Mark McFarland

Mark M. McFarland (born February 1, 1978) is an American former NASCAR driver and current crew chief. He last worked for Spire Motorsports as the crew chief of their No. 77 Chevrolet SS in the ARCA Menards Series driven by Corey Day. In 2021, he won championships in both the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East with Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, respectively, as crew chief of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 car. In 2022, he and Smith won their second consecutive East Series championship, with the No. 18 car as a Kyle Busch Motorsports entry.

Racing career Early career

At the age of eight, McFarland began his racing career, racing go-karts. He earned a factory ride after his first year of racing. In 1994, his karting career ended with ten National Championships and fourteen state championships to his name.

At the end of 1995, McFarland started racing late models at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia. He was rookie of the year in 1996, and finished third in points. In the 1997 season, he captured nine wins, and 27 top-ten finishes, at several tracks throughout the south. He finished second at points at Old Dominion.

NASCAR Weekly series In 2003, driving an asphalt late model stock car, McFarland won sixteen of his eighteenth starts at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia. This earned him the national championship of the NASCAR Weekly Series, as well as the track championship.

As part of the 25th anniversary of the NASCAR Weekly Series in 2006, McFarland was named one of the series' All Time Top 25 drivers.

National series

In 1998, McFarland ran select NASCAR Busch Series events, along with fifteen late model races throughout the east coast. He qualified for several Busch Series events. In 1999, he did not run any NASCAR events, but finished fourth in points at Old Dominion, and set a new track and LMSC record of 15.222 (88.687 MPH), which still stands today. He continued to run late model and off and on Busch Series events through the 2003 season, when he won the national championship for LMSC in NASCAR. In 2004, he raced first for Jim Harris in the Craftsman Truck Series in the Harris Trucking Dodge. Then about mid season, he was picked to be one of the 4 Hungry Driver drivers in Tommy Baldwin Racing's No. 6 Busch Series Dodge's.

McFarland then moved into the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series in 2005 driving the Winfuel No. 32 Chevy for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ken Barlow hand-picked Jefferson Hodges as the teams crew chief, saying, "Jefferson did a fabulous job building and leading this new team with knowledge and a true craftsmanship".

In 2006, McFarland was hired to drive the No. 88 United States Navy Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch Series. He was injured while running in the top 10 at the Milwaukee Mile and missed the next two races at Daytona International Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway. He had dislocated his shoulder and also injured some of the muscles around it.

Following the Kroger 200, McFarland was released from his driving duties of the No. 88 U.S. Navy Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr. would drive the car in the next race at Watkins Glen International and Robby Gordon drove it in subsequent races at Michigan International Speedway and California Speedway. Shane Huffman, also from the Hooters Pro Cup Series, drove the remaining races in the No. 88.

Crew chiefing career McFarland served as a crew chief for Ben Rhodes when Rhodes won the 2014 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East season. For 2015, McFarland served as crew chief for Justin Haley's East Series team.

McFarland served as the general manager for his partly-owned team, MDM Motorsports, for two years. The team would close down prior to the 2019 season. McFarland would then join Joe Gibbs Racing as the team's crew chief for its ARCA Menards Series No. 18 car, driven by Riley Herbst, Ty Gibbs and Todd Gilliland. He won the 2021 main ARCA Series championship with Gibbs and the 2021 ARCA Menards Series East championship with Sammy Smith. In 2022, McFarland remained the crew chief of the No. 18 car in ARCA, now owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports. With Ty Gibbs moving up to the Xfinity Series full-time in 2022, Drew Dollar and Sammy Smith shared the car in the main ARCA Series and Smith drove the car full-time in the East Series. Smith and McFarland won their second consecutive East Series championship together that year.

On January 9, 2025, it was announced that McFarland would move to Spire Motorsports in 2025 to crew chief their new ARCA entry, the No. 77 car, driven by Corey Day, a Hendrick Motorsports development driver.

Personal life McFarland now lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia with his wife and three sons. He and his wife Kitty opened a Nothing Bundt Cakes bakery location in the town in 2023. They followed in the footsteps of NASCAR on Fox pit reporter Jamie Little, who is also a Nothing Bundt Cakes franchise owner in the Indianapolis area.

Motorsports career results NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series NASCAR Busch Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Pts Ref 1998 McFarland Racing 82 Chevy DAY CAR LVS NSV DAR BRI TEX HCY TAL NHA NZH CLT DOV RCH PPR GLN MLW MYB CAL SBO IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT GTY CAR ATL HOM 68th 265 2000 Petty-Huggins Motorsports 96 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSV TAL CAL RCH NHA CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO 111th 49 84 HOM 2001 Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Pontiac DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL RCH NHA NZH CLT DOV KEN MLW GLN CHI GTY PPR IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM PHO CAR HOM 103rd 103 2004 Tommy Baldwin Racing 6 Dodge DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL GTY RCH NZH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO DAR HOM 73rd 306 2005 JR Motorsports 88 Chevy DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL NSH BRI TEX PHO TAL DAR RCH CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 148th - 2006 DAY CAL MXC LVS ATL BRI TEX NSH PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA MAR GTY IRP GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 30th 1975

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2003 Green Light Racing 07 Chevy DAY DAR MMR MAR CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA CAL LVS SBO TEX 67th 306 Dean Motorsports 55 Dodge MAR PHO HOM 2004 HT Motorsports 59 Dodge DAY ATL MAR MFD CLT DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS CAL TEX MAR PHO DAR HOM 36th 603 2005 Ken Schrader Racing 52 Chevy DAY CAL ATL MAR GTY MFD CLT DOV TEX MCH MLW KAN KEN MEM IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA LVS MAR ATL 82nd 73 Green Light Racing 07 Chevy TEX PHO HOM

Camping World East Series NASCAR Camping World East Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts Ref 2007 Pete Knight 81 Chevy GRE ELK IOW SBO STA NHA TMP NSH ADI LRP MFD NHA DOV 67th 102 2008 GRE IOW SBO GLN NHA TMP NSH ADI LRP MFD NHA DOV STA 60th 134