Cleetus McFarland, driving for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts series, has been the talk of the town. People have given mixed opinions, mostly positive. He might have completed the Rockingham race only three places above where he had started, but that’s a huge achievement, considering he could have crashed in any round. His countless spins just added to the anxiety but did not hurt other drivers.
With such limited exposure to grassroots racing, an influencer like McFarland getting a chance to race for a renowned (read ‘struggling’) team like RCR is not easily digestible. But it was only possible because one of the team’s future executives had an eye on his activities. It was Ty Dillon. Richard Childress’ grandson came clean about his involvement in getting McFarland on board. And he applauds his compatriot’s first race.
Ty Dillon Praises Cleetus McFarland’s NASCAR Debut at Rockingham
Frontstretch reached out to Dillon during the post-race interview of the O’Reilly Rockingham race and asked him how it went down. Dillon spoke about how it was not a break for him.
“It wasn’t much of a break for me. I was in the truck race yesterday and then came out here to support Cleetus,” Dillon said.
Speaking of what the team had planned with McFarland’s performance, he said, “It was fun, though. We love being on the track. We made all the laps today, and I think we accomplished our goal.” Starting 35th and finishing 32nd isn’t a bad result for a rookie running his first race.
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Talking about how different it was to train McFarland compared to someone who has racing experience, Dillon said:
“From never doing this before, you’ve got to keep the right perspective. A lot of times you’re helping drivers who have late model experience, but he hasn’t raced anything like what we do… We just had to focus on teaching as much as we could, and he did a great job.”
The praise goes a long way, as Dillon feels the track is tough.
He said, “This is one of the toughest tracks. Things happen really fast, and it’s hard just to make laps here. He did a good job. There were some high points and some moments we can work on, but overall he did well.”
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There are reasons why Dillon feels McFarland’s run was great. He could not make his day better, but at least he did not spoil anyone else’s day.
“I think NASCAR should be proud of how he represented himself. He was respectful to the leaders and didn’t mess up anybody’s day. We’re excited to hopefully get him to a superspeedway,” he said.
As already established, McFarland is going to make it big in NASCAR, provided he learns everything he encounters on his way to the big league. Will he be RCR’s messiah who brings back the good old days?
