Sheldon Creed experienced a mix of emotions following Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. What initially appeared to be a victory slipped away, resulting in a third-place finish for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, while his teammate, Christopher Bell, crossed the finish line first. Despite leading 30 of the 150 laps at Darlington Raceway, Creed’s race took a turn for the worse due to a slower pit stop that cost him valuable positions.
Creed’s journey to success began with his first career victory in the Truck Series at Kentucky Speedway in July 2020. This win was followed by a series of impressive performances, including triumphs at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Texas Motor Speedway, and ultimately the Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. In addition to securing the 2020 Truck Series championship, Creed has amassed a total of eight wins in the series. This year, he took on a new challenge by joining Joe Gibbs Racing as a full-time Xfinity Series driver.
During the Darlington race, Creed was in a strong position to win after passing Christopher Bell with just nine laps remaining. However, a late-race caution led to overtime and an additional round of pit stops. Creed entered pit road as the leader, but a slight delay in changing his right rear tire caused him to exit in third place, positioning him on the second row for the restart.
In a post-race interview with Frontstretch, Creed expressed his initial optimism, saying, “I was optimistic at first. My pit crew had been really good all day. I figured we would come in first and leave first. I needed to at least probably be on the front row for a green-white-checkered like that. Just did my best with restarting fourth like that.”
Reflecting on the outcome, Creed shared his disappointment, stating, “I’m obviously really bummed because today was our day, and I felt like I put in one of my best performances. To have a caution like that ruin, it sucks.”
Despite the race not ending as Creed had hoped, the 26-year-old driver secured his tenth top-five finish of the season. His No. 18 team also achieved two of the three fastest pit stops during the race, and Creed earned a race-high 50 points. Currently, he holds the fifth position in the NASCAR Xfinity standings with 704 points.
Creed also took time to reflect on the experience of racing against his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, who is known for his nine race wins in the Cup Series. Speaking about the experience, Creed said, “Yeah, I mean, that’s awesome, right? To pass Christopher Bell, [who’s] at the top of Cup right now, it’s pretty cool to do. I’ve got a lot of haters that say I can’t do it. I feel like maybe today I proved them wrong a little bit.”
With only three races remaining before the NASCAR Xfinity Series kicks off the Round of 12 at Kansas Speedway on September 28, the competition is heating up. Next week, the Xfinity Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Focused Health 250. The 163-lap event is scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM ET and will be broadcast on USA, with live radio updates available on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“Today was our day”: Sheldon Creed left disappointed after Christopher Bell takes away Xfinity win at Darlington
