Tommy Baldwin and Cleetus McFarland have finally buried the hatchet. During a recent sit-down, the team owner clarified that his beef was never personal. Instead, Baldwin took aim at the NASCAR licensing process that allowed the YouTuber to bypass traditional racing tiers.

It all started when Baldwin pointed out that McFarland’s rise within NASCAR was a result of undue advantages, as he had not gone through the traditional steps of gaining experience first. However, Baldwin was quick to clear the air that it wasn't a personal attack directed at McFarland.

On the latest episode of the Door Bumper Clear, they sat and discussed this, when Baldwin said, “Let's just be honest. We were never against you. We never were like, 'We don't like Cleetus.' You know, 'We don't want him to support.' We were against the process of, more so with NASCAR.”

Baldwin then went on to explain what he meant. “It's wrong for you, not for the sport. It's like, 'No, he needs to do ARCA. He needs to do late-model stuff. He needs to learn his race craft.'”

This statement was met right in the middle by McFarland, who admitted to tempering his expectations when he began racing. “When I set out with this with Greg Biffle, I called him up and I said, ‘Biff, I want to run the Daytona 500.’”

McFarland then added how reality quickly hit. “I started running ARCA, and I realized, you know, I have no intentions of running Cup or the Daytona 500 anytime soon, because I would just get absolutely wrecked, literally. It's just a way bigger skill gap than I imagined.”

But things changed post Biffle's passing. McFarland briefly even considered quitting NASCAR altogether, saying he "didn't want to ever step foot in a NASCAR garage again." But after some time, he decided to honor his mentor and to continue the journey they had planned together.

In doing so, however, the amateur racing star didn't make the mistake of now defending his decision to race. “When an opportunity like this knocks to drive for Richard Childress, I'm taking that opportunity 10 out of 10 times.”

The conversation then concluded with McFarland acknowledging the misunderstanding. “From my perspective, I didn't think that you guys were against me... It's just the way it was perceived on the internet. Obviously kind of exploded the whole thing,” he said.

Keeping the misunderstandings in the past, McFarland is ready to go for a double-duty this weekend at Michigan, running in the ARCA and Truck races. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at how the YouTuber’s record has been around the circuit so far.

Cleetus McFarland's NASCAR journey shows steady progress

After crashing in his 2025 ARCA debut at Daytona, McFarland improved to top-10 finishes at Talladega and Charlotte.

In 2026, he got even better with a fourth-place finish at Rockingham in ARCA East and a career-best runner-up finish at Talladega.

Now, many would point to his disastrous Truck Series debut at Daytona that ended in a crash and a 37th-place finish as criticism; however, McFarland has always been open in acknowledging that he's still learning and picking things up.

And as long as he's getting better, racing fans will keep defending his abilities. This weekend, McFarland will drive the No. 30 Ford Mustang for Rette Jones Racing in the ARCA race on June 5, followed by the No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado for Niece Motorsports in the Truck race on June 6.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Uday Jakhar

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason