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With Sheldon Creed finishing P2 at Bristol, the dry spell for a race win continues heading to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs. However, the driver remains optimistic, saying that the No. 18 team will pick up a win "one of these days."
Sheldon Creed competes full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing. The No. 18 Toyota Supra driver finished in second six times this season and 13 times in his Xfinity career.
During an interview via Frontstretch, Creed was asked about his thoughts on his runner-up finishes, which the reporter described as a “blessing and a curse.”
“I think that our momentum is great. We’re really consistent so we need to keep that up. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s not a cool record but we’ll win one of these days,” Creed said [0:56].
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According to the California native, he got tighter and tighter towards the end of the race, resulting in hitting the wall about three or four times. Creed was passed by Cole Custer on lap 209 and took home the victory, crossing the checkered flag 0.896 seconds ahead of him.
Creed congratulated Custer for the win, adding,
“Hats off to double zero [the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang of Cole Custer]. He did a really good job getting through that traffic. I thought I did too. I got through some of them pretty quick […] yeah, I don’t know. I just needed that little bit better at turn 2 to really compete with them at the end,” Creed remarked (at 2:00).
The top 10 finishers at the Food City 300 are Cole Custer, Sheldon Creed, Chandler Smith, Jesse Love, Ryan Truex, Brandon Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg, Sam Mayer, and AJ Allmendinger, respectively.
Despite failing to score a P1 finish, Creed has still qualified for the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs on points. He is joined by JGR teammate Chandler Smith in the playoff grid after securing a spot with two victories at Phoenix and Richmond.
Sheldon Creed had back-to-back P2 finishes heading to the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs
Sheldon Creed entered the Bristol race with a runner-up finish at The Mission 200 at The Glen last week. He crossed the line under caution behind Connor Zilisch, an 18-year-old driver who just made his debut in the Xfinity Series.
In an interview with NASCAR veteran reporter Bob Pockrass on September 15, the Toyota driver reflected on his winless season and said:
“Yeah, I mean, obviously you want to win before this point, which we've been close, but close isn't winning... I feel like we've been one of the more consistent teams lately. So we just need to keep that up. Yeah, I think we can make a deep run at it,” Creed said last week.
Sheldon Creed's six P2 finishes this season came at Daytona, Sonoma, New Hampshire, Michigan, Watkins Glen, and now Bristol. He also had two pole positions recorded at Pocono and Michigan but were converted into a top-5 finish only.
The next stop will be at Kansas Speedway for the first race of the Round of 12.
