Sheldon Creed isn’t in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Chase to finish second.
The driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet, who went a staggering 137 races without winning a single event in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, now has three victories in his last 26 starts after winning Friday’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Creed, who had spent most of the night hovering just outside the top-five, was the beneficiary of a four-tire pit call made by crew chief Jonathan Toney inside the race’s final 20 laps, which allowed him, when the green flag dropped, to slice through the leaders as they battled each other fiercely for the victory.
The Ollie’s Bargain Outlet-sponsored machine had driven into the second position by the time the race was thrown into NASCAR Overtime by an accident involving Ryan Sieg, and Chase drivers Parker Retzlaff and Corey Day.
With tires nearly 100 laps newer than that of race-leader William Sawalich, the restart and pass for the victory was easy work, as Creed glided to the inside of the Joe Gibbs Racing driver in Turns 1 and 2 and almost instantly took the lead away from the youngster in the No. 18.
“Just a great call by my crew chief and engineer to put tires on there and great pit stop by my guys to get me out first to be the first one on tires,” Creed said post-race. “To be honest, I wasn’t really good all night. Struggled with the balance of our Ollie’s Chevrolet. Man, just hats off to these guys, we just never give up.”
Creed entered the night with a three-point advantage over Justin Allgaier, and by virtue of picking up the victory, expands his advantage to 11 points heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. While the Alpine, California-native leads the points, he’s still weary of calling himself the favorite.
“I don’t know if it makes us the title favorite, there’s a long way to go,” Creed exclaimed. “Six to go, and yeah, I thought we were going to just lose some points tonight. I think winning kind of helps us salvage that a bit. I like to think we’re a favorite. If not, we’re at least talked about now.”
William Sawalich and Brent Crews, the teammates from Joe Gibbs Racing that narrowly missed out o qualifying for the Chase, finished second and third. Crews, like race-winner Sheldon Creed, put four tires on his No. 19 YoungLife Toyota GR Supra. Justin Allgaier had to settle for fourth after battling for the win late with Jesse Love – arguably a sore spot for the championship favorite.
Utilizing the new tire strategy, Corey Day rounded out the top five. Taylor Gray, who also duked it out with Jesse Love and Justin Allgaier for the win late, finished sixth, with Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Dean Thompson, and Sammy Smith rounding out the top-10.
In 11th, Jake Finch picked up a career-best result in the No. 9 for JR Motorsports. Logan Bearden (18th) also collected a career-best in the No. 42 for Young’s Motorsports.
Leaving Bristol, Sheldon Creed leads Justin Allgaier by 11 points. Carson Kvapil sits third in standings, 37 points back, with Jesse Love in fourth, 41 back. The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to competition in two weeks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
