Cleetus McFarland earns first NASCAR finish after eventful race

Cleetus McFarland got his first NASCAR race finish on Saturday at Rockingham, but it wasn't without some drama.

The content creator finished the race six laps down in 32nd place, having brought out a final stage caution with a spin – fortunately without any contact. He was multiple laps down at the time of the spin.

The O'Reilly Series debutant had to collect a number of near spins during the race too, looking loose for much of the 250 lap distance.

The YouTuber also got punted down onto the apron of the track in the closing laps by fellow Richard Childress Racing driver Austin Hill, apparently frustrating that his theoretical ally was getting in the way as he fought for position. McFarland kept things in a straight line, and no caution was needed.

Sawalich takes first NASCAR win

At the front of the race, William Sawalich took his first NASCAR national series victory at the age of 19, having notched a pair of second-place finishes in his rookie O'Reilly Series season last year.

Corey Day had dominated much of the race from pole position, leading 118 laps and sweeping the first two stages only to see a pit road miscue damage his race – with a stop to be safe on fuel ending his hopes of seriously challenging for the win. He finished tenth, but left the race with more points (47) than anyone but Sawalich and Brandon Jones.

NASCAR O'Reilly Series standings after Rockingham

Pos	Driver	Manufacturer	Points (Stage)	Wins	Top 5s	Top 10s
1	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	422 (120)	3	6	7
2	Jesse Love	Chevrolet	296 (75)	0	3	5
3	Sheldon Creed	Chevrolet	291 (36)	1	4	6
4	Austin Hill	Chevrolet	277 (51)	1	2	4
5	Corey Day	Chevrolet	272 (47)	0	3	7
6	Carson Kvapil	Chevrolet	267 (81)	0	3	4
7	Sammy Smith	Chevrolet	260 (37)	0	4	6
8	Brandon Jones	Toyota	247 (57)	0	2	3
9	Parker Retzlaff	Chevrolet	229 (32)	0	1	3
10	Rajah Caruth	Chevrolet	215 (46)	0	1	4
11	William Sawalich	Toyota	214 (37)	1	1	3
12	Taylor Gray	Toyota	203 (42)	0	0	2
13	Sam Mayer	Chevrolet	173 (37)	0	1	3
14	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	168 (8)	0	1	3
15	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	162 (0)	0	0	1
16	Anthony Alfredo	Chevrolet	157 (15)	0	0	1
17	Jeb Burton IV	Chevrolet	142 (11)	0	0	1
18	Blaine Perkins	Chevrolet	122 (7)	0	0	1
19	Patrick Staropoli	Chevrolet	119 (0)	0	0	0
20	Brent Crews	Toyota	114 (26)	0	0	2
21	Dean Thompson	Toyota	112 (0)	0	0	1
22	Harrison Burton	Toyota	105 (3)	0	0	0
23	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	98 (10)	0	0	0
24	Lavar Scott	Chevrolet	98 (0)	0	0	0
25	Austin Green	Chevrolet	86 (3)	0	0	0
26	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	84 (0)	0	0	0
27	Nick Sanchez	Ford	81 (6)	0	1	1
28	Ryan Ellis	Chevrolet	78 (0)	0	0	1
29	Kyle Sieg	Chevrolet	77 (0)	0	0	0
30	Josh Williams	Chevrolet	70 (0)	0	0	0
31	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	59 (0)	0	0	0
32	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	54 (0)	0	0	0
33	Alex Labbe	Chevrolet	44 (0)	0	0	0
34	J.J. Yeley	Ford	38 (0)	0	0	0
35	Nathan Byrd	Chevrolet	35 (0)	0	0	0
36	Jordan Anderson	Chevrolet	33 (0)	1	1	1
37	Lee Pulliam	Chevrolet	32 (0)	1	1	1
38	Luke Fenhaus	Ford	31 (0)	0	0	0
39	Mason Maggio	Chevrolet	26 (0)	0	0	0
40	Myatt Snider	Chevrolet	22 (0)	0	0	0
41	Andrew Patterson	Chevrolet	22 (0)	0	0	0
42	Carson Ware	Chevrolet	18 (0)	0	0	0
43	Brad Perez	Chevrolet	16 (0)	0	0	0
44	Preston Pardus	Chevrolet	10 (0)	0	0	0
45	Blake Lothian	Chevrolet	7 (0)	0	0	0
46	Cleetus McFarland	Chevrolet	5 (0)	0	0	0
47	Natalie Decker	Chevrolet	4 (0)	0	0	0
48	Dawson Cram	Chevrolet	3 (0)	0	0	0
49	Sage Karam	Toyota	2 (0)	0	0	0
50	Baltazar Leguizamon	Chevrolet	1 (0)	0	0	0