Sheldon Creed wins Chase opener at Darlington, closes championship gap

DARLINGTON, S.C. – It took 138 races for Sheldon Creed to finally claim his first career NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory at Atlanta this February. On Saturday night, he earned his second trophy — and the timing couldn’t be better with the Californian opening the nine-race Chase for the season championship with a visit to Victory Lane in the Fleetio 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Creed took the lead after his crew delivered a fast pit stop putting his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet in front of the field for a restart with 49 laps remaining. The 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champ took it from there and held the lead all the way to the checkered flag, crossing the finish line 2.961 seconds ahead of Hendrick Motorsports rookie Corey Day, who also turned in an impressive effort in the Chase opener.

Over his career, Creed has been especially good at the famed 1.366-mile Darlington oval known as the track “Too Tough to Tame.” His work Saturday was his seventh top-10 finish in nine Darlington starts. He was runner-up on the track in 2022 and earned two truck race Darlington wins in 2021.

“I’ve wanted this O’Reilly win here and to finally get that is incredible,” Creed, 29, said, acknowledging his team tried a different strategy early in the race that got him close enough to the front to benefit from the clutch pit stop.

“It ended up working out well and (I) was able to get (into) second, and the pit crew did a great job getting us out in the lead. Was able to control it from there. Was just praying for no cautions. Very thankful.”

Four of the 12 Chase-eligible drivers finished in the top five. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brent Crews was third. Although he’s not eligible for the driver’s title, the finish was crucial as Crews’ No. 19 JGR Toyota is running for the owner’s championship.

Chase drivers Sammy Smith (JR Motorsports) and Austin Hill (Richard Childress Racing) were fourth and fifth, respectively, in their Chevrolets.

JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, the regular-season champion, led a race-best 60 of the 147 laps and ran among the top five for most of the race. But his No. 7 Chevrolet hit the wall with 23 laps remaining while he was trying to rally from fourth place. He had to nurse the car home in the closing laps and ultimately finished 17th, snapping a 10-race streak of top-10 finishes at the track.

More importantly, the frustrating finish at a track where he’s won four times cut his lead atop the championship standings from 35 points going into the race to only seven points ahead of Creed with eight races remaining to crown the champ.

Allgaier, a series-best six-race winner this season, had held a massive 229-point advantage in the

standings before the points were reset for this run to the championship.

“Our Chevrolet was really good tonight and I felt like when we were out front there we were able to save the tires, really cruise and our pace was really good,” said Allgaier, the 2024 series champion, who won Stage 1.

“And then somewhere in the middle of that second stage, I started to feel like we weren’t as good as we needed to be and the last part of the race there, we just didn’t have the car that we needed at the end. And obviously, I was just trying to hang on and do everything I could.”

Viking Motorsports driver Anthony Alfredo finished sixth followed by Chase drivers Taylor Gray and Creed’s teammate Sam Mayer. South Carolina native Jeremy Clements, who is not championship-eligible, finished ninth for his fourth top-10 showing of the year.

Chase driver Brandon Jones rounded out the top 10. Other title-eligible drivers Parker Retzlaff and Rajah Caruth were 21st and 26th, respectively.

JR Motorsports’ Carson Kvapil is now third in points, 19 points off Allgaier’s pace. Hill is fourth, 36 points back and Day is now fifth, 46 points off the pace.

“Still a long way to go but need to keep finishing toward the front and scoring every point we can,” Creed said.

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series returns to action for race two of the Chase next Saturday in the Nu Way 225 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill. (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Current NASCAR Cup Series rookie Connor Zilisch is the defending race winner.

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Race – Fleetio 200

Darlington Raceway

Darlington, South Carolina

Saturday, September 5, 2026

1. (13) Sheldon Creed (C), Chevrolet, 147.

2. (14) Corey Day (C), Chevrolet, 147.

3. (8) Brent Crews # (C), Toyota, 147.

4. (11) Sammy Smith (C), Chevrolet, 147.

5. (6) Austin Hill (C), Chevrolet, 147.

6. (12) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 147.

7. (7) Taylor Gray (C), Toyota, 147.

8. (5) Sam Mayer (C), Chevrolet, 147.

9. (15) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, 147.

10. (3) Brandon Jones (C), Toyota, 147.

11. (17) Dean Thompson, Toyota, 147.

12. (1) Carson Kvapil (C), Chevrolet, 147.

13. (4) Jesse Love (C), Chevrolet, 147.

14. (19) Nick Sanchez, Chevrolet, 147.

15. (20) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 147.

16. (28) Kyle Sieg, Chevrolet, 147.

17. (2) Justin Allgaier (C), Chevrolet, 147.

18. (31) Jake Finch, Chevrolet, 147.

19. (18) Ryan Sieg, Chevrolet, 147.

20. (16) Harrison Burton, Toyota, 147.

21. (10) Parker Retzlaff (C), Chevrolet, 147.

22. (27) Blaine Perkins, Chevrolet, 147.

23. (25) Preston Pardus, Chevrolet, 147.

24. (33) Josh Bilicki, Chevrolet, 147.

25. (34) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet, 147.

26. (9) Rajah Caruth (C), Chevrolet, 145.

27. (26) Daniel Dye(i), Chevrolet, 145.

28. (29) Logan Bearden, Chevrolet, 145.

29. (35) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, Overheating, 119.

30. (22) William Sawalich, Toyota, Accident, 106.

31. (21) Lavar Scott #, Chevrolet, Accident, 101.

32. (24) Patrick Staropoli #, Chevrolet, Engine, 87.

33. (23) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, Accident, 73.

34. (37) Glen Reen, Toyota, Accident, 73.

35. (32) Mason Maggio, Chevrolet, Accident, 69.

36. (38) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, Electrical, 29.

37. (30) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, Clutch, 23.

38. (36) Brad Perez, Ford, Brakes, 21.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 102.045 mph.

Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 58 Mins, 4 Secs. Margin of Victory: 2.961 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 7 for 38 laps.

Lead Changes: 8 among 7 drivers.

Lap Leaders: J. Allgaier (C) 1-35;J. Love (C) 36;B. Jones (C) 37-39;J. Allgaier (C) 40-64;C. Kvapil (C) 65-84;A. Alfredo 85-93;C. Day (C) 94;S. Creed (C) 95-147.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Justin Allgaier (C) 2 times for 60 laps; Sheldon Creed (C) 1 time for 53 laps; Carson Kvapil (C) 1 time for 20 laps; Anthony Alfredo 1 time for 9 laps; Brandon Jones (C) 1 time for 3 laps; Corey Day (C) 1 time for 1 lap; Jesse Love (C) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 7,1,21,41,99,96,51,2,87,54

Stage #2 Top Ten: 96,17,00,8,1,7,21,41,28,39

–by Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service