Sheldon Creed finally becomes 6th O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race winner with SST experience

It’s been an agonizing five years for Sheldon Creed, but he can finally call himself a winner in NASCAR’s second division. In doing so, he also becomes the sixth driver to race in the Stadium Super Trucks and win in what is now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

Saturday’s Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at EchoPark Speedway (still colloquially called by its old name Atlanta Motor Speedway) brought the usual hijinks to be expected out of a drafting track. This extended to the final lap, when Austin Hill was clipped by Ross Chastain while trying to defend his lead as they entered Turn 3.

Creed stuck to the outside and slipped by. While the win might’ve fallen into his lap, he sure as hell was going to take it after all he’s been through.

After winning the 2020 NASCAR Truck Series title and eight times in the third rung, he moved up to the Xfinity Series in 2022 but could never find his way to Victory Lane. He spent five seasons with three different teams, and all he had to show across his 133 starts was the very dubious series record of 15 runner-up finishes. It was obvious Creed had the pace though something always seemed to go wrong for him late, whether it be a DNF or an error on his part or simply being outclassed by a superior driver.

Atlanta looked to be the lattermost. Hill is statistically the greatest driver in NORAPS history on drafting tracks and was coming off winning the season opener at Daytona. Creed kept pace with him in the closing 50 laps but couldn’t get by him until the red flag came out with ten laps remaining. Chastain and Hill comprised the front row for the green flag, while Creed restarted fourth and behind Chastain on the outside. As the laps ticked down, Creed slowly got shuffled back while Chastain and Hill fought for the lead.

With two laps to go, Creed got some drafting help on the outside from Parker Retzlaff to get back up to third. Alas, it seemed like his only reward was an audience to Chastain and Hill’s duel as they took the white flag. And then, the rest was history.

“I’ve been a loser the last few years and just kept showing up,” Creed said after the win. “Not how you draw it up, when you win a Truck championship and win races and go to Xfinity and go four years winless. […]

“I don’t know if one win will revive my career, but maybe if I win a few this year, it will. Probably going to drink a ton of Coors Lights tonight.”

Naturally, his friends from the off-road world were ecstatic.

“Heck yea,” wrote fellow short course alumnus Brock Heger.

RJ Anderson commented, “Let’s go!”, while Casey Currie had a simple “Awesome!!!” and Nick Isenhouer a “YOOOO!!!!!!”.

“That’s a good dude right there. Also one heck of an off-road racer,” remarked UTV Source’s Rick DeWeese.

Creed’s mentor Robby Gordon was busy with the Parker Dam 500, but certainly had every reason to be happy to see his protégé finally get it done. As SST’s founder, Gordon is the only other driver to win a race in both the Stadium Super Trucks and NASCAR’s second division (Gordon officially has just one win at Richmond in 2004, though real ones know he won Montreal in 2007 too). Creed, a two-time SST champion, holds the most victories in series history with 39 before committing to stock cars.

Only three other drivers have experience in SST and have also won in the Busch-slash-Nationwide-slash-Xfinity-slash-O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The late Greg Biffle, who racked up four SST podiums, won the 2002 Busch title and 20 races. Kenny Wallace won nine times in the Busch Series before doing an SST one-off at Charlotte in 2016.

Casey Mears claimed the 2006 Busch event at Chicagoland. 13 years later, he was very close to joining Creed and Gordon’s company when he finished second in the 2019 SST Mid-Ohio NASCAR weekend’s Race 1 to—ironically enough—Gordon.

Boris Said, winner of the 2010 Nationwide race at Montreal, failed to qualify for the SST final at X Games Austin 2015.

While he doesn’t count since he never did an SST race proper, Justin Allgaier is an honorable mention. The 2024 Xfinity champion joined SST practice at Mid-Ohio in 2021.

21 drivers in total have raced in both SST and a NASCAR national series, and that number is set to become 22 when Adam Andretti does the Craftsman Truck race at St. Petersburg next week.

Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
1400Sheldon CreedHaas Factory TeamChevrolet163Running
22399Parker RetzlaffViking MotorsportsChevrolet163Running
32825Nick SanchezAM RacingFord163Running
4917Corey DayHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet163Running
5102Jesse LoveRichard Childress RacingChevrolet163Running
63032Ross Chastain*Jordan Anderson RacingChevrolet163Running
7141Sam MayerHaas Factory TeamChevrolet163Running
8688Rajah CaruthHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet163Running
9354Taylor GrayJoe Gibbs RacingToyota163Running
101520Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota163Running
111726Dean ThompsonSam Hunt RacingToyota163Running
122021Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet163Running
131448Patrick StaropoliBig Machine Racing TeamChevrolet163Running
14290Garrett SmithleySS-Green Light Racing / BRK RacingChevrolet163Running
153507Josh BilickiSS-Green Light RacingChevrolet163Running
162527Jeb BurtonJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet163Running
173755Chad Finchum*Joey Gase MotorsportsChevrolet163Running
183842Nick Leitz*Young’s MotorsportsChevrolet163Running
193344Brennan PooleAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet163Running
20275Luke FenhausHettinger RacingFord162Running
213187Austin GreenPeterson RacingChevrolet162Running
222602Ryan EllisYoung’s MotorsportsChevrolet161Running
23518William SawalichJoe Gibbs RacingToyota161Running
24719Giovanni Ruggiero*Joe Gibbs RacingToyota160Running
252496Anthony AlfredoViking MotorsportsChevrolet160Running
261991Mason MaggioDGM Racing / Jesse Iwuji MotorsportsChevrolet155Engine
272192Josh WilliamsDGM Racing / Jesse Iwuji MotorsportsChevrolet151Accident
283445Lavar ScottAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet150Accident
293251Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet149Running
3088Sammy SmithJR MotorsportsChevrolet141Accident
313630Cody Ware*Barrett–Cope RacingChevrolet120Suspension
3221Carson KvapilJR MotorsportsChevrolet106Accident
33117Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet106Accident
341635Joey GaseJoey Gase MotorsportsChevrolet39Engine
351324Harrison BurtonSam Hunt RacingToyota8DVP
362231Blaine PerkinsJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet6DVP
371239Ryan SiegRSS RacingChevrolet4Accident
381828Kyle SiegRSS RacingChevrolet4Accident
DNQDNQ74Dawson CramMike Harmon RacingChevroletN/ADNQ
* – Not racing for points

Featured image credit: Sean Gardner / Getty Images

Leave a comment