After an eventful debut at Rockingham, marred by multiple spins and slides, Cleetus McFarland arrived at Nashville Superspeedway looking for redemption at the secondary level of NASCAR. He was one-month removed from a fantastic ARCA showing at Talladega, where he finished second and nearly won in a dramatic finish.
The popular YouTuber’s NASCAR journey now took him to Music City, where he started last after qualifying got rained out. Once again, he was driving the No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in his second NASCAR O’Reilly start.
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Starting 38th, he steadily marched forward in the first run, and got as high as 29th. His RCR teammate Jesse Love ran him down near the end of the first stage, but tried not to put him a lap down as he enjoyed a big lead out front. He even helped push Cleetus by another car to reach P29 on track.
Battle for the free pass and splitter damage
After a twitch from the No. 33 Chevrolet, Love drove by, leaving Cleetus to fight Logan Bearden in an effort to be the first car one lap down at the end of the stage, and earn the free pass back onto the lead lap. Entering the final corner on the last lap of the stage, Cleetus got loose underneath Bearden and spun sideways, looping it through the grass.
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Not only did he miss out on a chance to get back on the lead lap, he fell back to 36th and caused minor damage to the sensitive splitter on the front of the car.
He fell a second lap down in Stage 2, ending it in 35th place and complaining about the worsening handling on the car. The team went to work on the bent-up splitter, trying to help give him some pace back.
“All it takes is one effing spin,” said Cleetus on the radio.
Another spin and pit road penalties
Cleetus McFarland, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Cleetus McFarland, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
As the race progressed, Cleetus clawed his way back up to 30th, now three laps down. Ahead of him was his first-ever green-flag pit stop at this level of racing. He nailed the pit entry, but during the stop, he came off the jack and dragged it out of the pit box. He stopped quickly at the direction of the crew chief, and the team was able to retrieve the jack, but that was still a penalty as he removed equipment from the box.
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That’s when things really began to spiral. While attempting to serve his penalty, Cleetus spun out at the entrance of pit road, and got another pass-through penalty for a commitment line violation.
After back-to-back penalties, he soldiered home in 35th place, six laps down.
Post-race radio debrief
At the checkered flag, he and the team had a brief debrief over the radio. Cleetus had Mike Dillon as his spotter and Robert Strmiska calling the shots as the crew chief.
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“Well I made a lot more mistakes than I wanted to,” radioed Cleetus. “I really screwed us spinning out. I wasn’t expecting him to suck the air off my car so bad and I lost it.”
The team applauded him for learning a lot, and praised him for improving his overtaking ability.
“Thank you guys, I apologize for the mistakes. I’m learning so much, and I know it’s at the mercy of your guys hard work.”
Cleetus then asserted that he is not discouraged, telling those watching along via his onboard camera: “I ain’t gonna give up, I’m gonna figure this out.”
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His next race is just a few days away, returning to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the first time since February’s season-opener at Daytona. He will drive the No. 4 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado on June 6 at Michigan International Speedway — a large, high-speed two-mile oval. It will be the biggest non-superspeedway oval he has ever raced on.
Read Also:
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Cleetus McFarland to make NASCAR Truck return at Michigan
Cleetus McFarland and Squirrel McNutt Shake and Bake at ARCA Talladega
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