Richard Childress Racing (RCR) announced that Garrett Mitchell, the YouTube personality known to his millions of subscribers as “Cleetus McFarland,” will compete full-time in the ARCA Menards Series in 2027, driving the No. 33 Chevrolet for the 57-year-old race team. McFarland will be paired with crew chief Robert Strmiska, and the campaign signals RCR’s full-time return to ARCA competition.

McFarland made his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut with RCR in 2026 and has made limited starts across the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the Craftsman Truck Series and ARCA over the past two seasons. The 2027 schedule will be his first full-season pursuit of a national stock car championship.

“Cleetus has an undeniable passion for racing and a work ethic that has impressed everyone at our organization,” said RCR President Mike Verlander. “Cleetus is a perfect fit for RCR. He’s earned this opportunity, and we’re looking forward to seeing what he can accomplish over the course of a full season. Pairing Cleetus with Robert Strmiska gives him the support of a talented leader who is equally passionate about racing.”

Strmiska joined RCR in 2010 and has contributed to three championships within the organization. He made his crew chief debut with McFarland earlier this season at Rockingham Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway.

RCR has used ARCA as a developmental platform since the early 1990s, when it supplied team owner Floyd Garrett with cars for Charlie Glotzbach, who won three times at Talladega Superspeedway and once at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team guided Ty Dillon to the 2011 ARCA Menards Series championship on seven wins and 16 top-10 finishes in 19 races, and its ARCA alumni include Mike Skinner, Kevin Harvick, Austin Dillon, Burney Lamar, Alex Yontz, Timothy Peters and Tim George Jr., who won at Pocono in an RCR Chevrolet in 2011.

“This is a dream come true,” Mitchell said. “Ever since I got behind the wheel with RCR, I’ve wanted more. The goal has always been to become the best race car driver I can be, and running the full ARCA Menards Series schedule gives me that opportunity. Richard Childress and everyone at RCR believes in me, and having the support of a legendary team gives me a ton of confidence to focus on learning everything I can about stock car racing. I’m ready to get after it every week.”

Motorsports’ Creator Pivot

The signing lands amid a broader restructuring of how motorsports organizations engage with creators. In September, the automotive platform F=ma brought on Hoonigan co-founder Brian Scotto, folding his production company, 321 Action Action, into the group alongside RACER, GRIDLIFE and The ID Agency as a dedicated in-house studio. Scotto, who helped build the “Gymkhana” franchise, framed the move as a response to how automotive content now competes for attention well beyond traditional racing audiences. “Car culture is once again merging with mainstream pop culture,” he said, pointing to its ties with fashion and music.

Formula 1 has pursued a similar strategy on the series side. Amelia Dimoldenberg’s “Passenger Princess,” which paired the “Chicken Shop Date” creator with F1 drivers across two Grand Prix weekends for its second season in July, drew more than 289 million views in its first season and was produced in direct partnership with the sport. Formula 1’s chief commercial officer called the series a way to engage both existing fans and new audiences.

RCR’s decision to put a YouTube-native driver with millions of subscribers into a full-season ARCA ride follows the same logic: legacy racing organizations building structures that treat Creator Economy reach as a core asset rather than an outside promotional tool.

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