’s racing ambitions as content-driven or professional. It was introduced on Tuesday that he can be driving the No. 4 Chevrolet Truck for Niece Motorsports.

The approval got here after a profitable analysis check at Rockingham Speedway earlier, during which NASCAR officers decided he met the baseline necessities to compete on the national degree. While McFarland’s clearance permits him to enter the Fresh From Florida 250, he is not granted computerized entry into the race.

Forty-four vehicles are entered for less than 36 beginning positions, and McFarland has no proprietor factors from the 2025 season to fall back on. If he’s not fast enough in qualifying, he goes home together with eight different drivers hoping to enter the grid.

McFarland’s Niece Motorsports truck will characteristic a “Biffle font” quantity as a tribute to Greg Biffle, his former mentor, who was killed earlier this 12 months in a personal airplane crash in North Carolina. McFarland was one of the primary drivers to react to Biffle’s death publicly.

This just isn’t McFarland’s first publicity to skilled stock car racing. He ran 4 ARCA Menards Series races in 2025, together with a tough Daytona debut that ended after 17 laps in a crash. That expertise was adopted by a Tenth-place end at Talladega and a career-best ninth at Charlotte.

Those runs didn’t garner the eye of big-time groups like Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske, or Joe Gibbs Racing, however they dispelled the notion that he was merely cosplaying as a NASCAR racer. For a driver constructed within the Freedom Factory the place errors are half of the spectacle, Daytona gives no such margin.

McFarland bought the observe in 2017 and at the moment holds the “Cleetus McFarland Driving Experience,” the place he makes an attempt to provide NASCAR followers the identical type of familiarity NASCAR is giving him. The Freedom Factory and McFarland constructed 4 customized Ford Crown Victoria race vehicles outfitted with roll cages and racing seats, and allowed followers to run across the observe with a legitimate driver’s license.

They additionally offer driver orientation, tutorial racing classes, and the chance to buy an SD card that includes footage from cameras mounted inside the car. The venue is positioned in Bradenton, Florida, and likewise serves because the home of the city’s famend annual Bradenton Holiday Lights Festival.

If McFarland qualifies on pace, he’ll participate within the Fresh From Florida 250 on Feb thirteenth, simply earlier than the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series United Rentals 300 Daytona race on the next day, and the Cup Series Daytona 500 on Feb fifteenth.