NASCAR chief reveals Cleetus McFarland approval update after second-place finish at Talladega

NASCAR Vice President of Race Communications Mike Forde has shared an update on Cleetus McFarland's approval after a strong performance at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday.

McFarland, racing under his real name, Garrett Mitchell, raced in the ARCA Menards Series race in Alabama on Saturday and came so close to taking his first victory.

Andy Jankowiak ended up winning in the end, but McFarland came home in second, just 0.111 seconds behind the race winner.

Post-race, McFarland declared that it was the 'most fun he had ever had with his clothes on' and celebrated as if he had won it all.

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Cleetus McFarland NASCAR approval update

Of course, Cleetus was not approved to run in the O'Reilly Series race at Talladega Superspeedway this past weekend, with NASCAR having made that decision after his race at Rockingham earlier in the month.

So, after finishing second in ARCA at Talladega, has NASCAR seen enough to approve him for superspeedways in the O'Reilly Series moving forward? It appears not.

"Not yet, no," Forde explained on the Hauler Talk podcast this week.

"His next step will be at Nashville [on May 30]. He'll be running the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Nashville, and then we will circle up, depending on how he does then.

"The driver approval committee will meet and discuss if he's ready for the next step. So the next step then would be intermediate. So 1.5, 2-mile tracks."

Cleetus McFarland at Daytona?

In his pre-race press conference in Talladega, Cleetus revealed ambitions to make the Daytona race in the O'Reilly Series later in the year, and it sounds like NASCAR believes that could be viable, depending on his performance.

"There is a chance that he could be granted approval for the whole kit and caboodle and superspeedways in that," Forde continued.

"But yeah, more to come on that one. So we'll have that conversation after Nashville, and we'll see where we're at, if he can race just mile and a halfs, or maybe he can come back for the second Daytona race in the O'Reilly Auto Parts series."