Freddie Kraft airs it out on reaction to Cleetus McFarland wreck compared to Katherine Legge

Is there a bit of hypocrisy going on in ARCA and NASCAR when it comes to YouTuber Cleetus McFarland and his foray into NASCAR? Freddie Kraft, spotter for the No. 23 car in the Cup Series as well as the No. 26 car in the Xfinity Series, believes there is a bit of hypocrisy.

There have been a number of drivers who have taken the dive into NASCAR recently. It doesn’t always work out, especially for those who are coming from outside of the stock car world. Perhaps Katherine Legge is the most notable this season.

Last week at Charlotte, YouTuber Lawrence Garrett Mitchell, also known as Cleetus McFarland, made his first intermediate oval start. It was the first time he was in an ARCA car without a restrictor plate.

On the first restart of the race, Rette Jones Racing decided to stay out with McFarland. However, the decision to stay out and restart on the front row was a poor one.

The response from social media was pretty mild. Freddie Kraft called it out on Door Bumper Clear this week.

“To Larry’s [McReynolds] point, a lot of these guys and girls are being set up to fail at times, because they’re being put in cars that they’re not ready to compete in or they shouldn’t be on the track with other people in that series,” Kraft said. He didn’t stop there.

Freddie got much more pointed, detailing what happened. Is it on Cleetus completely? No. However, Cleetus was the one behind the wheel.

“Listen, we saw this, I don’t want to drag this out too long, but, you know, everybody’s favorite guy in the world for this year is Cleetus McFarland. And Zippy [Greg Zipadelli] leaves him out on the racetrack for his first green flag restart in an unrestricted car to be on the front row and he ends up wrecking half the field.”

Freddie Kraft wants consistency on Cleetus McFarland

Cleetus McFarland spun his tires on the restart. Then he tried to wrangle his car and get it straight again. It was too late. But who is to blame? Freddie thinks his team let him down.

“Do I think Cleetus did anything egregious, really wrong? No, he made a mistake that a number of guys have made in this sport,” Kraft continued. “But everybody wanting to give him a pass because we all love him because he does millions of views on YouTube, and he’s a funny guy, gives funny interviews, but if that was Katherine Legge on the outside of the front row and she made that mistake with similar oval track experience, she would be getting roasted on the Internet because she doesn’t belong there.

“It’s the same thing, you’ve gotta call a spade a spade and Cleetus is probably a little over his head running an ARCA car right now, but where else are you going to go to learn on that stage where he’s great for the sport, he’s putting a lot of eyes on the sport, but I hope that we’re not getting too far in front of our skis where we’re putting him in a position where he makes a mistake and wipes out a lot of cars and costs people a lot of money.”

If YouTubers want to go racing, fine. They have plenty of money to do it. However, entertainment can’t come at the expense of the race itself.