Sheldon Creed had the win at Darlington in the Xfinity Series, until he didn’t. Hunting for his ever-elusive first win on Saturday, Creed took the lead and won Stage 2 by getting around the dominant Christopher Bell late in the stage.
He then got around Bell again with ten laps to go as Bell’s tires wore out and it appeared after 11 second place finishes Creed was on the way to victory.
But it was not to be.
AJ Almendinger had a tire go down after contact with Cole Custer which sent him hard into the wall in Turn 1 and brought out the caution with just under 10 to go. The field came down pit road ahead of an Overtime restart. Creed came out third in the exchange, with both Bell and Cole Custer in front of him. And that cost Creed the win.
Bell chose the outside lane and struggled to get going on the restart itself, but drove deep on the outside into Turns 1 and 2 and grabbed the lead. Then, as Custer got a run, Bell drove him practically to the inside wall at the wide concrete track on the backstretch, with both drivers saving their cars from wrecking in the exchange.
The exchange allowed Bell to stretch his lead and drive on to victory, a fitting end to the race he dominated, leading 65 of 147 laps, the most of any driver. But he had his pit crew to thank most of all for the win.
“Those guys won us the race and without them I’m not going to win the race so thank you to the pit crew,” Bell said.
“This one is on the pit crew. Those guys did amazing all day long. Just kept us in the game and then obviously kept us in position with the lead there on that last pit stop. You win some, you lose some and I’m glad we won it that way.”
As to that Overtime contact with Cole Custer, Bell was unsure what exactly happened.
“I don’t know. I need to see a replay of it,” Bell said. “That was wild for sure. Darlington is just such a tough race track and off of [Turn] two whether you’re on the bottom or the top, it flushes you toward the wall and you kind of get a wiggle coming down.
“Once again, I feel terrible for Sheldon to essentially win the race. He passed me on the long run there and then to lose the lead on pit road is a big bummer,” Bell added. “Yeah, I don’t know. It seemed like our car was really good on the short run. Obviously, the 18 [Creed] was really good on the long run. Unfortunately, for him, the race played out differently and fortunately for us we got another shot at it.”
Despite the tough fight with Bell in the Overtime restart, Cole Custer said the race was enjoyable and said the move on the backstretch was hard racing.
“We were both going for it. We were just trying to carry as much throttle as possible, and Christopher had the momentum there,” he explained. “I need to see a replay of the exit of Turn 2. It just got tight. I don’t know if he came down or if I came up, but that was just hard racing.
“Yeah, it was just really tight racing,” Custer added. “It is always fun to race with Christopher. We were both just trying to stay in the throttle off of Turn 2. I couldn’t tell if he came down or I came up a little bit. It was a hard decision to make because he was coming down and I didn’t know if I should lift or stay in it and let him wreck himself. I think if I had stayed in it, I would have wrecked myself.”
Custer managed to drive up through the field after starting 21st, crediting his team with making the right adjustments to recover and make his way up through the field.
“It was a great race by everyone on our team. To come from 21st to second is a huge accomplishment. I can’t thank everyone enough, especially the pit crew. The pit crew did a great job.”
Sheldon Creed came up just slightly short with a third-place finish, something he’s become used to. The driver has eleven career runner-ups without a win, and Creed explained that he’s so focused on wins this season that he’s not making any money to get himself in winning equipment.
Chase Elliott ended up fourth, another Cup driver moonlighting in the Xfinity Series. He explained that running this race was valuable practice ahead of the marathon Southern 500 on Sunday.
Sammy Smith rounded out the top five, with Jesse Love finishing sixth.
Shane van Gisbergen, in his first full season in NASCAR driving for Kaulig Racing, ended seventh. It’s an improvement over his debut start at Darlington in the spring of this year, where he finished 15th. As van Gisbergen learns ahead of his promotion to the Cup Series with Trackhouse next year, a 200-miler at one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks is a big learning experience.
Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top ten.
As a Cup Series driver moonlighting in the Xfinity Series, Bell stole the chance for a series regular to pick up a critical win and Playoff points. With three races remaining in the regular season and four points spots available, even if there’s a new winner in each of the next three races would still guarantee at least one points berth in the Playoffs.
The Xfinity Series returns at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 7th for an afternoon race.
