Richard Childress Racing confirmed Cleetus McFarland's next NASCAR national series start will come next month at Nashville Superspeedway in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
WELCOME, N.C. -- Richard Childress Racing confirmed Cleetus McFarland's next NASCAR national series start will come next month in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
McFarland will race RCR's No. 33 Tommy's Express Car Wash Chevrolet again at Nashville Superspeedway in the May 30 NOAPS race.
It'll be McFarland's third national series start, following his NOAPS debut Easter weekend at Rockingham Speedway and his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Daytona International Speedway in February.
Both debut races didn't see McFarland finish very well. However, he made some progress between his NCTS debut and his NOAPS debut.
After spinning out on lap six and finishing 37th in his NCTS debut, McFarland started 35th and went the distance in his NOAPS debut. He ultimately finished 32nd, six laps down, and only caused an issue when he spun and drew a caution with 44 laps to go.
NASCAR's approval process has come under scrutiny with McFarland getting national series starts despite his lack of experience.
Coming into his NCTS debut, McFarland had just four ARCA Menards Series starts, which resulted in two top-10 finishes: 10th at Talladega Superspeedway and ninth at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
This season, the driver legally known as Garrett Mitchell has progressed. He finished fourth at Rockingham in the ARCA Menards Series East immediately before his NOAPS debut.
The East effort was good but it wasn't enough to get him approved for the NOAPS race at Talladega. However, a solid performance Saturday in ARCA at Kansas before blowing an engine likely netted him the Nashville start.
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