DARLINGTON, S.C.: Sheldon Creed was so close to Victory Lane he could see the checkered flag flying.
But an insane last lap in the rain-delayed Sport Clips Haircuts Help A Hero 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway that saw three different leaders lead the race wound up with Creed finishing second after cutting a tire on the backstretch and riding the Turns 3 and 4 wall all the way to the start-finish line which saw Creed finish 0.794-seconds behind Gragson.
Creed desperate for a Playoff spot took advantage of a restart late in Stage 3 to overtake the dominant cars of Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson.
Creed would continue to parade his No. 2 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet around the 1.33-mile track until pole sitter Brandon Jones spun on Lap 128.
Exiting pit road with the race lead and four new tires, Creed was able to fend off a heroic challenge from Gragson on the restart before Creed exercising his Richard Childress Racing muscle and began to pull away slightly.
Over the final 19 laps of the race, Gragson remained with a car length or two of Creed’s car but while the two planned to settle out the Darlington win amongst themselves, reigning Cup Series champion Kyle Larson came blazing from behind and caught the two leaders inside the final five laps of the race.
Larson would make his move on Creed coming to the last lap with the two vehicles making contact and sideways entering Turn 1 with Creed propelling forward at the exit of Turn 2 onto the backstretch.
Creed immediately knew he was in trouble, however, as the contact with Larson cut down his tire which forced him to try and take a virtual move and make it realistic by pointing his car towards the outside wall as the tire gave way.
Briefly, it appeared the move would work as Gragson slammed the wall behind him, but Creed’s car got pinned to the wall allowing Gragson to wrestle his mangled car to the checkered flag first ahead of Creed with Larson dropping to fight after also sustaining heavy damage in the last lap chaos.
The career-best finish for Creed wasn’t enough to propel him into the approaching Xfinity Series Playoffs but the rookie picked up several points on his nearest challenger Ryan Sieg.
Creed now sits 16 points behind Sieg with two races remaining in the Xfinity Series regular season at Kansas Speedway (September 10) and Bristol Motor Speedway (September 16).
“Gosh, I was just trying to hold on,” said a relatively calm Creed after the race. “We had a really fast car, just a little too free to run their speed there at the end. They (Gragson and Larson) could run up the hill in (Turns) 1 and 2 and really good a good run down the backstretch where I would have to stay really low to keep the rear end of the car underneath me.
“I was hoping they were going to get to racing behind me and let me go there and when Kyle (Larson) got next to me my only opportunity was to go and slide-job him as far as I could. We got into the wall there and I felt the right front (tire) go down there – going down the backstretch.”
Knowing he had an injured tire, Creed explained that he thought a video-game move might be his saving grace.
“I felt like my only option was just to pin it against the fence like playing Xbox or something,” explained Creed. “It worked for a while, then I just got stuck in it. Man, I wish it would have worked.
“It would have been a Playoff spot.”
In a frustrating season that has delivered just three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, Creed said his career-best finish gives his team confidence at the right time of the season.
“I got to thank everyone at RCR, ECR motors,” Creed praised. “We’ve been through hell and back this year but to have a run like that, it gives the team confidence that we’re getting better. I don’t think where we want to be but that’s all I can ask is for a car that I have a shot with and that’s what I had tonight.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
