{"id":527352,"date":"2026-03-10T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527352\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T18:32:10","slug":"denny-hamlin-reacts-to-slippery-slope-cleetus-mcfarland-rcr-deal-nascar-oreilly-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/527352\/","title":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin reacts to \u2018slippery slope\u2019 Cleetus McFarland RCR deal, NASCAR O\u2019Reilly debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denny Hamlin<\/a> weighed in on the growing debate surrounding Garrett Mitchell<\/a> entering NASCAR<\/a> competition. He suggests the situation highlights a broader issue with the sport\u2019s approval process.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental<\/a> podcast, Hamlin acknowledged<\/a> McFarland\u2019s attitude and humility. Still, he decided to question whether NASCAR\u2019s standards for approving drivers should be stricter.<\/p>\n

\u201cCleetus has been ultimately one of the most humble people,\u201d Hamlin said<\/a>. \u201cWhen I hear him do his serious interviews, like with Dale Earnhardt Jr.<\/a> and whatnot, he is very humble when it comes to these opportunities that he\u2019s getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Hamlin pointed to McFarland\u2019s recent NASCAR Truck Series debut at Daytona International Speedway as evidence that the learning curve remains steep: \u201cBut I watched him in that truck race at Daytona, and truthfully, he was out of control for all of the laps before he wrecked,\u201d Hamlin added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could just see it. I know the sport. I know what\u2019s in control and out of control. I was like, \u2018Oh man, this is not going to end well.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover, Hamlin\u2019s concern centers on how inexperienced drivers might affect competitors who are racing for championships: \u201cShould guys that are running full time for points, for championships, have to be potentially affected if he ends up spinning to the right and wiping out half the field, versus going to the left and only wiping himself out?\u201d Hamlin asked.<\/p>\n

All in all, the veteran driver believes NASCAR may need to revisit how it approves drivers to compete in its national series: \u201cI think the approval process in NASCAR probably needs some work. It needs to be more stringent,\u201d Hamlin explained. \u201cI think if you made the approval process more stringent, people would hire more off of talent than they would dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless, Hamlin acknowledged the issue is complicated though, given the financial realities teams face: \u201cNow, it would be tough on the car owners, because then they don\u2019t have anyone to support their business,\u201d Hamlin relented. \u201cSo this is a very, very tough slippery slope that we\u2019re on. But I really caution NASCAR on letting this get too far.\u201d<\/p>\n

All told, McFarland recently announced that he signed a deal with Richard Childress Racing to compete part-time in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series division. The wheelman\u2019s first race with the team is expected to come at Rockingham Speedway next month as he continues building experience behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys\u2026 I can\u2019t believe I get to say this, but I\u2019m officially a driver at Richard Childress Racing for the Oreilly\u2019s Series,\u201d McFarland wrote in a social media post. \u201cThis is a part time deal (3 races a year right now) but hopefully it grows into something bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the debate surrounding his rise through the ranks, McFarland has already begun expanding his racing r\u00e9sum\u00e9 with ARCA starts and NASCAR approval testing. His journey into the sport is far from finished, and Hamlin will be watching the whole way.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denny Hamlin weighed in on the growing debate surrounding Garrett Mitchell entering NASCAR competition. He suggests the situation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-527352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}