Creed Opens Haas Factory Chapter With Daytona Podium

Sheldon Creed in action at Daytona Int'l Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It still wasn’t a win like he’s been hoping for, but Sheldon Creed kicked his new NASCAR Xfinity Series chapter with Haas Factory Team off in solid fashion Saturday.

Creed finished third in the season-opening United Rentals 300 at Daytona Int’l Speedway, working well with teammate Sam Mayer throughout the race and getting to the lead three times for a combined seven laps along the way.

In fact, the duo was in position to pounce on an overtime restart, but saw leader Jesse Love shoehorn his way down in front of them after the final green flag and could never get enough momentum to make a run at the win.

A multi-car accident in the tri-oval just as Love flashed underneath the white flag to start the final lap forced a race-ending caution, leaving Creed to settle for a third-place finish just behind Love and Mayer.

Afterward as he reflected, Creed couldn’t find much that might have changed the final outcome.

“I don’t know what I could have done differently,” Creed admitted. “Getting control of the race, obviously, was so important. And I tried to. I tried to go by the (No.) 2 (Love) there with 15 or 20 to go … got by him once, and then got next to him another time and just didn't quite have the help out back that I needed.

“But the RCR cars were just really fast and [Love] could rebound really quickly … like, as I’d go by him, he could rebound and go right back by me instead of where it took me a couple laps to think it out,” he added. “Overall, I just tried to be aggressive and keep myself up front, and I thought we did all that well.

“I’m appreciative of everyone at Haas Factory Team and Friends of Jaclyn (Foundation). We had a really fast Ford Mustang Dark Horse all night.”

Creed was actually ahead of Mayer for a good portion of the closing laps, but got shuffled behind his teammate just before the multi-car incident with a lap-and-a-half left that set up overtime and never could rebound after that.

“I don’t know if he (Mayer) was sleeping on the next-to-last restart or what, but the 19 (William Sawalich) and 2 got clear of us before the middle of (turns) one and two,” Creed noted. “I’ll have to go back and watch the replay to see exactly what happened, but (not having a push when on the front row) definitely hurt my shot.

“I was going to try and help the 41 at the end, but it started getting messy into (turn) three (on the first lap of overtime), so I just tried to give myself what I thought was the best opportunity to create a run and try to win the race,” he continued. “Didn’t quite work out.”

Saturday was Creed’s 18th career top three in the Xfinity Series in his 104th start, making the Alpine, Calif., native far overdue for a victory in the series where he also holds the all-time record (13) for most runner-up finishes without a win.

What will it take to finally get over that hump after more than two years of close calls, heartbreaking losses, and frequent frustrations?

“Not having luck like that where the caution comes out as we cross the line (for the white flag), for starters,” Creed quipped. “I don’t know if anyone would have built a run at him on the last lap, but it would have been cool to see us try.

“If I can keep running like I did last year (at Joe Gibbs Racing) and be consistent, we’ll have a shot to do a lot of good things,” he added. “I feel like (all the Ford drivers) worked well together all night, so there are a lot of positives to take away from this one.”

Heading toward a second drafting track race to open the season in Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway, Creed believes that the majority of the field has figured out what it takes to be successful in the current era of Xfinity Series superspeedway racing.

“I think everyone is kind of catching on. If you marry yourself too much to your manufacturer cars or your teammates, you just get passed,” he explained. “So, we’re just trying to change the approach a little bit with our teammates and attack more, and I think handling will be a little more of an issue (at Atlanta) where it’s really not as big here at Daytona.

“Just happy with another good start to a season and ready to get through Atlanta and get to real racetracks after that.”

Creed leaves Daytona as the early Xfinity Series point leader, with a nine-point edge over race winner Jesse Love after earning 17 stage points in addition to his third-place finish.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series season continues Saturday, Feb. 22 at Atlanta with the running of the Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250. Austin Hill swept both Xfinity Series races at the track last year.