The Dale Jr. Download - Cleetus McFarland Gets Racing Advice from Dale Jr.

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

Dale Earnhardt Jr. welcomes Cleetus McFarland back to the Download on the heels of his polarizing NASCAR Trucks Series debut. The beloved YouTube-content creator and part-time ARCA competitor joins the show to share some big news: he’s moving up in the world of stock car racing. McFarland explains that he recently received an offer to join Richard Childress Racing for select O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts over the next two seasons. The team is eager to work with McFarland to help give him proper seat-time experience and training to help unlock the racer he has shown glimpses of being. He will take his next step at an upcoming test at Rockingham before making his series debut at the track on April 4th. Cleetus recently garnered negative attention when he crashed out early from his Trucks series debut at Daytona, a move brought on by a lack of experience and lap time. Dale Jr. explains that while he is moving quickly into his racing career, the incident has happened to even veteran racers such as himself. He goes on to reassure Cleetus that the training and education he’ll receive at RCR will expedite his growth as a racer, giving him information he’d never be able to gain in the ARCA ranks. The guys also discuss the inherent danger that comes along with Cleetus’ stunt work, the prospect of going late model racing, and even share a little liver mush snack. Subscribe on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. 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. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. You're Dale Jr. Should I say it? It's Dale Jr.

podcast, I got to say it. 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 meat in three box. You get more meal for your money at Arby's. Arby's. We have the Meets.

We also have a great guest for you today. Cletus McFarland's coming back to the studio. You know, Cletus wasn't here too long ago, but a lot's happened in his life since then, and he's continuing to dive head first 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? And he's 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 arc race the next day and had a decent run, and he's going to take on more Arca races, maybe another truck race or two. 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. Cool if I put my sponsor hat on the table. Okay, cool. What is your sponsor? Yeah, I just, you know.

Tommy Express Car Wash. Check that out, man. So this deal. Here we are, yeah, this deal. Let's talk about this deal. You got the hat on. Rocking the hat. A 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. Yeah.

RCR called me up, offered me a ride and their O'Reilly'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. It's awesome. For Richard Childress Racing.

A $1 salary. Yeah. I just am 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 get, we're going to dive into, you know, what you've experienced since the last time you're on the show and all the racing you're doing.

And your life's completely changed. Yeah. And so a lot of your life is still the same, but there's some new things. But the, uh, the. The opportunity to race with RCR, I think, is a very good one. I asked you. You were the first person I talked to, you know, 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, you know, a little scared at that point. When I called you on that Monday, I was like, am I jumping the gun or I texted 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 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. 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 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 run some arc races, which you should still try,

to do. Yeah, I'm still doing that. We're going to dive all into that. You've 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, somebody that was always going to be telling you the right thing to do, 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. That's why they're, I think that they're kind of aligned 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 shorter the curve. That's what 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's 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 crazy. Yeah. That's the difference if you're racing in the arca car, right? You go run the arc of car. and I know there's people there to try to 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 goal is to give me a great car and put me out there. But really beyond that and beyond what great. 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 ever there. And, you know, so I didn't have, I'm just such a rookie.

And I think 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 RCR yesterday, the amount of tools and equipment they have to 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 at it 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 kind of said, we want to help you become the driver we think you can be. And 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 think about the things that you do that are that are applicable so in in the years that I've been around this sport we've had you know motorcycle racers come into NASCAR

we've had people from different disciplines that are driving vehicles of different kinds two-wheel four-wheel stadium trucks whatever Baja they come from all types of disciplines. In 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 port the understanding of driving a vehicle at its limit into this, into NASCAR, into driving a stock car. 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'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 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 am encouraged by, I would encourage you, like if you truly really want this like absolutely go for it right so these are the things that 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 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 they've race for for years. You know, and 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. Yeah, I mean, like I said, it's unbelievable they even called me. And 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 Berlander, Mike Dillon, Richard. 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. It's more than just one year and, you know, wonder. Couldn't believe it. 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 models. Yes. You own a racetrack.

I know. Right? What an idiot to not have a late mob. You should have a car. And you should be right at laps. Yeah. So I just sat a late mile 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 too late mile of 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 O'Reilly's car. Obviously, it's crazy that I'm going up this fast. 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 to cup. Sure. I don't want to drive it.

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 100. 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 of the drivers. It's pretty funny. Well, yeah. I think, I think, I think, think that's how it is in all sports. Yeah, yeah, but I don't know. The way it's, I guess I got a bigger taste of it, maybe the other week.

Well, you know, it's, 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 opening yourself up to. Oh, I get it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I would totally understand from the outside of someone's raced for forever,

and then Cletus is all of a sudden jumping past them. That would annoy me, too. 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, 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 taking, I'm acknowledging that I need experience.

That I need to do this and that and I'm, and 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 forward. I mean, but. Has a car control to save it, you know. But I mean, that happened to me. Like I wrecked a cup car all by myself off turn four. Like that is a, that is a common. a problem to get off that corner and get loose.

Yeah. Especially on the inside, you just didn't know it was coming, right? No, I didn't. 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. 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. And there I went. I mean, 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 it going to happen. And it's like, how do you prep somebody for that?

They warned me. I know. I warned my Xfinity guys the very next day. I'm like, y'all see that right there? that could happen to you. You could easily find yourself in that same situation. And a couple times, they almost did, right? Yeah.

It's just, but if you don't do it and you don't, you don't, you had, if you had. Oh, in the Harker car, I was waiting for it. Right. You know, the next day, yeah, yeah. And in the car, and it probably never in the arc of car with a different tire, different arrow and all that. Yeah, just one time it stepped out a little bit, but I just had it, you know. Yeah.

But, you know, when I circle back on all of that, I think to myself, even after, you know, Everyone's like, Lee just, why would you go in a truck without any more experience than you had? Still after how bad I did, 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 seat 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, in truck,

and cup. You know, there's thousands. If I go back, I'm a very traditional, a 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 sportsman race, the Bush race, the Xfinity O'Reilly race, the, you know, the Cup race even, with very little experience. The Arca race was, was the Arca series of. 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, a track bigger than half mile, you know, half mile, you know, that was the, 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 and a half mile, go out here and run Daytona.

They are cracking down a little bit, though. Yeah. Well, they have to have some sort of, like, balance. Yeah, because George tried Anaraca at Daytona, and they said, George, my. said George my oh yeah they they turned him down yeah well they said we need to see you run they drew the line 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 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

All right, before we get there, next topic, I want to tell you guys about a new show here at Dirtymo Media. It's called Sons and Daughters hosted by Shannon Spake. Shannon is going to be interviewing notable athletes, singers, celebrities, anyone else that is at the top of whatever they do. Everyone has an origin. Before I was a broadcaster, I was a daughter. And that part of my story never changed. So in this series, I'm going to talk with people whose achievements you know, but whose beginnings you don't. The family, the identity.

the moments that shaped them because every extraordinary person starts as someone's child. I'm Shannon Spake. This is Sons and Daughters, and new episodes drop every Wednesday. You can watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcast. All right, we can't wait for that to come out. The first episode drops March the 4th. It's Marty Smith, and after that it's Coach Kay. Going to be a lot of great guests coming down the line. Please check it out. Subscribe so you don't miss it. anything. Currently, you're at 4.65 million subscribers.

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 any pressure of that. You don't, well, what's, so I tune in, you get, I tune in to one clip and, uh, you'd given all of your people that work over at the Freedom Factory or, or, or, yeah, you gave them all those freaking super fast jeeps.

Yeah. 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 and things over. You don't even think about that? I mean, what are you doing?

They're all wearing helmets. I know. Does everybody sign a 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. I'm not sure that's enough, please. 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 helmets on and we go have fun. I guess if... So I do have that clip. I guess if that, you know, the splash, it's 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. Dude, they was, they, y'all, man, you probably haven't even seen the Honda video. I'm thinking of it.

Oh, I know, I knew when I was watching that video, y'all on the Jeeps, I'm like, I'd probably not even seeing the worst of it, but this is making me nervous. Oh,

no. Yeah. You have not seen the worst. What did everybody, did everybody take their Jeeps home? What happened? 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. Solid point. Yeah.

Got you thinking later. Now you got me thinking. You don't even do this. I can tell. 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 as 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. One of my employees,

Zach, was in a pretty bad crash. Own your property? Oh, yeah. Involved in something y'all were doing? Oh, I'm going to have to pull a table. Can you talk about it?

I'm gonna, oh yeah, it's on the internet. I'm gonna have to pull the clip up. Okay. I mean, we're talking rushed to the hospital situation here. But, you know, when you're saying you feel the pressure, the videos, my best performing videos are when I'm just having fun with crappy cars, like the RV content. That was like our best performing stuff of the year. So yeah, I don't have, I don't feel that 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 like I would that I guess like you don't the brother there's unlimited content where my facility how the freedom factory I know but like you're just you just haven't been there is it 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 surrounded myself with we have you ever came up with something and

And you did it and you were like, yeah, that wasn't as good. Yeah, but we still post it anyway because people are like, so this, this challenge I bought, I gave each of the guys in the shop, $1,200 bucks. The video is the $10,000 Honda Civic challenge. So there was enough for us to all have $1,200. I think I read about this. I don't think I've seen this clip. You did to buy a hard of Civic. 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. 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. 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 on top oh Zach's gonna come flying by me here is this him I did not put his in-car footage in the video because it's so violent scary yeah

there it is 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 what's called an AC separation. What is it? That is like, I hate to ask. It's, it's, uh, like,

I guess in your shoulder, you have three ligaments that kind of hold your scalpula. Yeah. In position. And they tore. All right. It's very common in football, I guess,

because they're head down and they, well, his entire Honda Civic landed on his shoulder. Oh. Because the A pillar crushed. And, uh, hit,

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 like sent it over the jump in the minivan and no said it wasn't that him? That was not Hosevar. Who was it that stood the minivan up on the nose? That was one of Travis Pistrano's best friends. Okay. 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 high.

Yeah. Maybe let's take that jump and throw it. We're working on a redesign. Okay. Right now the design is a triangle. We're going to work on a different shape. A little longer launch. Yeah, something. I don't know. You can't tell, but none of the cars actually touched the end of the ramp. They just ricochet off the front. Yeah. Interesting. So we're working on that. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's probably necessary. I mean, there's got to be a living right. Yeah. I know. Like your ass is, you know, you're kicking ass and. Yeah, yeah, and I don't want anyone to get hurt.

I really don't. I know you don't. So we just get carried away some days. The other thing, too, is, is like, the thing that I enjoy that I hope maybe you're unaware of is the evil-ceneval aspect or the risk to you that you put yourself into. You know, your ability to like, I've always marveled at stunt me in a, and people that are above and beyond, right? Doing things that have never been done before. Jumps and 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 then 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 one little thing goes this way or that way. But, you know, you're... I mean... Do you idolize, you know, the evil caneebles of the world or those kind of guys?

They don't even in any of... I mean, I think those were so much higher risk. Yeah, but I mean, it's very similar. 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? Yeah. Even though some, 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'm the fastest guy to ever drive on a ride.

radial tire in a quarter mile, you know? And like, that record is cool, but I really don't love letting go with 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 with. Sure. You know, the NASCAR. 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 evil caneval style.

Which one are you thinking about? 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 okay and then worst case i end up in the water and it's like the plane floats okay you know it's not going to just sink like yeah so yeah i mean that one i think's probably one of the least risky maybe yeah all right what do you think about naskar they they're Are the cars risky? Very safe, yeah.

I think very safe. Outside of concussions. Yeah, concussions are the main concern. That's my main concern. Or a back injury. 100%. Back injuries are pretty rare, but it's the head injuries that are probably more common.

They're more common than I think we realize. Yeah. You know what I mean? And 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, it's missing 80% of the safety that we got today. Yeah.

No headrest, you know, shi 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 is very safe. This is very safe. We've been working for years to make it safe. Look at how safe this is. Yeah.

You know, 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. Yeah. 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 they're 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 talking about the concussions Just a little funny thing about that I was out of the car in 16 Getting trying to heal from some Some concussions I had

And I was going to come back And in the office season I had a meeting with NASCAR And we're all sitting up in this office here Two of the top guys in the safety Car You know, competition side of things were there And I was like

I wanted y'all to come here I wanted to meet with y'all I'm going to 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 you, they were just eighth inch aluminum. And when you would hit anything,

they would just bend out of the way. Okay. 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 brain bounces around in my head. I mean, I want my head to go this way

and not my brain just take, and 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 what I think is better for me. Because we 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, they were like, no, not doing that.

I'm like, darn it. Yeah. I mean, I will say NASCAR's safety stuff is like leaps and bounds ahead of other stuff I've done. I mean, I've already, I got fine a couple times for not wearing the right stuff. Yeah. And I'm like, damn, they are on me. And then after the archer 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 we. So, which is good. We got rules. It's good. It was a little bit of a shocker for me. Well, I think that we realized, I remember you, you were somewhere and you didn't have something. What did you not have?

I wore, I wore a. a Simpson hybrid sport, not the Simpson hybrid. Got you. You know the right thing. And I remember that and you were like, you were kind of taking a back. They were like so particular. Yeah. And I think that that, 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 attention, you know, until. I just wear it by the book now. 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, though, circling around on the whole safety thing, 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 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. And it's uncomfortable.

Yeah. So if I'm in my fast car, like, I'm putting that stuff on. So, you know. I, um. Oh, we got a quick surprise for you. Got you guys. I said sun drop. What is he doing?

We got you some liver mush. Hell yes. Okay, with some toast with mustard on it. What? So we wanted to get you locked in. Yeah. What is the deal with liver mush? You told us in the last podcast you liked it.

Have you ever ate any? 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. Krispy. 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. Why are you? No, no. It's 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 folder 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. That's a much better, man. Yeah, a little different. Scrapple sounds appetizing. Yeah.

Man, thank you. I'll give it a 5.5 out of 10, I would say. It would be my personal thing. I mean, I can tell about you. You're thinking nine and maybe I eight. Yeah, I like it. I like it. I do. I do.

I've went this long in my life. And I just go ahead and ride this out. Okay, I won't say. Thank you, George. Yeah, thank you, George. That's very nice. Let's talk about ARCA. How many ARCA races do you run 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 in Arca I love love the the cautions where you're

you just have all the time in the world I love everything about it yeah no no there's no competition there's no live stops yeah it's the uh yeah it's like I don't know what they call them they're yeah semi live pit stops or you know

Yeah. It's badass. You're out there with a bunch of people learning, you know, for the most part, you're too wide. So you got a lot of room. And it's not the most competitive thing. Like Biff told me this. An ARCutter is going to be about 10 cars that are competitive. In truck, there's going to be 20 trucks.

And O'Reilly's going to be about 25 cars that are competitive. And then Cup, it's going to 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.

Yeah. I mean, how many laughs they do at Daytona, 200? I love the long way. That's long. I like the long, yeah. You do like the long laps? I feel like that I feel like that I'm a good game manager. So like the longer the race, the better shot I have.

Oh, okay. I'm not a hot lapper. I'm not going to do well in the short ones. I can tell you, though, that at most of my archer races, I wish there was 20 more laps. Yeah, yeah. 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 Degah, and then Michigan. You ran Bristol at the back end of last year in the Arca race, and you were, I got to ask you something about that. 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 you, you could see this massive, like, change in how you drove the car. You just, like, it was like, it was really, I mean, you know, not many times do we really have an opportunity to ride on board with a person midpack of an archer race, right?

Yeah. And 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. 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 going to either overdrive it,

you're going to 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 that 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 underdriving the entry, and you know, 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 not going to lie. 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.

Yeah. So I was a little cautious at first, but then Biff was kind of talking. 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. Yeah. Because there's some times when you come up the corner and you're like plowing in the for sure. Because you've 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. Yeah. So that is, that's it. If you don't take the RCR deal, you're not sitting there overlaying your dad at a 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. 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 SIM and they seriously want to take on this challenge, which will be fun for them and you.

Yeah. 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 break pressure. Damn.

Yeah, I'm a woozy. You know? So then I just sat down in the simulator, did the same thing and like knock two tents off my 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 because 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 finished the race.

is priority number one and get as money laughs 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. Yeah.

You have to figure out a way to understand what the game day goal is and adhere to it. at all times. So like my Xfinity guys are going to Cota 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. Like, you'll get out there and you'll be cautious just like you were in that arc car, and you'll be out there driving it and do. And that's what you need to do, right? And then at the end of the race, you're going to think you got the opportunity to push. That's when you're going to have that thing step out like the truck did it, rocking camp, right? And that's where you've 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. Yeah. And even the truck at Daytona, you know, I remember in my brain just my entire goal was to stay on the dude in front of me's bumper. And if I just let that go a little bit, I wouldn't erect. No.

Because I was so hard in the throttle to keep up with the guys. Yeah. And going back, I wish I would have just stayed, you know, a little bit. bit more distance, giving 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. That's right. 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 truck, you know, being on the bumper, 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. Yeah. You did that, right? Yeah. It's not. And in the arc car, too, you know last year I really as everyone thinks that person wrecked me that spun out in front of me I don't know if you recall I erect myself by not just slowing down

but I was so scared of losing the pack 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 that's right and lived to see another day but I was also

I was when I got on that car this year in Daytona I was like I cannot do anything stupid today after yet you know last night I mean I was literally on my best behavior as far as you did great 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 you know I'm like drafting Bobby Earnhardt word 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 getting back out there in ARCA and doing that again. Yeah, I think that, you know, 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, you know, and patience isn't something that you've had to really have. in your line of work, right? You're all by the sea of the pants,

just going all the time, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, and just the bigger and the bigger and the wilder it can be, right? So, but in, in racing, it's measured. Everything's measured.

Everything's fine, right? Everything's perfect. Everything's, you know, and 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, who's going to be, who's going to be the one. You got to be able to make something great happening 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, 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, you know, I don't envy the, I don't envy the position you're in. I've, 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. Yeah. Because when I left Daytona, all I was thinking about was like NASCAR. You haven't even five years ago. You weren't. Oh, it wasn't even, I mean.

two years ago wasn't even on my radar. 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 of 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 have 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, and 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 i'm maintaining a decent balance of it they'll let me know if i'm not because my my fans are not afraid to speak up and be like

please this ain't it we've we've done some stuff where they said this ain't it really yeah so uh 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 that'll i could ask it now yeah go ahead i was going to say like just without thinking too deep into it, if someone called, if you or 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 and 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 you.

Like, part of me would be like, oh my God, I get to do it. Yeah. 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,

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.

Oh, and I'm saying also think of it in a not just cup, even in the 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 teed it up as cup only.

Let's teet 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, I think that finding a, something limited is, you do have a lot of things to lose, you know, and you've created an empire that's very lucrative and very important.

You've 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 arc or 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 arcas, some truck, a rally, and we'll just kind of see how it goes. And I'll just, I'm going to study hard. I'm going to work hard, but we'll just see where this, see where it goes.

or, which is probably what I would, 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 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 going to, 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 to course. Yeah, because you have too much at stake on the other end, right, with all the other things you've created and developed. Yeah, and I've thought about, you know, what I could do in the situation, but it just seems like no matter what if I were, no matter what I do, the balance, the greater balance is going to be thrown 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 a couple races a year, the fun, big ones.

Yeah. 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. That could grow into something, and that's affordable in the grand scheme of things. And you're close. Five minutes from my house. 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 is just going to help me get that car control. You know, the wedge in the cars is what's throwing me off. I can save a car from getting. 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 and the trucks and the cars is just, that's what's, once you go back the wrong way.

Back the other way. Yeah. It opens up. It's so weird. Yeah. And I don't have enough experience to save them. Yeah, because 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 overcorrected and hit the wall. Yeah. So I got to figure that out. Yeah. Well, the truck you were out there by yourself, and that's a newly repave 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,

yeah, right, with that worn out asphalt, that car steps out real slow, right? It's like, er-r. Yeah, yeah, you know, drifting in 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 repave like Rockingham,

the moment's going to be like, you know, and there's no room. Like you're in the wall. Yeah. Yeah. When you're three wide, you're just... Yeah, you're a big trouble. Yeah.

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 going to talk to you about the late model because there's pro and super, but the super's race at my track.

That's right? But the pro is the car's tour, right? Well, we have, yeah, we run the pro car and pros run. 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 built.

That's the problem. Because I would love to just rent a late model. Yeah. But I have to have a tall man car built. So that's why I got to buy the damn thing. Yeah, so I'm buying it. You know, about a car, you're going to 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'm... That's exactly what you can do. I want you or Kevin to hit me up and say, this is the one you got to come to and I'm going to go. 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 going to enjoy that. I hope I do. Yeah. Because it's kind of a little project I'm coming into. Well, I would buy the car. I mean, you can, if you want to get a pro, because it's a little bit better, more of an entry car, than the super.

The super is going to be more expensive because of the engine. Yeah. 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 their sanctioning body that comes to your track?

Well, we have Ricky Brooks come. Right. Tell Ricky Brooks to bring a pro class, have a pro race. You'll run it. Didn't even think of that. He'll say,

hell yes. If you're going to 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. Yeah.

I was already thinking like the super sounds like a lot. It is probably for the first. Yeah, I was like, I want to start out. And if you like your pro, you still got in the car, you just change the motor. Yeah. So, you know, the Bigley, which is our big one, I could just change the motor. If I'm feeling good, if I'm feeling spunky. You could definitely right.

Okay. All right. I like that. Yeah. I appreciate all the advice you've been giving me, too. I'm always open to helping 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 feedback and helpful information. Anytime I've been critical, you text me and said, hey, man, I saw your thing and I appreciate this stuff. I saw what you said. 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, 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 going to run out of breath. Yeah. Because as long as I'm having fun, I'm going to 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 going to 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. Even if you're just racing laps at your own track on a Tuesday afternoon, just getting laps, right? By 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 an arkemower,

just a little bit of work into it. 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, the getting a sponsor is a lot of, 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 you know 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 uh understand that wedge a little more i didn't realize you know in stock car racing the crown the crown vick stuff is great symmetrical load but it's symmetrical load and it just doesn't you what you need to know. 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 the races you're running? Can you tell us what races you're running for RCR? This is actually something 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. Yeah. And then I'm going to 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.

Okay. let's not yeah you can tell me later okay just so it's you know yeah we're not being filmed don't want to be yeah don't want everybody I just don't want any pressure that I know but if you want to go that I love that dude you're like the 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 that's all I want to do is I like if I have to almost take off my YouTuber hat when I get in these cars which I is not the usual case in the drag cars I can stay a YouTube I can stay Cletus.

But when I get in these damn NASCAR, I got to start taking that hat off. But, all right, so you're running, Rockingham? Do Rockingham. If everything goes well? Yeah, then it's in NASCAR's hands to. Oh, one. Oh, just Rockingham. And if you do well, they might clear you for Talada.

For Talada. That's the goal. I would love to run this Taladaia. I love Taladaicah. It's so wide. I mean. Yeah. Let me tell you something.

they'll be judging you about how I'd like to know this there is a chance that you will be passed by the leaders correct right at Rockingham you will be 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. You know, and do your best, like, in those moments, again, it's like, damn, I don't want to give up a ton of lap time here. But do, just do what you need to do to make it easy for those guys when they're trying to go by in that moment. Just, just, just.

And that's a stay bottom. To have conversations with RCR, I'm not going to tell you. That's a good point. That's for the team to tell you. It's probably going to be their cars in your. Cower cars coming around me. They need to tell you and you need to hear it from them on what the etiquette is and what they would expect. And I would, you know, 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? I mean, that's going to, people are going to latch on to that, right? So, like, you know, I will give you some advice on, I won't tell you what RCR is going to tell you to do. but like if a guy's trying, if you, 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, 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, when leaders come, there's a couple things they like. This is a couple things that I probably would be paying attention to. And it's less, the more you can make it a non-issue, the better, right? in that moment be the non-story right as the lapper is those guys are coming by and they're racing side by side and stuff you want to be you want nothing to do yeah right right just want to be a blur on the screen that's right okay and that could happen in in parts of the race and that's fine you know i got flapped in all my first races i don't you know i went to detona i wrecked i went to dota and talladega and wrecked out of the first five times i ran there before it actually started like clicking.

I wrecked, 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 it's, and I'm not fast,

here comes the leaders. Man, it's hurt my pride. You know, you just got to kind of stay the course. It's a humbling. It's going to be humbling. And just don't. don't worry too much about that. People are going, you're going to,

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. It's all you got to worry about. I do feel really, really good about the pressure side of things. Like, I'm not going to feel bad if I'm 30th. Nobody's going to care. And RCR is on that same page.

Tommy's Express. We told them this is going to be, you know, 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, winter 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. Yep. Yep. I like that. Amen. Well, RCR is a great group of people that can help you do that, man. And I'm glad you're getting this opportunity. Thank you.

Thanks for coming through today. Appreciate you, man. Hey, man. Thanks for the live much. That's right. Cletus McFarland on the Dale Jr. Download. All right, that's a great conversation with Cletus McFarland. 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, I was like, well, I don't know if you're ready for the rally series, but you're damn sure ready for some, you know, 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 going to do this and really going to try to get better, that's how it's going to 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? Um, he needs people around him that are going to go, that's, don't, 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, uh, Cetus and RCR. You know, they're kind of very similar. I just think it'll be a good fit. So hoping that's exactly what happens. And, um, you know, I, I've, There's this debate about his inexperience and what happened at Daytona. Look, a lot of people spent off Turn 4 at Daytona. I've done it, and it just can happen to anybody.

I wish he'd have had more experience, so maybe he could have called it because I wanted to see how he was going to 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 know. 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 got to 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 you know 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 a 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 going to have to do a Ricky test. They did this every Darlington race through the 60s, 70s, 80s. And AJ Foote 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 rookie test. And he would go out on the racetrack and run laps in front of a cup driver. And 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 going to be one of the people that approved A.J. Foyt. And of course, A.J.

passes the rookie 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 the only scenario that I like where you would govern something like that is through a driver committee. And so if you're 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 into O'Reilly, it would be O'Reilly drivers that would share the racetrack with you that would make that decision. And on down the line. that would be the perfect way, in my opinion, to do it. But I'm excited for for Cletus and looking forward to everything he's going to be doing this year.

It'll be interesting to see if he can actually start to make it click, you know, 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'd 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's got it. He went there and truck tested, got a little out of shape, got in the wall. And I think the, uh, or the Xfinity O'Reilly car is going to 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 Raleigh series. But all right, so I'm excited about the opportunity that Kalidas 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 going to run and when he might get in that late model. Fun to have him here in the Arby Studio. Remember Arby's new meat and three box, you get more meat. for your money at Arby's. We have the meats and we also have Cletus McFarland on the Dale

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