Mark M. McFarland (born February 1, 1978) is a former NASCAR driver who worked for Kyle Busch Motorsports as the crew chief for their No. 18 car in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East. In 2021, he won championships in both series with Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith, respectively. In 2022, he and Smith won their second consecutive East Series championship. Mark now lives in Harrisonburg VA with his wife and 4 sons. He and his wife opened a bakery named "Nothing Bundt Cakes."

Mark McFarland
McFarland at Naval Air Facility El Centro in 2006
BornMark M. McFarland
(1978-02-01) February 1, 1978 (age 46)
Winchester, Virginia, U.S.
Achievements2003 Dodge Weekly Series Champion
2008 Hooters Pro Cup Series Southern Division Champion
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
31 races run over 6 years
Best finish30th (2006)
First race1998 Gumout Long Life Formula 200 (Loudon)
Last race2006 Kroger 200 (IRP)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
11 races run over 3 years
Best finish36th (2004)
First race2003 Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)
Last race2005 Silverado 350K (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 1 0
Statistics current as of November 25, 2012.

Racing career

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Early career

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McFarland's first LMSC win in 1996

At the age of eight, he 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 10 National Championships and 14 State Championships to his name.

At the end of 1995, he 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 9 wins, and 27 top 10 finishes, at several tracks throughout the south. He finished second at points at Old Dominion.

NASCAR

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Weekly series

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In 2003, driving an asphalt Late Model Stock Car McFarland won 16 of his 18 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.[1]

National series

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McFarland's 1998 Carolina Shoe Chevy
 
McFarland when he drove for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
 
McFarland piloting the No. 88 in 2006

In 1998, he ran select NASCAR Busch Series events, along with 15 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.

He 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, he 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

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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.

He 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.

Motorsports career results

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NASCAR

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

Busch Series

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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 NBSC Pts Ref
1998 McFarland Racing 82 Chevy DAY CAR LVS NSV DAR BRI TEX HCY TAL NHA
37
NZH
29
CLT DOV RCH
29
PPR GLN MLW
34
MYB CAL SBO IRP
DNQ
MCH BRI DAR RCH
DNQ
DOV CLT GTY CAR ATL HOM 68th 265 [2]
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
38
DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO 111th 49 [3]
84 HOM
DNQ
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
20
DOV KAN CLT MEM PHO CAR HOM 103rd 103 [4]
2004 Tommy Baldwin Racing 6 Dodge DAY CAR LVS DAR BRI TEX NSH TAL CAL GTY RCH NZH CLT
22
DOV
23
NSH KEN MLW DAY CHI NHA PPR IRP MCH BRI CAL RCH
16
DOV KAN CLT MEM ATL PHO DAR HOM 73rd 306 [5]
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
20
148th - [6]
2006 DAY
22
CAL
30
MXC
15
LVS
27
ATL
15
BRI
31
TEX
23
NSH
33
PHO
16
TAL
7
RCH
34
DAR
18
CLT
33
DOV
30
NSH
22
KEN
26
MLW
33
DAY CHI NHA
11
MAR
16
GTY
25
IRP
17
GLN MCH BRI CAL RCH DOV KAN CLT MEM TEX PHO HOM 30th 1975 [7]

Craftsman Truck Series

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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 NCTC 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
12
NHA CAL LVS SBO TEX 67th 306 [8]
Dean Motorsports 55 Dodge MAR
15
PHO HOM
34
2004 HT Motorsports 59 Dodge DAY ATL MAR
21
MFD
6
CLT
28
DOV
35
TEX MEM
33
MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP
29
NSH
29
BRI RCH
DNQ
NHA LVS CAL TEX MAR PHO DAR HOM 36th 603 [9]
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
DNQ
82nd 73 [10]
Green Light Racing 07 Chevy TEX
30
PHO HOM

Camping World East Series

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NASCAR Camping World East Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NCWESC Pts Ref
2007 Pete Knight 81 Chevy GRE ELK IOW SBO STA NHA TMP NSH ADI LRP MFD NHA
22
DOV 67th 102 [11]
2008 GRE IOW
10
SBO GLN NHA TMP NSH ADI LRP MFD NHA DOV STA 60th 134 [12]

After Racing

After the 2022 season Mark left racing. He and his wife, Kitty, moved to Harrisonburg, VA to open a "Nothing Bundt Cakes" franchise, joining Fox NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little (Indianapolis area) as a franchise owner.[13]

References

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  1. ^ Schaefer, Paul. Where Stars Are Born: Celebrating 25 Years of NASCAR Weekly Racing, pp. 163-170. Coastal 181, Newburyport, Massachusetts: 2006; ISBN 0-9789261-0-2
  2. ^ "Mark McFarland – 1998 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  3. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  4. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2001 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  5. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2004 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  6. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2005 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  7. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2006 NASCAR Busch Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  8. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  9. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  10. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  11. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2007 NASCAR Busch East Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  12. ^ "Mark McFarland – 2008 NASCAR Camping World East Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  13. ^ "Co-Owner of Nothing Bundt Cakes Leaves NASCAR for Bakery Life".
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