By most measures, it’s been a good year for Sheldon Creed. Through the first 21 races, he’s won two poles and finished in the top five 10 times. But he remains winless. When will he get that first win? Will it ever happen?
He’s now eclipsed Dale Jarrett and Daniel Hemric‘s record for second-place finishes prior to a win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Jarrett and Hemric each had 10, and with a runner-up finish last weekend (Aug. 17) at Michigan International Speedway, Creed is now up to 11.
Hours before the race at Michigan, it was announced that Creed and Sam Mayer would move over to Haas Factory team starting in 2025. So for the second consecutive season, Creed is about to have a change of scenery.
When he spent two winless seasons with Richard Childress Racing, nobody thought much of it. Sure, Austin Hill was winning races with RCR, but he must’ve just been getting the better equipment, or so fans thought.
Coming over to Joe Gibbs Racing for 2024, the expectation was that Creed would break out. A handful of wins was a safe bet. All those close calls at RCR? Those would be wins with the superior cars furnished by JGR.
After a second-place run to open the season at Daytona International Speedway, with the way the final lap unfolded, your humble author chose controversy. The first in-season edition of the Eyes on Xfinity column in 2024 was titled “Is Sheldon Creed a Choke Artist?“
A lot of people were upset about the column. I won’t sit here and tell you the column was perfect by any means. Despite some words I wouldn’t mind having back, the general premise of the column was that Creed has repeatedly seen defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. These repeated instances, which I went through in the column, painted the picture and teed up the question. How much of this should be pinned on Creed’s own actions behind the wheel and inside the helmet?
Numerous readers, understandably, expected the column to look increasingly foolish with time and age like warm milk. Since Daytona, Creed has added three more seconds, a third, three fourths, and two fifths. But the win has continued to elude him. That column has aged … better than expected.
Creed’s teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing have claimed seven wins through 21 races so far. Chandler Smith has two wins, part-time drivers Ryan Truex and Aric Almirola each have one. Toyota Cup drivers John Hunter Nemechek and Christopher Bell have the rest. Who would’ve guessed that we’d be this far into the season and all those drivers would have wins while Creed was nursing a record-breaking streak of runner-ups?
I’ve watched repeatedly, hoping he would break through. The suspense is deafening. I imagine most fans are right there with me in spirit. We don’t like to see this continue. The man has been running well and is generally viewed as a good guy on and off the track, yet the close calls and second thoughts persist.
After the race at Michigan, Creed told Frontstretch his thoughts on breaking the record.
“It’s not fun,” Creed said. “It’s not a record you want.”
“Twitter/X will have fun with it, saying I can only finish second, I can’t win. I look forward to reading all those,” he quipped.
He’s managed to keep his head held high in public. So why hasn’t it happened yet? When will it happen?
It could be as soon as this coming weekend at Daytona. Creed has been so good at the drafting tracks, he boasts an average finish of 3.5 so far this year at Daytona, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway and Michigan. No wins but still, an average finish of 3.5. It’s incredible. At some point he has to break through.
Daytona is an unpredictable place. So if it doesn’t happen this weekend, he still has Darlington Raceway, Atlanta and Watkins Glen International dead ahead on the schedule. All of those tracks are good suitors to become the place for his first win, based on recent performances.
But the truth is, it really could come anywhere. In the closing laps at Dover Motor Speedway (April 27) it was Creed’s race to lose. He’s been good at all different types of tracks. The failure to win has been an anomaly.
He’s repeatedly put a positive spin on things in his post race interviews, saying the right things about great points days and the increasing inevitability of one or more wins with the way they’re running. But you have to wonder how much pressure he has from outside, and internally, and how that pressure might manifest in the closing laps of these races.
These next four events could see the Alpine, Calif., native get into the win column more than once. He has the team and the talent to do it. He just needs some luck and a reclamation of the clutch factor he displayed in the Craftsman Truck Series, where he won eight races and a championship.
This whole ordeal has a lot of parallels to what Hemric went through. He had driven for RCR and been close many times, before moving to JGR. He won poles, piled up the top fives and led a lot of laps, but remained winless. It wasn’t until the championship race at Phoenix Raceway that he broke through and got his first win in the series, which happened to also result in winning the 2021 Xfinity Championship.
Could Creed do the same? Absolutely. The series is pretty wide open right now. Justin Allgaier seems the most likely bet to make it to Phoenix with a shot at the title. Shane van Gisbergen has a wealth of playoff points in the bank, but his oval performance hasn’t yet risen to a level where we can count on him to be there. Gibbs teammate Smith is as good a bet as any, and you can never count out Cole Custer, the reigning champion.
But there is plenty of room for Creed to join them there, and if he gets there, he might just pull a Hemric. He’s been very good at Phoenix, with five top fives in six starts, including (shudders) a runner-up finish there to end last season.
With the current playoff format, there exists one scenario that would take the cake. Creed could potentially make it to Phoenix and finish second behind a driver who isn’t in the championship hunt. In that event, he would win the championship while remaining winless. Goodness, let’s hope that doesn’t happen. But if it does, hey, a champion is a champion.
Creed has a bright future in NASCAR. Sponsorship does not appear to be a problem, as he has a quality full-time ride lined up for next season. He has got to get the monkey off his back though, as soon as possible. That monkey is going to keep getting heavier until he does.
Until that win comes, Creed has now moved into a typical status of an underdog who runs up front week in and week out. Jokes have been made, laughs have been had and others have went to victory lane, time and time again.
It’s like he went through a hazing ritual, and now we just want to see him succeed. When he does, you can expect to see an outpouring of love and support, with competitors and fans alike showing their appreciation for the grind and the toll in trying to just take the lid off the basket, close the deal, and start putting wins on the board.
The 26-year-old is going to eventually have things go his way if he keeps putting himself in position, and he knows it. Buckle up, it might be a bumpy ride, but he isn’t going anywhere, and the win is coming.
“I’m gonna keep fighting, keep showing up every week,” Creed said. “I’m gonna win. I don’t know honestly how I haven’t yet.”
About the author
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.
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