
<p>Early in the ARCA Menards Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, YouTuber Cleetus McFarland had quite a moment. Restarting on the front row after a debris caution and staying out on old tires, McFarland soon realized that tires matter. </p>



<p>When Cleetus McFarland hit the gas to go on the restart, he found that his tires were spinning. Whether they were that worn out or simply just dirty from the track is unclear. But McFarland was soon getting hit from behind and fighting to keep his car straight. </p>



<p>As a result, McFarland’s No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford got into Isabella Robusto’s No. 55 Toyota. Robusto went into the inside wall and then bounced back out, <a href="https://www.on3.com/pro/news/cleetus-mcfarland-causes-major-wreck-during-arca-restart-at-charlotte/">where she took another big hit</a>. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">oh no, brother… <br><br>📺 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GeneralTire150?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GeneralTire150</a> on FS1 | <a href="https://twitter.com/CLTMotorSpdwy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CLTMotorSpdwy</a> <a href="https://t.co/zdpdwZIs0l">pic.twitter.com/zdpdwZIs0l</a></p>— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) <a href="https://twitter.com/ARCA_Racing/status/1926047535187026250?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p>After the race, Cleetus spoke to FOX about the incident. He offered his apologies. McFarland did refer to Robusto as “he” during his interview, but that is who he is talking about in the comments below. </p>



<p>“Yeah, I want to start off by apologizing to the team that I took out,” <a href="https://x.com/ARCA_Racing/status/1926065160638075001" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">McFarland said</a>. “I think it was several cars. I just feel terrible about that, you know. Every time I go racing, I don’t want to get taken out. I’ve felt it, it sucks. I’ve been sent home. I made a complete rookie maneuver on the restart. </p>



<p>“You know, I zigged and then I zagged and [Robusto] got off, [she] was blowing my door off and on the zag, I just hit [her], I put [her] in the wall. I feel terrible about it, I know those guys worked hard to be out here, and it sucks to send them home.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cleetus-mcfarland-breaks-down-restart-chaos-at-charlotte">Cleetus McFarland breaks down restart chaos at Charlotte</h2>



<p>The ARCA Menards Series has had its fair share of awkward wrecks. Tonight was definitely one of them. Cleetus explained the wreck further. </p>



<p>“Out here in Charlotte, this was 100 times harder than a superspeedway,” McFarland continued. “I got humbled, you know, on that restart. Made it to the front row for the first time, hit the pace car, which had me so fired up to hit the throttle, I forgot there’s no dang restrictor plate on this thing. I’m like, <em>wham</em>, gave her the beans, she steps out, steps out again, and I clipped that dude. So, feels bad, but we’ll move forward.”</p>



<p>Cleetus McFarland is racing at Bristol later this season in the ARCA event. Tonight, his P9 finish was a career-best, but far from what he wanted. </p>



<p>“Where did we finish? … Ninth, better than ever, but still sucks,” Cleetus continued. “If you ain’t first, you’re last, quote Ricky Bobby. So, I don’t know, get back out there, try again. Learned a lot. Never felt a wing get clipped off me when someone got on my outside, freaking yanked me off the track, it was like getting four flat tires. It was so interesting. So, lots of good stuff.”</p>


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Cleetus McFarland apologizes for causing ARCA crash at Charlotte

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