Dale Earnhardt Jr. advises Cleetus McFarland on next steps after NASCAR setback

Cleetus McFarland must wait for his shot at racing NASCAR's crown jewels, and legend of the sport Dale Earnhardt Jr. has advised him on exactly what he needs to do in the meantime.

The 31-year-old YouTuber found out Wednesday that his bid to race in O’Reilly Auto Parts Series action at Talladega on April 25 has been blocked by NASCAR.

McFarland made his eagerly-awaited debut for Richard Childress Racing at Rockingham last weekend, and had hoped the brass in Charlotte would see enough to allow him to race in Florida later this month. But no dice after a rough afternoon according to John Probst - the sport's Executive Vice President and Chief Racing Development Officer.

NASCAR TODAY: Cleetus McFarland statement issued, the sport is listening to its fans

Cleetus Talladega bid blocked by NASCAR

Speaking on the Hauler Talk podcast, Probst explained: “We’re all huge Cleetus fans. We all watch his videos and are certainly very appreciative of everything he’s done in our sport and will continue to do in our sport.

“He is approved right now for O’Reilly Series short tracks, which means he’s good for all of ARCA, all of Truck and then O’Reilly up through the short tracks.

"We’d like to see more out of Cleetus in the short tracks. So we’re not saying no, but there is more that we would like to see out of Cleetus before we would approve him for Talladega.”

While McFarland was disappointed by the decision, Dale Jr. believes it was absolutely the right one from NASCAR.

'I saw enough' says Dale Jr.

“I saw enough to not approve him for Daytona or Talladega in the O’Reilly Series,” he told the Dirty Air podcast.

“I was not present and in person for any of this. But I watched the YouTube video from the Truck test with Niece [Motorsports]. I watched the YouTube video of his O’Reilly test with RCR [Richard Childress Racing] and then I watched the race. And in all three of those, he busted his ass.

“Now he didn’t hit anything, except for the truck, he did wall the truck off of two. In all three of those instances, he lost control of the car or the truck. And I told him this after the race.

“Like the Rockingham surface and tire is gonna be one of the more trickier ones. It’s a hard tire and a relatively repaved surface - so it’s got a very small window before you bust your ass. And it’s easy to bust your ass.

“If I were him and I were NASCAR, I’d be trying to get him in more ARCA races - Every single opportunity to run these little bull rings and short tracks.”

What McFarland needs to do next

While urging caution about the next assignment for McFarland, believes the social media superstar is doing amazing things considering his lack of experience.

“To do what he did this weekend, I know he busted his ass a couple of times, but to do what he did was really phenomenal. For a guy that has no racing background, didn’t grow up in a racing family, didn’t grow up around racetracks.

“Cleetus has done a lot of funny stunts and a lot of wild things, but at the same time, he has learned the limits of something with anything with four tires on it. He can get into pretty much any vehicle, take it out on the racetrack and put it to the limits of its capabilities.”

Talladega is 'definitely not the next step'

Summing up, Dale Jr. provided further detail on where he believes Cleetus should be racing until he is able to safely take the next step up to some of the sport’s most iconic challenges.

“If they throw his ass into the O’Reilly Series at Talladega, I don’t know, that is definitely not the next step for him. His next step is another race somewhere else. He should be racing Bristol, he should be racing ARCA ARCA ARCA, or Truck races and everything from a mile under, go race.”