After a top five finish in the ARCA East Series at Rockingham, popular YouTuber Cleetus McFarland (Garrett Mitchell) made his sixth career start at the national level of ARCA on Saturday.
After starting 25th when inclement weather rained out qualifying, he quickly marched through the field at Kansas Soeedway. He moved up eleven positions in the first five laps, and was running 11th by the halfway break.
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He continued to make progress, reaching as high as seventh after a three-wide pass on a mid-race restart. However, he soon began to fade, and that’s because the engine was going sour.
With about 25 laps to go, the engine let go in a plume of white smoke and dumped oil all over the frontstretch. Andy Jankowiak and Isabella Robusto were running right behind him and crashed in the oil, spinning and slamming the wall.
Despite the engine failure, Cleetus managed to keep the car in one piece as he slid sideways in his own oil through Turns 1 and 2 without ever losing control. He then stopped the car and while hopeful he could somehow continue, his race was clearly over.
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ARCA officials displayed a red flag and halted the race to cleanup oil from the incident. Cleetus ultimately finished 20th, recording his second DNF in six ARCA starts.
“Did you see that drift through the entire Turn 1 and 2?” said Cleetus outside the infield care center, joined by NASCAR Cup driver Carson Hocevar. “That was awesome, I’m looking forward to seeing that highlight reel of the Baldeagle.com No. 30. Overall, I had a blast. I made it 75 laps though, so that’s pretty food. If we had blown the motor at 50, I probably would have shed a tear. But I made it through 75% of the race, so I’ll call it a win.”
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Friend and fellow content creator George Siciliano (aka as Squirrel McNut) was still in the race, representing the Freedom Factory. He was making his first start in the main ARCA division after two previous stars in the ARCA East Series. He finished 12th, one lap down.
Both Cleetus and Squirrel will return for next weekend’s ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.
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