UPDATE: Cleetus went on to lead a few laps in the opening run of the ARCA Michigan race, and then fell to the back-end of the top ten ... Cleetus was involved in the final caution of the race, and finished 14th with damage, while friend and fellow content creator George 'Squirrel McNut' Siciliano earned a top ten finish.
In qualifying for the ARCA Menards Series Henry Ford Health 200 at Michigan International Speedway, a surprise rocketed to the time of the qualifying charts.
Driving the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing entry, popular YouTuber and NASCAR hopeful Cleetus McFarland (real name Garrett Mitchell) earned pole position. Before that, he got into the wall on his first lap on track in practice, but managed to escape without any serious damage.
But with a fast lap of 38.987s in qualifying, Cleetus beat Jake Bollman to pole position by just 0.025s, securing the top spot on the grid at the two-mile speedway. This is the biggest non-superspeedway oval Cleetus has ever raced on.
Lanie Buice will start third, Connor Mosack fourth, and Gio Ruggiero fifth. Gavan Boschele, Will Kimmel, Andy Jankowiak, Wesley Slimp, and Ryan Vargas filled out the remainder of the top ten.
George 'Squirrel McNut' Siciliano, who is a friend and fellow content creator of Cleetus, will start 27th.
Cleetus is making his eighth career ARCA start this weekend, with a previous best start of fifth in the 2026 season-opener at Daytona. He has three top tens and a career-best finish of second, which came at Talladega earlier this year. He has led 19 laps in his career, all of which came in that same 'Dega race.
He also ran an ARCA East race at Rockingham this year, finishing fourth. His most recent race came in the NASCAR O'Reilly Series at Nashville, driving for Richard Childress Racing Racing.
In addition to the ARCA race, Cleetus is also taking part in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event this weekend, driving the No. 4 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado with a bald eagle paint scheme. He will also give the command to start engines from inside the truck on Saturday.
HE DID IT 🦅
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) June 5, 2026
Cleetus McFarland earns his first @siouxchief PowerPEX Pole Award with a blazing lap at @MISpeedway! He’ll go for his first win at 5 p.m. ET on FS2. pic.twitter.com/nr06K71U5z
