DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Cleetus McFarland, Travis Pastrana, and what's up with this second RSR sprint car | Daily 3-11-2025

Coming up, what do you get when a big time YouTuber and an action sports star walk into a dirt track? We'll talk about it, plus an update on Wyatt Miller's dirt late model future, and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, March 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

A quick request from me off the top today. No matter where you are watching or listening to the show right now, please consider hitting that subscribe or follow button. Both are free to do, no matter whether you are on YouTube, Facebook, or a podcast platform. That's a sign to the platforms that they should keep sharing these episodes to new folks, and it will make sure you stay up to date on all things dirt racing. My goal for the year is 50,000 on both YouTube and Facebook, and we are getting closer, sitting at over 41k on YouTube, and nearing 31k on Facebook. Whether you subscribe or not, thanks for stopping by and hanging out for a few minutes. Alright, let's dive in.

Later this week when the Kubota High Limit sprint cars make their 2025 debut at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway dirt track, we already know there is going to be plenty of starpower in the field. Kyle Larson is expected to race both nights, we know Christopher Bell is back in Don Kreitz's 69K for at least one of the programs. Remember Bell won a World of Outlaws show in that car during DIRTcar Nationals, and he's now won three NASCAR Cup races in a row. And rumblings point to Ty Gibbs making his sprint car debut in a wing car for Chad Boat. They were spotted testing last week here near Charlotte. But earlier this week I got a message that another team potentially had some shenanigans afoot, and that they were bringing a second car to Las Vegas. And that team is the Ridge and Sons Racing operation. This group fielded two cars a season ago, one full time out with High Limit, and one that ran pick and choose. The drivers for those cars were obviously Cory Eliason and Aaron Reutzel. Eliason has since moved on to the TKS team, and Reutzel is sliding over to High Limit for the full pull. Last night, RSR put out a teaser post on social media showing a blacked out sprint car with the number 199 on the wing side panel. The obvious guess given the number is action sports star Travis Pastrana. And he'd be a solid guess, as we've seen him race on dirt before, and he's crazy enough to get in the seat of a 410 sprint car. Pastrana, if you might remember, raced a UMP modified at DIRTcar Nationals a few years ago, and he's made a bunch of NASCAR starts. The other name I was told that could be involved here is YouTuber Cleetus McFarland. Cleetus, whose actual name is Garrett Mitchell, made his ARCA debut at Daytona last month, and has garnered nearly 2 billion YouTube views documenting all of his automotive and motorsports adventures. He bought Desoto Speedway in Bradenton, Florida, and it's the home to his operation, which he now calls the Freedom Factory. And Mitchell got a bunch of attention, along with retired Cup driver Greg Biffle, for their work flying their helicopters around western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, delivering supplies and equipment to stranded residents. Digging in a bit yesterday trying to get some confirmation, I was told that Pastrana is involved, but he will not be racing. The biggest clues though of what's coming, is actually from RSR's post itself. Whoever created the graphic left us too much detail in the car itself, and with twisting some knobs in Photoshop, we can see pretty easily what's on it. The car is sponsored by Power Plus, which is a company that provides temporary power and rentals, and has backed Nitro Rally Cross and Pastrana in the past. And the wing cap on the car doesn't have a name, but it does read quote "Hell Yeah Brother," which is the sort of catchphrase if you will for McFarland. It's unclear to me whether Cleetus is actually going to participate in the racing, or if this is just an opportunity to get him in a car, get some attention, and create content. Outside of some hobby stock races at the Bristol Dirt Nationals a few years ago, he doesn't have much in the way of dirt experience. It's possible he's already tested a sprint car, but I don't know if that would be enough to satisfy High Limit's Mike Hess, who would need to sign off on Cleetus racing. Las Vegas is a big fast race track, and it might not be the best place to try and figure out a 410 sprint car for the first time. Kudos though to whoever is involved here in trying to bring some other eyes to this event. Pastrana and Cleetus both have big followings, and it's always good to try and find ways to grow the dirt racing audience. We will have more on the High Limit opener as the week progresses.

Some quick sprint cars at Las Vegas stats for you before we move on. The last time a big time, national touring sprint car series was at the Vegas dirt track was 2019 when it was part of the World of Outlaws schedule. Donny Schatz won four of the last six races there, with Tim Shaffer and Sheldon Haudenschild the other winners. Schatz's average finish over that six race span was an incredible 1.5. The next two highest drivers on that average finish list, are Kyle Larson, who was sixth and fifth there in 2019, and Brad Sweet. We'll see if the High Limit owners might have the leg up on the rest of the field later this week. You can find more stats like this over at dirtrackr.com/analytics.

Jumping back to a story we talked about several days ago, I wanted to update the Wyatt Miller dirt late model situation. If you don't know, the 13 year old driver is the son of Kelley Earnhardt Miller and LW Miller, he's Dale Earnhardt Jr's nephew, and Dale Earnhardt's grandson. Wyatt is a regular in micro sprint competition at Millbridge Speedway, and he tested a Longhorn affiliated dirt late model not long ago. The 604 car, out of the Whittier Motorsports shop, ran laps with Miller in the seat at Ultimate Motorsports Park, and as expected, the pairing will race together soon. FloRacing's Rob Blount spoke to Miller, and he revealed he's going to race the car at Natural Bridge Speedway in Virginia on April 26th. That appears to be a regular weekly show at the track. Natural Bridge is a 3/8 located about 45 minutes north and east of Roanoke. That Whittier team serves as the Longhorn Factory team for crate competition, and apparently this was all set up through Longhorn's Steve Arpin. Miller made is pavement late model debut this past weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway, where he finished second in a limited late model feature. That car was fielded by JR Motorsports. Miller has a golden driller from the Tulsa Shootout in 2024, and also races off road trucks. If you want to check out Millbridge, where Miller has raced a lot, their season is off and rolling already, and they are live each Tuesday and Wednesday night on DIRTVision. Plenty of future stars compete there each week, and you'll usually have some NASCAR guys racing as well.

Alright, that's your show for today. You do have some streaming options this week, like the aforementioned Millbridge racing, so don't forget to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see the full daily streaming schedule. All the important details, plus links to watch.

Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!