YouTube sensation Cleetus McFarland recently made his O'Reilly debut on the Rockingham Speedway. While many were left impressed with the fact that McFarland was able to complete the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes he still has a lot to learn.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download, the Hall of Famer highlighted the thin line between raw talent and the skill set required to become a professional stock car racer.

"I saw enough to not approve him for Daytona or Talladega in the O'Reilly series," Earnhardt admitted. "I watched the video from the RCR test, and I watched the Rockingham race. He did wall a truck off in all three of those instances and was, uh, you know, lost control of the car or the truck."

NASCAR decided that McFarland was not ready to compete at the Talladega Superspeedway, but has permitted him to compete in other Truck races. Earnhardt Jr. also seemed to believe that is the right solution.

"If they throw his ass into the ARCA series at Talladega… that is definitely not the next step for him," said Earnhardt Jr. "His next step is another race somewhere else. He should be racing Bristol. He should be racing ARCA and more truck races… from a mile and under."

But criticism wasn't the only thing this junior has to offer. He acknowledged that Cleetus has no racing background and that, for a driver like him, he might have done the job he needed to do.

"Rockingham is a hard one—it’s a hard tire, it’s a relatively repaved surface, so it’s got a very small window before you bust your ass. And it’s easy to bust your ass," he explained. "To do what he did was really, really phenomenal for a guy who has no racing background. Didn’t grow up in a race family, didn’t grow up around racetracks."

McFarland ready to bounce back

It would have been easy for McFarland to be dejected and be furious at the decision. However, he took it in a positive stride and has stated his intention to compete for a place in next year's Talladega and Daytona races.

While this is a temporary setback, McFarland has already advanced a lot in less than a year of him starting his racing career. Competing in smaller tracks will help him build experience, which is necessary to make him a great NASCAR racer.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sanskriti Pastor

Edited by

Godwin Issac Mathew