Pastrana, McFarland Approach Daytona With Biffle And Winning On Minds

Travis Pastrana and Cleetus McFarland will be teammates at Niece Motorsports in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. While both will do everything they can to win, both are appreciative of the opportunity, and are thinking of their friend Greg Biffle.

Travis Pastrana heads down pit road during NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice at Daytona International Speedway. | Ricky Martinez | Racing America On SI

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida -- The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a division typically filled with tons of personality, as NASCAR's third-tier series serves as a feeder system for young developmental drivers and a home for veteran drivers looking to keep their racing dreams alive. However, never before has the NASCAR Truck Series seen two personalities in the field, at the same time, like it will have this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Cleetus McFarland, the alter ego of Garrett Mitchell, and Travis Pastrana will serve as teammates for Niece Motorsports on Friday in the Fresh From Florida 250, and the general feeling from both drivers is one of thankfulness and appreciation for their sponsors, Black Rifle Coffee Co., and BRUNT Workwear, for helping them take their place on Daytona's grand stage.

"Dude, this is so much fun," Pastrana, an action-sports superstar, said in an exclusive interview with Racing America On SI. "Every year, I come down for fun, or whatever, but we're here literally because our sponsors want to be a part of it."

For Pastrana, he feels almost like he's won this weekend's race before he's even taken the green flag in the Fresh From Florida 250.

"They want to bring down veterans, some of their employees. We're already -- I shouldn't say we're already winning -- but we're already, our job is done, regardless of being on the track," Pastrana stated. "And that's a testament to NASCAR, and a testament to everything, a testament that everybody wants to be down here at Daytona to watch this event."

McFarland is a 30-year-old YouTuber who cuts the sleeves off his t-shirts and, as Pastrana found out during a media availability on Thursday, the sleeves of his friends.

McFarland's path to the NASCAR National Series ranks is already incredible enough, by just looking at his outgoing and wild personality. But then you have to factor in that, unlike most of the field, he wasn't racing go-karts at four years old. While he did eventually catch the racing bug like everyone else in the garage, his infection came much later in life than most drivers, who ever get the chance at racing in NASCAR.

It's not lost on McFarland how his path to NASCAR is as wild as his influencer personality.

"It's crazy. Like, I don't believe it at all. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world," McFarland said.

So, what spurned McFarland's choice to go stock car racing? His paths crossed with Greg Biffle, a NASCAR legend, through races at the Freedom Factory, a race track that McFarland owns in Bradenton, FL. After meeting Biffle, McFarland knew he had to find a way into the sport.

"I always just loved racing cars. I didn't really have a competitive attraction to it," McFarland said of his days as Garrett Mitchell. "But drag racing, you know, you just really have to beat the guy next to you, and that progresses. And then, really, until I met [Greg Biffle], I didn't take stock car racing that seriously, besides the Crown Vic races, which I just wanted to win the prize, you know? But now, I've got to win some big stock car races, that would be so sick, especially at Daytona or Talladega, and I don't know, it just snowballed on its own."

Biffle, who tragically passed away, along with his wife, two children, and three others in a December plane crash in Statesville, NC, was an inspiration to many in the NASCAR garage, including Pastrana, who raced at RFK Racing, then known as Roush Fenway Racing, in what is now known as the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.

According to Pastrana, as a driver trying to learn how to drive a stock car, he was always blown away by Biffle's driving talent.

"I didn't know a lot about NASCAR and the intricacies of it," Pastrana recalled when he joined Roush. "And when we started going over data, Greg, and this comes across wrong, I've got to change the wording, but I always called him foot to the floor Jesus. Because he was on the gas when nobody else was on the gas. He would burn off the rear tires, and just somehow kept it out of the wall. Because he, when I watched it on TV I just didn't see, because he's not into the wall very often, he kept it out of trouble, but he was always sideways."

Pastrana says after he drifted away from NASCAR, he lost connection with Biffle. However, once Biffle took McFarland under his wing, Pastrana got a chance to reconnect, and what he saw was a completely different person than the hard-nosed, laser-focused NASCAR driver he knew at Roush Fenway Racing.

"We were in Connecticut. We got to sit and hang out, and it was almost like a whole new Biff," Pastrana said. "He wasn't as stressed."

McFarland added, "[Biffle] Wasn't in race mode. He was in a point in his life, where he had a family, he had made his money, he didn't have any obligations. He had full freedom."

Both drivers will have Biffle on their minds as they attack the high-banks of Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening, and their trucks will be outfitted with Biffle's stylized number font that he used on his No. 16 Roush Ford throughout his career.

Biffle will be on their minds, but their eyes will be on the ultimate prize, a win at Daytona International Speedway. And if either McFarland or Pastrana wins the race, the world may not be ready for the celebration.

"If we win this race, if either of us wins this race, there might not be a single blade of grass left in the infield," McFarland quipped. "Tandem burnout, obviously, right? Even if one of us gets 35th, and the other wins."

McFarland continued, "Literally, there is such a good possibility of Travis or me finishing 1st or us both finishing 34th and 38th. Like, I don't see how we could possibly finish between those two numbers."

So, it'll likely be checkers or wreckers for McFarland and Pastrana.

McFarland, who wasn't approved to compete in this event until he conducted a NASCAR-mandated test at Rockingham Speedway earlier this week, says that he was surprised that he had to run the test considering he had competed in superspeedway events in the ARCA Menards Series a season ago, and finished inside the top-10 in the race at Talladega.

However, once he was done with the test, McFarland was actually happy he was required to conduct the test.

"Yeah, I was like this is some political BS," McFarland said of his initial reaction to the test. "But then I was like, I'm so glad they made me do this, because I got some seat time in the truck. I got to feel it out. Classic driver, you know, just bitching about it, but 100% worth it."

How will the Niece Motorsports duo of McFarland and Pastrana do in Friday night's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fresh From Florida 250? That remains to be seen, but regardless, both drivers are extremely thankful for the opportunity ahead of them, and win, lose, or draw, they plan to have the best time imaginable on the path to whatever finish they are credited with.

The Fresh From Florida 250 at Daytona International Speedway is set for Friday, February 13 and will be televised on FS1. Television coverage of the race will begin at 7:30 PM ET.