Cleetus McFarland Gets Racing Advice from Dale Jr.

It's one of those things.

I think being a YouTuber for so long, I've had everything in the world set about me.

People can say whatever they want, but when I keep coming back every time and they realize

that their words don't affect me time and time again, they're going to run out of breath.

As long as I'm having fun, I'm going to keep showing up at these NASCAR races.

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Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr.

download in the Arby's studio.

Don't forget about Arby's new meet and three box.

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We also have a great guest for you today, Cletus McFarlane's coming back to the studio.

You know, Cletus wasn't here too long ago, but lots happened in his life since then,

and he's continuing to dive headfirst into driving race cars and trying to be a part

of the ARCA NASCAR ecosystem.

And he's got a big announcement for us today.

And so he called me about a month ago or so, maybe more, and said, hey, I got

this opportunity.

What should I do?

Really, really, you know, vetting this out.

Is this something I should do?

Are you sure?

Called me about three or four weeks later.

Man, they want me to sign this deal.

You still think I should do it?

Well, he's here to announce what he's going to do.

I'm excited about it.

You know, we saw things didn't go exactly as planned in the truck race at Daytona.

Got out there in the ARCA race the next day and had a decent run.

And he's going to take on more ARCA races.

Maybe another truck racer, too.

He's going to do more racing this year.

He's told me that he might be getting a short track car to run somewhere.

I encourage him to get behind the wheel as often as possible, and he's going to come

here to talk about the day.

Let's get started.

Let's get this guy in the room and see what the breaking news is today.

It's cool if I put my sponsor hat on the table.

Yeah, of course.

What is your sponsor?

Yeah, I just seen that.

What is it?

That's car wash.

Let's see.

Check that out, man.

So, this deal.

There we are.

Yeah, this deal.

Let's talk about this deal.

You got the hat on.

Rocking the hat.

Little bit of a giveaway.

I know.

The RCR hat.

So, let's just get the cat out of the bag, man.

You're here to make an announcement.

You're here to tell the world about some great news.

Yeah.

Got some really exciting news, which you knew about maybe a month ago.

Yeah.

RCR called me up, offered me a ride in their Rally's car for three or four races a year

for two years.

Yeah.

It's pretty unbelievable to me, and I'm just so thankful and excited.

And like I said, we got a sponsor in a day, and now I'm assigned a paid driver.

Wow.

Got a $1 salary.

That's awesome.

So, for Richard Childress Racing.

A $1 salary.

Yeah.

I'm just so excited.

It doesn't even sound real coming out of my mouth still.

I'm like blown away.

Yeah.

So, this is a great opportunity, and we're going to dive into what you've experienced

since the last time you were on the show and all the racing you're doing, and your

life has completely changed.

Yeah.

And so, a lot of your life is still the same, but there's some new things.

But the opportunity to race with RCR, I think, is a very good one.

I asked you.

You're the first person I talked to when they first got a hold of me, and you said, absolutely.

That's something you got to do.

And even after my trials and tribulations in Daytona, when I was a little scared at

that point, when I called you on that Monday, I was like, am I jumping the gun or a text

to you?

I said, am I jumping the gun?

I got to sign this contract.

They're asking me to sign it, and so that was a lot to take in.

Yeah, of course.

I mean, this is the whole thing, man.

Your pathway into all of this is absolutely unusual and unorthodox.

But I think about like, you know, it's not precedented.

It's not it's not it's not the first time that it's ever happened this way.

Kyle Petty, you know, one of his very first races was at Daytona in the

Arca series, which he would go out there and win.

And Richard Petty, the king of NASCAR, right?

He is the king of NASCAR, the all-knowing being of NASCAR, right?

And he's sitting there going, yeah, you don't need to mess around with this and

that and the other.

We're going to put you right in there.

And if you're going to race cup, you might as well drive cup cars and get

right in there and do it.

Now, that was 50, you know, so years ago.

But, you know, the idea that there's only one way in is not correct.

You are trying to become a race car driver at a late point in your

life. Yeah.

I'm a YouTuber trying to become a race car driver.

Yeah.

And you know that, right?

And so if that is what you want to do, the best way for you to do that is get

around people that can actually give you the preparation and the tools.

And that's why I like this thing with RCR.

So you can, you know, you can run some arca races, which you should still try

to do and we're going to do that.

We're going to dive all into that.

You got a lot of you got a lot of things you want to try to achieve to

continue to give yourself time behind the wheel, but getting better behind the

wheel, it takes experience, but it also takes some people telling you people

helping you, people willing to be in your ear.

You had that with Greg Biffle, right?

You had somebody that was a mentor or somebody that was always going to be

telling you the right thing to do and what to be focusing on in that

moment when you're making mistakes, how to fix them.

You had that and I think you'll have that with RCR.

And that's why they're, I think that they're kind of aligned in, in terms

of how you'll fit the person you are, the individual you are, but they have,

they have all of the tools to be able to make you a race car driver faster.

Yeah, which is what we got to do.

We got to do that's right.

They, you know, yesterday we sat in a room with a simulator, you know,

and I'm just on there and there is like five people, you know, working on it,

talking to me, giving me data and like just the amount of time I was able

to improve the laps was so much shorter than if I sat on my own simulator

doing it by yourself for hours.

And that's kind of, it was, and that's the difference.

Yeah, that's the difference.

If you're racing in the arca car, right?

You go run the arca car and I know there's people there to try and help

you, but this RCR deal, they are going to.

Totally, they're going to be there for me.

Overload you with like all of the tools to try to prep you.

They don't want this to fail, right?

They want this, they absolutely want this to succeed.

So they're going to try to do everything they can.

Yeah, the arca car, you know, I was trying to explain it on my channel

yesterday, you know, they give me a great car.

That's their goals to give me a great car and put me out there.

But really beyond that and beyond what Greg has taught me, Biff,

I just, it's all on me at that point.

And I don't train or do anything.

I mean, when I was in that truck, right?

That was my second race ever at Daytona, the first time I crashed in 17 laps.

So that was like close to my 20th lap every there.

And, uh, you know, so I didn't have, I'm just such a rookie.

And I think, uh, I've created an expectation to my followers too,

that like, I'm going to go do this and it's going to be amazing.

And sometimes it just isn't, you know, and like, I, it was a tough day for me, man.

I mean, I got literally chewed up and spit out by those guys,

which was a humbling experience, but I'm so excited.

Man, going through our CR yesterday, the amount of tools and equipment

they have to, uh, help me versus just the car is significantly different.

Like the arca guys, that's great.

They help the car.

They make the car as good as it can be.

They help me a little bit RCR.

I feel like there's a lot more opportunity for me to grow as a driver too.

And when they called me, you know, they, they kind of said,

we want to help you become the driver we think you can be.

And that, I don't know, that just is really exciting to me to get that.

It feels crazy that they would want to do that.

Yeah, for sure.

I, you know, I, I know, I think about the things that you do,

um, that are applicable.

So in, in the, in the years that I've been around this sport, we've had,

you know, uh, motorcycle racers, uh, come in and ask car.

We've had, we've had people from different disciplines

that are driving vehicles of different kinds, two wheel, four wheel,

stadium trucks, whatever, Baja, they, they come from all types of disciplines

and each one of those disciplines, they're controlling something

that's trying to go out of control, right?

And there is a way to sort of, uh, there is a way to sort of port

the understanding of driving a vehicle at its limit into this,

in the NASCAR, into driving a stock car.

It's, it's you're taking a vehicle and trying to push it to its limit,

entire slip and all of those things.

And if you understand that in motorcycles or whatever it may be,

you can apply the same logic, right?

And you, you've spent a lot of your life taking things to the limit.

Grashing them.

Right.

Yeah.

And so, you know, and I think the more of that that you do,

especially behind the wheel of a four wheeled stock car, the more

it's going to start to make sense, right?

The more it's going to start to click.

So like I'm encouraged by, I would encourage you, like if you truly,

really want this, like absolutely go for it, right?

Absolutely.

You know, and so these are the things that you, you, you can't turn down.

Right?

Yeah.

Um, these are the opportunities that are that, you know, to your point,

you're how, how do you?

Oh, 30.

30, right?

So you're trying to become a race car driver at 30 when a lot

of guys, you know, have been driving cars since there was five, 10 years

old, right?

Young.

Yeah.

They've driven thousands of laps by the time they actually get a

truck ride or something like that they've raced for, for years.

You know, and you're trying to, you're trying to do all this in a

very short period of time.

And so that's why I think this is a great opportunity.

I, yeah.

I mean, like I said, it's unbelievable.

They even called me and, uh, the hard thing that I've talked to,

I've talked to, I mean, primarily Ty Dillon got a hold of me and

then I've been working with Mike Verlander, Mike Dillon, Richard.

Um, and that, you know, and then it trickled down.

We had the first meeting, you know, and I just couldn't believe that

like they wanted to do it long term.

Well, two years is kind of short term, I guess, but like that to me is long

term.

Yeah, it's more than just one year and, you know, wonder, uh, couldn't

believe it.

The, the thing that's so hard about the sport too is to get seat time.

It's very expensive and there's not really a good chance to practice.

So now I'm looking at buying a late model for myself because I think

that's the most comparable thing, right?

It's to go drive late months.

You have, you own a racetrack.

I know, right?

What an idiot to not have a late model.

You should have a car and you should be running laps.

Yeah.

So I just sat in a late model this morning.

Yeah.

Over at port city race cars.

Yeah.

It felt good.

I said, guys, give me some final price and I'm going to buy one.

I don't know what I'm going to do because we only have two late

model races at my track.

I might have to host some more.

I'm going to start doing that.

I'm still doing Arca.

If they call me to run the truck again, I'm absolutely going to do it.

You know, and then I'm just going to try and do my absolute best in the

Riley's car.

Yeah.

Obviously it's crazy that I'm going up this fast.

Uh, I don't want to be one of those guys that you mentioned that

comes into the sport and just forces their way.

I mean, you didn't mention anyone forcing their way up, but a lot

of people have joined and immediately tried to just climb the cup.

Sure.

I don't want to drive a cup car right now, but brother, if someone calls me

and says, we got a spot in a cup car at the Daytona 500.

I mean, what am I supposed to do?

Say no.

Right.

Yeah.

If you're cleared to race, you'd have to consider.

I mean, I'm thinking 99 times out of a hundred.

I'm saying yes to that.

So, and I think that's another perspective I've had on all the hate

I've been getting.

You know, this sport is so critical.

The drivers, it's, it's pretty well.

Yeah.

I think that's how it is in all sports.

Yeah.

But I don't know the way it's, uh, I guess I got a bigger taste of it.

Maybe the other way.

Well, you know, it, which I deserve.

It's unprecedented what you're doing and not that that means

it's wrong or bad, but you know, if you're going to, you have

to realize that you're coming in without any experience and how

you're coming in is very unorthodox.

You don't have that sort of, you know, and so people are, you're,

you're opening yourself up to.

Oh, I get it.

Yeah.

I mean, I would totally understand it from the outside of

someone's race for forever.

And then Cletus is all of a sudden jumping past them.

That would annoy me too.

And that part I don't think is the problem.

I think it's the, I think what people want to probably

see, I think once they start seeing you like, Hey, man, I'm going to,

I'm going to climb in my late model and I'm going to just run some laps all day.

People need to see that, see that, right?

And see you actually, Hey, man, I'm, I'm taking, I'm acknowledging

that I need experience, that I need to do this and that, and, and I'm

and that I'm, I do want to do better.

I do want to understand, you know, how to not put myself in

the situation I was in in the truck, right?

Off turn four.

And I mean, as a car controller to say that, you know, but I mean, that happened

to me, like I wrecked, I wrecked a cup car ball by myself off turn four.

Like that is a, that is a common problem to get off that corner and get

loose, especially on the inside.

You just didn't know it was coming, right?

And so, yeah, right?

I was settled in.

I mean, as short as whatever six laps is,

I was settled in.

Like all of a sudden we're running the bottom.

I know they're three wide.

I'm feeling great.

Yeah.

Truck's awesome.

I'm hanging on for dear life, having the greatest time ever.

Honestly, I was so excited, but I couldn't even talk in my radio

because I was just so death gripped on the wheel.

And then it stepped out.

Yeah.

And when I went up, I literally was like, Oh, I'm about to wreck

all of these guys.

And I just put too much wheel in it.

Yeah.

And there I went.

Yeah.

I mean, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's easy to do there.

But it's kind of that thing when it happened.

I'm like, man, he had no idea that was going to happen.

And it's like, how do you prep somebody for that?

They warned me.

I know.

I warned my extended to guys the very next day.

I'm like, y'all, y'all, y'all see that right there?

That can happen to you.

You could easily find yourself in that same situation.

And, and a couple of times they almost did, right?

Yeah.

It's just, but if you don't do it and you don't, you

had, if you in the Harker car, I was waiting for it.

Right.

You know, the next day.

Yeah.

And then the, and it probably never in our car with a

different tire, different arrow.

Yeah.

Just one time it stepped out a little bit, but I just

had it, you know, like, but, you know, when I

circled back on all of that, I think to myself, even

after, you know, everyone's like, please, why, you

know, why would you go in a, in a truck without

any more experience than you had?

Still after how bad I did, if, if Pastrana called

me, you know, and said, Hey, I got a truck

ride for you.

Do you want it?

I'm saying, yeah.

Yeah.

And I think so would everybody else.

So would everybody else.

Yeah.

So, although there are, I need to see time.

You do.

There's, I'm going to take those opportunities.

There are thousands of examples of drivers that

have driven cars with very little experience, little

to none in our industry and truck and cup.

You know, there's thousands.

If I go back, I'm a very traditional, uh, big

nostalgic fan of the history of the sport.

And if I go back to the 70s, 80s, 90s, there were

guys showing up to the sports and race, the

Bush race, the Xfinity O'Reilly race, you know,

the cup race, even with very little experience.

The Arca race was, was the Arca series up

until, I mean, even today still part of its

core identity is there'll be guys out there

that have never been on a big track or track

bigger than a half mile, you know, that was

a, that was kind of like the, the draw really

was like, oh man, I'm going to watch like 15 of

these dudes that have never raced on anything

bigger than a half mile go out here and run Daytona.

They are cracking down a little bit.

Yeah.

Well, they have to have some sort of like

balance.

Yeah.

Cause George, uh, tried to enter Arca at Daytona

and they said, George, my, oh, yeah, they,

they turned him down.

Yeah.

Well, they said, do we need to see you

run?

Yeah, they drew the line.

So and that was before I crashed.

So yeah, I mean, I understand there's a

balance to it and it's, it's probably really

hard for NASCAR to navigate.

It is.

You know, well, it is.

I mean, I think they go back and forth,

dependent upon, you know, what happens on

the racetrack.

They kind of seem to ebb and flow with

where the line is.

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Yeah. You wake up every day

feeling the pressure of having

to deliver content.

Oh, man. Go bigger and bigger

every time. I don't feel the

pressure of that. You don't.

Well, what's so I tune in.

You get a tune into one clip

and you'd given all of your

people that work over to Freedom

Factory or yeah, you gave them

all those freaking super fast

jeeps. Yeah, ridiculous.

Yeah. So y'all start running

around the yard wide ass open.

And I'm thinking to myself the

liability alone would I would

have so much anxiety over

somebody like rolling one of

things over. You don't even

think about it. I mean, what are

you doing? They're all wearing

helmets. I know.

Does everybody sign liability

waiver? Do they? So like when I

would have parties in my house

back in the day, like in the

bud days, we'd have big ass

freaking parties. I would have

everybody sign a waiver before

they came in like, you know.

Well, what you don't see what

you don't see on video and I

do have is I this

may or may not hold up in court.

You know, I'm a law school dropout.

So I say on video during

these group things, I say

with all the engines off and

everyone's saying there, I say

you do not have to ride

right now with this group.

You can sit and watch.

Not sure that's enough.

If you would like to join,

we're going to ride but

understand you are off the clock

and what we are doing is at

your own risk. And I say that

and then everyone doesn't even

think for a second, they stick

their apples on and we go have fun.

I guess if so, I do have that clip.

I guess if that, you know, the

splash pellet is the little splash

page that would come on before

every jackass episode that would

say, don't try this at home.

If that was enough to clear

them from any liability, then

that's probably enough for you.

I think I do expose myself to

some liability here and there.

They they y'all, you probably

haven't even seen the Honda video.

I'm thinking of. Oh, I know.

I knew when I was watching that video,

you all in the jeeps.

I'm like, I'm probably not even

seeing the worst of it.

But this is making me nervous.

Oh, no. Yeah.

You have those jeeps fast.

What? Where did everybody?

Did everybody take their jeeps home?

What? Yeah. Yeah.

They take them home.

They're theirs.

Their property.

So they're riding their stuff

on my property.

Yeah, there's there's some liability

there. It's a solid point.

Yeah.

Got you thinking later.

Now you got me thinking.

You don't even do this.

I can. I mean, you don't sit at home.

You know, when the day is done

and you've like ate your dinner

and you're getting ready to go to bed

is 9 p.m.

And you're like, shoo, man,

that was dangerous.

Well, I'm going to be honest.

I had one of those moments in December.

My one of my employees,

Zach, was in a pretty bad crash on your property

involved in something.

Y'all were doing. Oh, I'm going to have.

Can you talk about it?

I'm going to. Oh, yeah.

It's on the internet.

I'm going to have to pull the clip.

OK.

I mean, we're talking

rush to the hospital situation here.

But, you know, when you're saying

you feel the pressure, the the videos,

my best performing videos

are when I'm just having fun with crappy cars,

like the RV content.

I was like our best performing stuff of the year.

Junk RVs.

So, yeah, I don't have.

I don't feel that funny pressure too bad.

And honestly, I just love doing this stuff.

All right.

Three million views, by the way.

How do you come up with

like what you're going to do every day?

Like I would that.

I guess like, you know, the brother,

there's a limited content at my facility.

Wow. The Freedom Factory.

I know, but like you're just net.

You just haven't been there.

Is it your I know, is it all your folks

to coming up to you every day going,

we ought to do this, we ought to do that?

You just kind of keep a little mental note.

I think it just so naturally happens.

I don't know.

It's just the people I'm surrounded myself with.

We have you ever came up with something

and and you did it and you're like,

yeah, that wasn't as good.

Yeah, but we still post it anyway,

because people are like, yeah.

So this this challenge I bought,

I gave each of the guys in the shop 1200 bucks.

The video is the $10,000 Honda Civic Challenge.

So there was enough for us to all have $1,200.

I think I, I think I read about this.

I don't think I've seen this clip,

but I think I heard about it.

And then I set up like the OG Fast and Furious Race

where they jump the bridge.

That was the theory.

So we take off in a great race

and you have to go under a semi-truck that's moving

and then run this crazy race.

Well, we're getting to the finish line here

and I'm chasing down George.

My buddy Zach is chasing down both of us.

His Honda's got a back half on it's ripping.

Well, the bridge jumps coming up

and he doesn't lift because he's just trying to inch out George.

He hits his baby hard.

So I'll just let it play from this point.

So this is me chasing George right here.

This is on your property.

Correct.

Right. Where's the bridge?

Oh, we built it.

Oh, you built a bridge.

It's a jump.

I got you.

So one more turn here.

Back into the drag strip.

We'll contact.

So Zach's behind us.

You can't see him.

Just a regular ass seatbelt.

And by the way, you guys can overlay the video.

Video on top.

Oh, Zach's going to come flying by me here.

I did not put his in-car footage in the video

because it's so violent.

Scary. Yeah.

There it is.

Damn, yeah, yeah, I would have been panicked.

So, yeah, we had to back her down a little bit after this one.

Right.

What was what was his where?

How is Zach?

Zach is good.

He had what's called an AC separation.

What is that?

That is like I hate to ask it's.

It's like, I guess in your shoulder,

you have three ligaments that kind of hold your

scapula in position and they tore.

All right. It's very common in football,

I guess, because they're head down and they.

Well, this entire Honda Civic landed on his shoulder.

Because the A pillar crushed and no head injury

or no neck injury.

So in the in-car footage, he goes like this.

I have that I'll show you after in the in-car footage

when the front end hits.

There's some other funny parts of the footage

I'll show you later, but the car turns a little bit.

And so he goes like this and lays back just naturally.

And so the entire Honda Civic then lands on him

because the roof comes in and by some miracle.

Damn it, dude, you're such a crazy man.

So, yeah, I do feel what you're talking about a little bit.

After that one, I was like, all right,

we're going to back her down a little bit.

Yeah, I was watching when you had

Hosevar over to short track and he he like

sent it over the jump in the in the minivan and no set it up.

Wasn't that Hosevar?

Who was still the minivan up on the nose?

That was one of Travis Pastrana's best friends.

OK, he about damn ended up on the roof.

Believe it or not, he's done that.

That's the same jump.

Yeah, same jump that caused the other to go over.

Maybe let's cut take that jump and throw a redesign.

OK, right now the design is a triangle.

We're going to work on a different shape a little longer.

Yeah, something I don't know.

Most you can't tell, but none of the cars

actually touch the end of the ramp.

They just ricochet off the front.

Yeah, interesting.

So we're working on that.

Yeah, yeah, I think there's that's probably necessary.

I mean, there's got to be a little worried about you.

Yeah, I know.

Like your your ass is, you know, you're kicking ass.

And yeah, yeah.

And I don't want anyone to get on the line.

I know you don't.

So we just get carried away some days.

We really the other thing, too, is like the thing that I enjoy

that I hope maybe you you're unaware of is the evil

Keneval aspect or the the risk to you that you put yourself into,

you know, your ability to like I've always marveled at.

Stuntmen and people that are above and beyond, right?

The you know, doing things that have never been done before jumps.

And you know, you've talked about like last time you're here,

you're talking about some kind of a stunt you were going to pull off

landing a plane and like, damn it, you know,

that's like you're the one solely at risk in those moments.

Yeah. You've been in some moments where a thing, you know,

one little one little thing goes this way or that way.

But you know, you're I mean, do you idolize?

You know, the evil Keneval's of the world or those kind of guys?

They don't even I mean, I think those are so much higher risk.

Yeah. But I mean, it's very simple.

That's like the version of, you know, but they probably think

maybe the same thing. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know.

I watch those stunts and I'm like, wow, that's unbelievable.

I mean, jumping a motorcycle 500 feet, but they're very planned,

you know, even though some most most times they can go wrong.

There's still some planning engineer.

Yeah. You know, your stuff is like seriously by the seed of your freaking pants.

I mean, the good news about my stuff and by the way,

I appreciate you bringing this stuff up.

It's sometimes good for me to hear it, you know, but.

Most of the time I'm protected by a race car, you know,

so that does help, I think.

But I do worry about it.

Sometimes like the big car eagle, you know, that I have,

I don't like going 260.

I don't, you know, I have the fat.

I'm the fastest guy to ever drive on a radial tire in the quarter mile,

you know, and like that record is cool, but I really don't love

letting go of the button in that car.

That thing is so fast.

So I mean, that's one that I've been thinking about

marking off just being done. Sure.

You know, you do other stunts with, you know, outside of driving race cars,

you do other things that are very risky.

And I feel like that it's in the same vein as a as an evil, conneval style.

Well, which one are you thinking of besides the airplane on the barge?

That, right? That alone, that's very dangerous.

Well, the airplane on the barge to put your mind at ease.

I mean, I'm touching down at under 30 miles an hour, you know,

that's pretty slow. OK.

And then worst case, I end up in the water and it's like the plane floats.

OK, you know, it's not going to just sink like that.

So, yeah, I mean, that one, I think, is probably one of the least risky.

Maybe, yeah. All right.

What do you think about NASCAR? Are they are the cars risk?

Very safe. Yeah. I mean, I think very safe outside of concussions.

Yeah. Concussions are the main concern.

That's my main concern for a back injury. 100 percent.

Back injuries are pretty rare, but it's the head injuries that are probably.

That's what I don't want.

They're more common than I think we realize. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And it years ago, I could walk up to that race car.

There's a car sitting here in the shop that's from 1980 that my dad race.

We could walk up and look at that car and go,

oh, it's missing 80 percent of the safety that we got today.

Yeah. No head rest, you know, everything.

Seats bad, everything's bad, you know, and they walked up to that car in 1980

and thought, this is way safer than this. This is very safe.

This is very safe. We've been working for years to make it safe.

Look at how safe this is. Yeah.

And I started driving race cars that didn't have head.

We didn't have head rest.

Then we started to use one, then we had two, then we had nets,

then we had, you know, now we got this massive cocoon.

So I've seen this crazy evolution of safety. Same thing with the drag cars.

Yeah. Tons of safety poured into the interior of the car over the last 20, 25 years.

But I thought they were pretty damn good 25 years ago.

I know, that's a good point.

But we're massively forward.

And we always are like, oh, why do we got to do this, you know,

when they make us add a certain safety equipment?

And I was like, this is crazy.

And then two years later, I'm like, oh, I'm glad that's there.

I wouldn't race a car without that. I don't know why that's like that.

So Tom had the concussions.

Just a little funny thing about that.

I was out of the car in 16,

getting trying to heal from some concussions I had,

and I was going to come back and in the off season,

I had a meeting with NASCAR and we're all sitting up in this office here

to the top guys in the in the in the safety

car, you know, competition side of things were there.

And I was like, I brought I wanted y'all to come here.

I wanted to meet with y'all.

I'm a race next year, but I don't want to use a headrest.

I want to go back to my old

it was a we used to run these headrests

that when they were just eighth inch aluminum

and when you would hit anything, they would just been out of the way.

OK, you know, and your head would go this way or that.

And I was like, I don't want to be boxed in on that hard foam

because I think, you know, when I hit,

I just hit the foam in my in my brain bounces around in my head.

I mean, I want my head to go this way

and not my brain just taking all of that abuse.

And they were like, yeah, no, we're not going to let you do that.

You're not going to be the only guy out there with like 1995 headrest.

You know, and I'm like, well, that's that's what I think is better for me

because we've got the Hans now and that's going to keep my head from being ripped off my shoulders.

And so that should do all the.

And they just immediately like, no, not doing that.

I like, yeah.

I mean, I will say NASCAR safety stuff is like

leaps and bounds ahead of other stuff I've done.

I mean, I've already I got

find a couple of times for not wearing the right stuff.

And I'm like, damn, they are on me.

And then after the race, they came and checked all my underwear.

Yes, they will.

I'm like, they I mean, they do not play.

That's the way which is good.

We got rules is good.

It's just it was a little bit of shock for me.

Well, I think that we realize I remember you.

You were somewhere and you didn't have something.

Was it your what did you have?

I wore I wore a

Simpson hybrid sport, not the Simpson hybrid.

Got you. You have the right thing.

And I remember that and you were like, you were kind of taking it back.

They were like so particular.

Yeah. And I think that I was shocked.

Well, I know. And your reaction to that made them go,

we might better watch this guy.

And now you're getting a little more of a tension.

You know, until I just wear it by the book.

I think until they feel like you've got it covered, they'll keep checking you.

Yeah. Right.

And it's not out of they're not picking on you.

They just want to make sure you're safe.

I mean, honestly, those circling around on the whole safety thing,

it's it's good for me to have people that hold me to that standard.

And it kind of helps me in all my other stuff.

I learned I used to not wear underwear in my drag car.

I just put on my suit. Yeah.

And after I went to the R&D center and they showed me burns on people,

I just wear my underwear now, even though it's a pain to get out.

It is uncomfortable.

Yeah. So if I'm in my fast car, like I'm putting that stuff on.

So, you know, I am.

Oh, we got a quick, we got a quick surprise for you.

Got you guys.

I see sun drop.

Oh, what is he doing?

We got some liver mush.

Hell, yes.

OK, with some toast with mustard on it.

What?

So we wanted to get you locked in.

Yeah.

What is the deal with liver mush?

Like you told us in the last podcast, you liked it.

Have you ever ate it?

I had it one time and I did not like it.

So I'm going to try it again today.

You're going to try it with you.

All right.

And we got it how you want it thin.

Yeah.

Crispy.

That's right.

So what are we doing here?

By the way, people at home, this is liver mush.

Liver mush.

I wish they didn't call it that.

It's kind of like ground up sausage.

You know what I heard?

Apparently they take the head of a pig.

I hope not.

And they boil it until everything is out of it.

And then they pull the bone out.

Oh, no.

This is only what I heard.

I don't know who told you that.

George, is this accurate?

I'm 51 years old and I've never heard that.

I'm not really sure what I'm eating right now.

I'm not either.

I can't even describe what it tastes like.

It's just liver mush.

I'm going to go ahead and fold her up.

Yeah.

You know?

Keep it over here.

I don't want to waste it.

It comes in a square.

And they have this stuff up north,

but it's called like Scrapple or something.

But it might be a little different.

Scrapple sounds appetizing.

Thank you.

Man, thank you.

I'll give it a 5.5 out of 10, I would say.

That'd be my personal opinion.

I mean, I can tell by you.

You're thinking 9.

I like it.

Yeah, I like it.

I do.

I've went this long in my life.

And I just say, I just go ahead and ride this out.

OK, I won't say it.

Thank you, George.

Yeah, thank you, George.

That was very nice.

Losing a tire, running out of gas, wrecking a teammate,

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Let's talk about ARCA.

What, how many ARCA races you run in this year?

Well, first of all, I love ARCA.

What do you love?

I absolutely love ARCA.

What is it?

I don't know, man.

Ripping and ARCA, I love the cautions

where you just have all the time in the world.

I love everything about it.

Yeah, no, there's no competition.

There's no live stops.

Yeah, it's like, I don't know what they call them.

They're semi-live pit stops or, you know, it's badass.

You're out there with a bunch of people learning,

you know, for the most part, you're too wide.

Then you get, so you got a lot of room

and it's not the most competitive thing.

Biff told me this in ARCA, there's gonna be

about 10 cars that are competitive.

In truck, there's gonna be 20 trucks.

In Orales, there's gonna be about 25 cars

that are competitive.

And then Cup, it's gonna be like everyone's competitive.

So, you know, in ARCA, I can do well.

I don't have as much pressure on the pit stops.

Oh, they call it a modified live pit stop.

That's what it is.

And the way that they slow everything down

for us drivers is great.

And also the laps are not ridiculous.

I mean, how many laps they do a Daytona 200?

I love the long way.

I like them long, yeah.

You do like the long laps?

I feel like that I'm a good game manager.

So like the longer the race, the better shot I have.

I'm not a hot lapper.

I'm not gonna do well in the short ones.

I can tell you though that at most of my ARCA races,

I wish there was 20 more laps.

So I do feel that a little bit.

But like, I just love it, man.

Like I'm really enjoying it.

I'm doing the Daytona, and then I'm doing Rockingham.

I'm doing Kansas, Dal Daga, and then Michigan.

You ran Bristol at the back end of last year in the ARCA race.

And you were live, you know, everybody was able

to ride along and watch your in-car.

I watched your in-car the entire race.

You could see this massive like change

in how you drove the car.

And you just like, it was like, it was really,

I mean, not many times do we really have an opportunity

to ride on board with a person mid-packer in an ARCA race.

To your point, most of the people out there are learning

and trying to figure it out.

Yeah, specifically someone who really doesn't know

what they're doing.

Right, and you've been around the track before,

so you kind of knew where you were at,

but watching you and how you used the throttle

and all that stuff was so fascinating.

Yeah, because I actually saw your clip, you know,

last week when I was under criticism.

Dude, the difference between the first 10 laps

and the last laps of the race was insane.

What was I doing so wrong?

Just off top of your head.

Well, a lot of times there's two ways to sort of do it

when you get out there, you're gonna either overdrive it,

you're gonna drive off in the corner way too far,

have to stop and have a really slow minimum speed

in the middle of the corner.

But the most common thing is to not get in there far enough

and deep enough and you're picking the throttle up

way too soon and you're coming up off the corner,

losing the nose, getting tight

because you're carrying way too much speed on exit.

And so like you were kind of,

you were probably under driving the entry

and you get down in the corner

and you're back in the gas way too soon,

but like you started to shift that

as you got more and more comfortable.

It's a little scary, I'm talking a lot.

I mean, I think everyone watches from TV

and they know the cars are fast,

but when you're in there, it's super fast, super fast.

So I was a little cautious at first,

but then Biff was kind of talking to me.

He's like, further, further.

And then I started hearing the chip and I'm like,

oh, that must be going way further now.

But you can feel though,

once you start to get the car down in the corner deeper

and you're moving your throttle around,

that kind of puts the corner together better.

Cause there's some times when you come up the corner

and you're like plowing in the toilet,

cause you're got the gas way back there.

Yeah, literally yesterday in the simulator,

they pull me out, they overlay Jesse's data.

They're like, you're just off too soon.

And I was doing the same thing.

And I mean, looking back at the footage,

I think that's what I was doing at Rockingham too.

I think that's why I hit the wall.

At your test, yes, you were.

So that is, that's it.

If you don't take the RCR deal,

you're not sitting there overlaying your data to Jesse,

a guy who knows how to drive the car.

And you're not able to look at it and go,

there's what I need to do different.

That is, I need to do this exact thing differently.

You can't see that any other way.

I could run ARCA for three more years and not see that.

That is why taking the RCR deal

is going to make you a better race car driver.

And not only are they passionate people

that actually want to do the right thing

and help you and give you those tools, right?

And have you in the same and they seriously want

to take on this challenge, which will be fun for them.

And you, but that's exactly why you should do it.

That's why I told you to do it is because

you're getting data, you're getting real information

that you truly can understand and go, all right,

I see, I need to go from,

and instead of lifting at the 300 mark,

I need to lift it to 200.

When they show me the data, I'm like,

okay, so what is that like a tenth of a second?

He's like clicks a button, clicks another button.

He's like, it's 240 feet.

I'm like, what?

He's full throttle, 200 feet longer?

Yeah.

I just couldn't, I'm like, how does it make the turn?

Yeah.

And then he's like, oh, well, he's 150 pounds

more brake pressure.

I'm like, damn, yeah, I'm a wussy, you know?

So then I just sat down in the simulator,

did the same thing and like knocked two tents off my time.

Yeah.

So now, I mean, I think realistically the problem

that I am facing is consistency, you know?

Like I was trying to do what he was doing,

but I just couldn't do it more than, you know,

two, three laps in a row and then I'd tap the wall

or get loose or go high in the turn

cause I didn't get down to the line.

So I think my outlook on now going to Rockingham

in the O'Reilly's car is just finish the race

as priority number one and get as many laps as I can.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's a tough thing.

When you're in the car, your competitive nature

gets the best of you.

And if you don't feel like that you're measuring up

to your own personal expectations,

much less what you think everybody else wants you to achieve,

that's when you can overdo it

or start pushing yourself too hard.

You have to figure out a way to understand

what the game, what the game day goal is

and adhere to it at all times.

So like my Xfinity guys are going to Coda last weekend

and I told one of them, he's like, you know,

I've been working hard on the sim.

I've been trying my ass off,

try to get faster at road course racing.

I'm not very good at it, but I'm working hard.

And I'm like, you're going to start the race.

You're going to be really slow.

You're going to qualify bad.

He did.

I said, when the race starts,

you're going to get faster every lap.

You're going to get smarter, faster, smarter, faster.

I said, by the end of the race,

you're going to be really proud of yourself,

but you still need to remember

what the ultimate original goal was at the start

and not to try too hard, start getting too confident,

start making mistakes.

That's what happens.

You'll get out there and you'll be cautious,

just like you were in that archer car

and you'll be out there driving.

And that's what you need to do, right?

And then at the end of the race,

you're going to think you got more,

the opportunity to push.

That's when you're going to have that thing

step out like the truck did at Rockingham, right?

And that's where you got to be careful of, right?

He's like, all right, I'm in the final stretch.

Let's get it home.

I was having too much fun.

Yeah, and even the truck at Daytona,

I remember in my brain,

just my entire goal was to stay on the dude

in front of me's bumper.

And if I had just let that go a little bit,

I wouldn't erect because I was so hard

in the throttle to keep up with the guys.

And going back, I wish I would have just

stayed a little bit more distance,

given the truck a little more room.

I wouldn't have been so hard on the throttle,

getting out of four to chase the guy down,

and then I wouldn't have blew it, but.

Yeah, these races are longer than you think.

You know, and in your mind,

like that very, that thing you're discussing

about being on that trucks,

being on the bumper of the guy in front of you,

that seems to be like so critical in that moment.

But it's not.

But I mean, what, 10, 20, 30 minutes later,

it's not that important that you did that, right?

Yeah. It's not.

And in the Arkacar too, you know, last year,

I really, as everyone thinks that person erected me,

that spun out in front of me, I don't know if you recall.

I erected myself by not just slowing down,

but I was so scared of losing the patch

that I kept driving too long.

I saw the smoke.

I should have bailed when I saw the smoke.

This year, I saw the smoke I bailed.

And missed the accident.

And lived to see another day.

But I was also, when I got in that Arkacar

this year in Daytona, I was like,

I cannot do anything stupid today after last night.

I mean, I was literally on my best behavior

as far as the best I could do.

And then it worked out great.

So like, I just got to remind myself

that like those little moments

don't matter as much as I think they do.

That's right.

And then at the end of the race,

I'm like drafting Bobby Earnhardt.

We're ripping, it was so sick.

And we're passing people having a blast.

And those last 10 laps are what I really look forward to again

is like getting back out there in Arkacar

and doing that again.

Yeah, I think that, that'll be the challenge for you.

We talked about just literally just having seat time

and understanding throttle and how deep to get in a corner

and all of those little nuances, but the patience.

And patience isn't something that you've had to really have

in your line of work, right?

You all were by the sea of the pants

just going all the time bigger, bigger, bigger

and just the bigger and the wilder it can be, right?

So, but in racing, it's measured.

Everything's measured.

Everything's finite.

Everything's perfect.

Everything's, there's moments now

when you've got to hang it out.

There's moments when you're like,

all right, down in this corner, here it is.

I know, yeah.

You know, who's going to be the one?

You got to be able to make something great happen

when it counts.

In those moments when it counts, yeah.

If there's a guy smoking in front of you,

I definitely know now I'm waiting for the caution.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like to say the phrase of living for the next corner,

living to race the next corner.

Yeah, that's a good one for me.

Yeah, it is.

I mean, you're learning so much so fast

and I don't envy the,

I don't envy the position you're in.

I'm lucky and fortunate that I grew up around it

and was a witness to it.

And like, before I ever drove a race car,

I sort of had some idea of what I was

getting myself into, right?

And I don't envy you coming in here

trying to tackle all this

at the rate you're trying to tackle it.

But, you know, hey.

I actually am like excited.

I'm just so excited about stock car racing,

which I didn't think would ever be possible

because when I left Daytona,

all I was thinking about was like NASCAR.

You're only five years ago, you weren't.

Oh, it wasn't even, I mean, two years ago

wasn't even how my rate are.

But I'm just really excited about it.

And I think the most exciting thing

is seeing all of my followers getting into it.

Like, we're actually having a great time with it

and the videos are doing well.

So I don't think I'm annoying them with it yet.

Right, that's the next thing.

That brings up a great topic conversation.

So you've been making a living as a content creator

and you're doing a badass job, right?

You're very successful

and you know exactly what kind of content your fans want.

Yeah.

But you have this other thing

that you're now interested in and want to do, right?

And you know that you have to dedicate some time to this.

How do you, do you think about like the balance?

Yeah, so I mean, I feel as though

the drag racing program,

we have to stay committed to that through all this.

You know, my goal, like in last year

we had a great drag racing year.

You know, we won a very big race.

We won a grudge race.

We took the cars out and did awesome things.

We broke the radial mile per hour record.

We did a bunch of great stuff.

So like my goal is to, you know,

if all these people came and followed me

because of what I was doing at that moment, drag racing,

I don't want to let it go and go chase this new dream.

But also just based on the views and comments,

there is indication that they like it too.

So, you know, I'm announcing this big deal,

but at the same time it's only three races.

So it's, you know, I think I'm maintaining

a decent balance of it.

They'll let me know if I'm not

because my fans are not afraid to speak up

and be like, please this ain't it.

We've done some stuff where they said this ain't it.

Really?

So right now I'm just kind of getting more and more into it.

I don't know that I could do more than what I am,

but I have a question for you at the end

that I could ask you now if you want to.

I was gonna say like just without thinking too deep

into it, if someone called, if you were me

and someone called you and said,

we want to give you a full-time cup ride.

You know, what would it take to accept that deal?

Would it be worth the experience

to go do the 38 race season?

Right now?

I'm just saying if someone did.

At this moment.

Yeah.

Man, I'd have to say no.

That's kind of what we think too.

Yeah.

I mean, George and I have talked about it a lot.

And if someone said, we got a full ride for it.

Like part of me would be like, oh my God,

I gotta do it, but I just don't think it'd be worth it.

I would tell, I mean, I don't, I think.

For me.

I don't either.

I think it would go horribly.

I think you would be miserable.

Oh, and that.

No, I think, I don't know that the car

would be good enough for you to even know

what a good car feels like.

I don't.

Oh, and I'm saying also think of it in not just cup.

Even in O'Reilly series, like run a full season.

I think of it less about the race car side,

more about the being gone.

I thought it was cut specifically.

Yeah, yeah, I guess I.

You're trying to tease it up as cup only.

Let's tease it up as cup only.

That would go horribly.

I totally agree with that.

But think of it more in like giving up my time

home every weekend away from the YouTube channel,

all that.

No, I think there's a, I mean, personally,

if I think that finding a something limited is fits.

You do have a lot of things to lose, you know,

and you've great, you've created an empire

that's very lucrative and very important.

You got a lot of employees that depend on you.

Their livelihood depends on you.

You got a lot of things to consider, right?

Outside of your own enjoyment

and whatever you might get out of racing

in the darker truck or Xfinity or a rally level.

So, you know, I would, I think that there's a decision

to make for you personally, man, right here and now.

I can enjoy this.

I can do these, you know, 15 races a year,

some ARCA, some truck, a rally,

and we'll just kind of see how it goes.

And I'll just, I'm gonna study hard.

I'm gonna work hard, but we'll just see where this,

see where it goes.

Or, which is probably what I would suggest.

Or, you dive in with everything you got, right?

And you would probably give up your drag racing.

You would probably give up a lot of things

to really eat, sleep, live,

how do I become a race car driver?

And I don't know that.

You're saying that's, you suggest the first option.

I don't suggest the all-in option.

Yeah, that's kind of what we think.

You know, and you can, you're gonna, listen,

with the limited option,

there's still the potential that it becomes more.

You know, what if you do develop,

and what if you do start to show some real promise

and somebody says, hey, there's the glimpses

that we need to see.

It's there.

And things start to click.

Then, you know, you can sort of pivot a little bit,

but I would just stay, stay the course, yeah.

Cause you have too much at stake on the other end, right?

With all of the other things you've created and developed.

Yeah, and I've thought about, you know,

what I could do in that situation,

but it just seems like no matter what,

if I were, no matter what I do,

the balance, the greater balance is gonna be throwing off

of being with my family, most importantly.

You got a new, yeah, your family's growing.

Yeah, so I think you're right.

And I'm just, just a couple races a year,

the fun big ones, and then just see where it goes.

And you might enjoy this late model, you know,

and you'll get in your late model

and run a couple races at your track.

Yeah.

You can go into something,

and that's affordable in the grand scheme of things.

Yeah, I'm just at home.

Like the track's five minutes from my house though.

And there's racing in Alabama, Georgia, you know,

you can go and travel and pick you a damn dozen races

to run a year.

Yeah, I think that the late model,

like it's just gonna help me get that car control,

you know, the wedge in the cars is what's throwing me off.

Like, I can save a car from getting loose.

No problem.

Yeah.

A normal car, you know, like I sent you a video

that Cadillac drifting, like that stuff,

I love doing that.

But the wedge in the trucks and the cars is just,

that's what's, once you go back the wrong way.

Back the other way, it opens up, it's so weird.

Yeah.

And I don't have enough experience.

Yeah, it's got all the weight

on the right front and the left rear.

And when it turns right, it dumps on the left front.

When I was in the truck, I didn't even hit the wall,

I just over cracked it and hit the wall.

Yeah.

So, gotta figure that out.

Yeah.

Well, the truck you were out there by yourself

and that's a newly repaved track

and repaves are sketchy.

Yeah.

You know, there's a lot of throttle,

there's a lot of speed and you're,

you know, when it does, it doesn't have a big moment.

It's like, it's a quick snap, right?

When you race at your track, right,

with that worn out asphalt,

that car steps out real slow, right?

It's like, yeah, drifting and all those things.

It's very similar.

At a very high gripped racetrack with the radial tire

and driving that truck or the rally or the cup car,

at a high grip, newly repaved like Rockingham,

the moment's gonna be like, and there's no room.

Like you're in the wall.

Yeah.

When you're three wide, you're just...

Yeah, you're in big trouble.

Yeah.

So I just got to work on learning that car control.

Yeah.

I'm curious about your late model stuff

because so that's what I'm racing now

is like late model stock stuff.

I was gonna talk to you about the late model

because there's pro and super,

but the super's race at my track,

but the pro is the cars tour, right?

Well, we have, yeah, we run the pro car and pros run...

So it's just the engine?

Yep, just an engine.

Same car, a crate engine,

probably a couple hundred less horsepower.

So I'll probably just,

I have to have a tall man car build.

That's the problem.

Cause I would love to just rent a late model.

But I have to have a tall man car built.

So that's why I gotta buy the damn thing.

Yeah, so I'm buying it.

You know, buy the car,

you're gonna have to have somebody,

you know, kind of maintain it for you.

And then I'm hoping I can just plug it into fun races.

Like I...

That's exactly what you could do.

I want you or Kevin to hit me up

and say, this is the one you gotta come to

and I'm gonna get it.

Yeah, okay.

So...

I think you can absolutely plug it into races.

Like that's short track grassroots local racing.

You're aware of that.

You've got them,

they run races at your track

and you kind of see what those outfits look like.

It looks like fun.

It is fun.

And that tire is a gumball.

That old Hoosiers,

a gumball sort of not a radio, right?

It's got a lot of wallers around

like a street tire,

like a regular.

Yeah, you'll love that.

But I think you're gonna enjoy that.

I hope I do.

Yeah.

Because it's kind of a little project I'm committing to.

Well, I would buy the car.

I mean, if you wanna get a pro

because it's a little bit better,

more of an entry car than the super,

the super's gonna be more expensive

because of the engine and to maintain it.

You could just have the pros come to your track.

You just get one of the locals,

you know, get a pro series,

call up some of these guys and say,

hey man, let's have a pro race.

Our supers are coming.

Let's have a pro race the day before.

That's true.

I could just tell them.

Who's your sanctioning body that comes to your track?

Well, we have Ricky Brooks comments.

Right.

Tell Ricky Brooks to bring a pro class.

Have a pro race.

You'll run it.

I didn't even think of that.

He'll say, hell yes.

If you're gonna race it, I'll definitely do that.

I'll have a pro race.

Say no more brother.

And you could do that the night before

or the day before the super.

And now you're at night.

I was already thinking like the super sounds like a lot.

It is probably for the first.

Yeah, I was like, I wanna start out in the pro.

And if you liked your pro, you still got the car.

You just changed the motor.

Yeah.

So, you know, the big lead,

which is our big one, I could just change the motor

if I'm feeling good.

If I'm feeling spunky.

You could definitely write.

Okay.

All right, I like that.

I appreciate all the advice you've been giving me too.

I'm always hoping to help you, man.

I mean, you're a good guy.

I want you to have a great experience.

I think you're genuine at heart.

And I think you really do, you know,

want some, you know, want feedback

and helpful information.

Anytime I've been critical,

you text me and say, hey man,

I saw your thing and I appreciate the stuff.

You know, I saw what you said

and I appreciate what you said.

You know, sometimes people don't

take that stuff very well.

You know, some drivers don't know how to,

some drivers don't know how to hear criticism.

Yeah.

It's one of those things, you know,

I think being a YouTuber for so long,

like I've just, I've had everything

in the world said about me, you know?

And I expect way more.

When I went into drag racing,

I was the class clown.

They all thought I was a joke

because of the way I had my car set up

and the way we ran it.

It was a joke, you know?

And I think right now I'm the rookie

and people can say whatever they want,

but when I keep coming back every time

and they realize that their words don't affect me

time and time again, they're gonna run out of breath.

Because as long as I'm having fun,

I'm gonna keep showing up at these NASCAR races

and whether I'm in Arca, truck or O'Reilly's,

their words on Facebook will not change

the fact that I'm gonna come back

and try again as long as I'm having fun.

I love that.

I feel like that everybody can get behind

the idea of partnering up with RCR

because of the tools and the help

that they'll give you to get better.

I think everybody can get behind the idea

of you getting a late model and do this,

even if you're just racing laps at your own track

on a Tuesday afternoon, just getting laps, right?

Buy four sets of tires, go out there

and spend four hours by yourself.

It don't matter.

I think when people see that

and then you run into Arcamore,

just a little bit of work.

That's all I think they need to see.

And I think to your point too,

it's like for me, getting a sponsor

is a lot of guys have to rely on their driving skills

to get sponsorships.

And for me, I'm relying on something else.

So to have this ticket in with no driver skills show up

and just do stupid stuff,

like I absolutely understand the criticism

and that's why I'm hoping to do exactly

what you said I should do

and then understand that wedge a little more.

I didn't realize in stock car racing,

the Crown Vic stuff is great.

Symmetrical load.

But it's symmetrical load

and it just doesn't teach you what you need in there.

The wedge is, that's what I got humbled by.

Well, I look forward to seeing what you do this year, man,

and talking to you over the course of the process.

And I appreciate you coming today.

So do you know what the races you're running?

Can you tell us what races you're running?

Yeah, okay, so this is actually something

that I meant to talk about.

So we intended to run the super speedways

because I told them that's what I want to do.

I love the super speedways.

But NASCAR said I cannot run Talladega

unless I go to Rockingham first and do well.

So the plan is I run Rockingham.

Don't do anything stupid.

That's soon.

That's soon, yeah, and I get a rookie test

and then I'm gonna go to Rockingham,

do the actual race.

Is the rookie test at Rockingham?

Yep, yep.

So do you know when that is?

I do.

Can't tell me.

Do you want to go?

I don't want to say it on here, but.

Okay, let's not, yeah, you can tell me later.

Okay, just so it's, you know, we're not being filmed.

Don't want to be, yeah, I don't want everybody to show up.

I just don't want any pressure that bad, you know.

But if you want to go, that'd be great.

I love that.

Dude, you're like, that's what people want to see

is that you're like self-aware about, you know,

man, hey, I want to go there.

I don't want any pressure.

I just want to focus on this.

I want to do this right.

All I want to do is, I like,

I have to almost take off my YouTuber hat

when I get in these cars,

which is not the usual case.

In the drag cars, I can stay a YouTuber.

I can stay Cletus.

When I get in these damn NASCARs,

I got to start taking that hat off.

But all right, so you run to Rockingham?

Do Rockingham.

If everything goes well?

Yeah, then it's in NASCAR's hands too.

Oh, one, oh, just Rockingham.

And if you do well,

I might clear you for Talidega.

For Talidega, that's the goal.

I would love to run this Talidega.

I love Talidega, it's so wide.

I mean...

Yeah, let me tell you something.

They'll be judging you about how...

Like to know this.

There is a chance that you will be passed

by the leaders.

Correct.

Right, at Rockingham.

You will be judged by how well you get out of their way.

That will be a thing that people will pay attention to.

And so I would have conversations with RCR

about what the etiquette is,

what they would expect in certain situations.

And do your best in those moments.

Again, it's like, damn,

I don't wanna give up a ton of lap time here.

But dude, just do what you need to do

to make it easier for those guys

when they're trying to go by.

In that moment, just...

And that's a stay bottom.

To have conversations with RCR,

I'm not gonna tell you.

Okay.

That's for the...

That's a good point.

That's for the team to tell you.

That's probably gonna be their cars

and your cars coming around me.

They need to tell you

and you need to hear it from them

on like what the etiquette is

and what they would expect.

And I would, that will be a moment

where it could go really good or really bad, right?

If you impede...

Even if you were just to impede somebody

and cost them a position or something, right?

People are gonna latch onto that, right?

So like, you know, I will give you some advice

on I won't tell you what RCR is gonna tell you to do,

but like, if a guy's trying...

If it's very bottom dominant,

which Rockingham typically is pretty bottom dominant, right?

There's not a high groove.

So the guys is they're driving around the track.

The lead guys, they're trying to get into the corner

and get right into the bottom groove.

And if one of them's coming by you on the outside,

don't drive into the corner with them

and not allow them to get that bottom.

Like just lift that car length earlier

to let them clear in in front of you, right?

If you go into the corner

and make them work the corner outside the groove,

they're a little annoyed by that.

So just silly little nuances like that.

Don't worry about it today,

but have a conversation with RCR

and they'll give you the tools and information

to be like, all right, man, when leaders come,

there's a couple of things they like.

This is a couple of things

that I probably would be paying attention to.

And it's less like the more you can make it a non-issue,

the better, right?

In that moment, be the non-story, right?

As the lapper, as those guys are coming by

and they're racing side-by-side and stuff,

you want to be, you want nothing to do with it, right?

You just want to be a blur on the screen.

That's right, okay.

And that could happen in parts of the race

and that's fine, you know?

I got slapped in all my first races.

I went to Daytona and I wrecked,

I went to Daytona and Talladega

and wrecked out of the first five times I ran there

before it actually started like clicking.

I wrecked at Daytona, Talladega, Daytona, Talladega,

Daytona, Talladega over and over and over

before it finally started like making sense.

So I mean, it's that kind of thing

where like when you're running that race

and you're sitting there going,

I'm 25th or whatever and I'm not fast.

Here comes the leaders.

Man, it's hurting my pride, you know?

You just got to kind of stay the course.

It's humbling, it's going to be humbling

and just don't worry too much about that.

People are going, you're gonna,

you're going to make yourself and a lot of people happy

if you bring that car to Pit Road in one piece

when the checker flag is over.

That's all you got to worry about.

I do feel really, really good about the pressure side

of things, like I'm not gonna feel bad if I'm 30th.

Nobody's gonna care.

And RCR on that same page, Tommy's Express, we told them

this is gonna be a total learning thing.

And like they were on board with the fact

that I'm getting this opportunity to learn

and they know, you know, when our circles.

No one is going to care where you finish.

It ain't about a performance thing.

Can he get out there, understand the etiquette

and the racing and get it home, bring it home.

Yup, I like that.

Well, RCR is a great group of people

that can help you do that, man.

And I'm glad you're getting this opportunity.

Cletus, thanks for coming through today.

Thanks for the advice too.

Appreciate you, man.

Hey man, appreciate you brother.

Thanks for living much.

That's right.

Cletus McFarlane on the Dale Jr. Download.

All right, that's a great conversation

with Cletus McFarlane.

Just appreciate him getting in here

and he texts me a while back

and he's like, man, I got this opportunity

to do this deal with RCR.

I was like, well, I don't know if you're ready

for the rally series, but you're damn sure ready

for an opportunity to get schooled

and look, he can run all the arc races in the world,

but the knowledge that he'll gain

from being in an organization like RCR,

that is exactly if he's really gonna do this

and really gonna try to get better,

that's how it's gonna happen.

And so they'll give him the information

and they'll know, they'll also be smart enough

to know how to rein it in, right?

He needs people around him that are gonna go,

bap, bap, bap, you're getting too far out of the box.

Let's get back in here

or you're not ready for this.

Let's do this instead.

And so that's what I think is great about the RCR deal.

So I'm pumped for that

and I think they speak the same language,

Cletus and RCR, they're kind of very similar.

I just think it'd be a good fit.

So hoping that's exactly what happens.

And there's this debate about his inexperience

and what happened at Daytona look.

A lot of people spent off term for it at Daytona.

I've done it and it can happen to anybody.

I wish he'd had more experience.

So maybe he could have called it

because I wanted to see how he was gonna do in the race.

I hate we didn't get to see him race the race

is really the only thing.

But I go back and forth on the eligibility

and what people need to do to be cleared to race.

I go back and forth with that.

There's times when I'm on the side of,

man, there needs to be a system.

There needs to be checks and balances

and you've gotta have done this to get to this.

And then I think back,

and I know this won't be a popular opinion.

It won't, but it is the truth.

I am very nostalgic and I can't help it.

I really can't.

And so I don't try to ignore it.

But when I look back at NASCAR at all levels,

back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, all the way up through,

there's a lot of examples of people

that went to race Daytona and Talladega

and had no real experience at any big racetrack.

And now we've learned a lot from those scenarios

and there's been some things

that probably shouldn't have happened.

But I don't know that we,

I don't know how we could draw

like a finite perfect line of,

that here's what you have to accomplish and do

in every single scenario to get to that next opportunity.

I battle back and forth with that one.

So I really, I mean, I'll be honest.

I think the only truly way,

I think the only truly great way to have

sort of a governing over leveling up

is through a committee of drivers.

Yeah.

And so, you know, there's this fun story

about how they used to have a rookie test at Darlington.

You could go race at other racetracks

on the NASCAR circuit without needing to do a test.

But at Darlington, you were gonna have to do a Ricky test.

They did this every Darlington race

through the 60s, 70s, 80s.

And H.A. Foyt signed up to race at Darlington

for the first time, I believe in 81, 82, maybe 83.

And he was forced to go through the Ricky test.

And he would go out on the racetrack and run laps

in front of a cup driver.

And that one of those cup drivers that day was Ricky Rudd.

Half the man's age had not ran in 8,500

or hadn't really ran,

but about six or so years of NASCAR.

But Ricky Rudd was gonna be one of the people

that approved A.J. Foyt.

And of course, A.J. passes the Ricky test

with flying colors.

But the fact that he was put through that same process

that everyone else had to go through, I really love.

And I also loved that the drivers

were the judge and jury for the rookies.

And I think that in the only scenario that I like

where you would govern something like that

is through a driver committee.

And so if you were trying to be clear to race a cup race,

it would be a group of cup drivers

that would make that decision.

If you're trying to be approved to race in the O'Reilly,

it would be O'Reilly drivers

that would share the racetrack with you

that would make that decision and own down the line.

That would be the perfect way, in my opinion, to do it.

But I'm excited for Cletus

and looking forward to everything

he's gonna be doing this year.

It'll be interesting to see if he can actually

start to make it click and start to understand

what all this is about and pretty remarkable.

Hopefully, yeah, hopefully everything goes well

and I know we'll be watching.

It'll be interesting to see.

I think it's a massive undertaking to go to Rockingham.

Rockingham is a brand new racetrack.

In terms of surface, just treacherous.

So he went there and truck tested,

got a little out of shape, got in the wall.

And I think the Xfinity O'Reilly car

is gonna be even more difficult to drive there.

So he's taking on quite a bit.

So he'll have to be very reserved, very conservative

and maintain that conservative nature

all the way to the finish line

so that nothing goes too wrong

to be a roadblock to his racing more in the O'Reilly series.

But all right, so I'm excited about the opportunity

that Cletus has this year with RCR.

I think that's a great decision

and we'll be looking forward to seeing all the races

that he's gonna run and when he might get

in that late model.

Fun to have him here in the RB Studio.

Remember, Arby's new meat in three bucks.

You get more meal for your money at Arby's.

We have the meats and we also have Cletus McFarland

on the Dillgender Valley.

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Cleetus McFarland Gets Racing Advice from Dale Jr.

About this episode

Chrysler Daytona

ARCA race

ARCA series

mentorship in racing

simulator

ARCA car

Baja

stadium trucks

driving at the limit

stock car

NASCAR

seat time

Cup car

Off turn four

Loose

Tata Motors Aria

Honda Civic

A pillar

in-car footage

jump (racing)

race car safety evolution

drag racing

RCR

late model

Talladega Superspeedway

checker flag

checks and balances in racing

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