Cleetus McFarland has adventurous O’Reilly debut at Rockingham

Cleetus McFarland left his NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series debut at Rockingham Speedway with plenty of experience under his belt. The YouTube sensation finished 32nd, six laps down, but he made his biggest splash at Lap 206 when his No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet broke loose in Turn 3, sliding to the bottom of the track before spinning back into traffic to draw the seventh caution flag of the day. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Rockingham The adventure began early for McFarland, who ran both the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race and the ARCA Menards Series East event Saturday at Rockingham. A daring move at Lap 4 put his car on the bottom of a three-wide situation entering Turn 1. McFarland slid sideways and made a remarkable save, but immediately lost significant ground to the leaders. Another close call occurred at Lap 49. Blake Lothian spun in Turn 2 just ahead of McFarland. As Lothian wandered down the track, McFarland barely avoided his No. 55 Chevrolet, diving to the apron and missing the car by inches. McFarland finished fourth in the ARCA East race, combining to complete 369 of his scheduled 375 laps around Rockingham on Saturday.