XFINITY: Bell Cashes in on Creed's Latest Heartbreak to Win at Darlington
Close, but no cigar -- again.
With 11 second-place finishes, most of any driver prior to their first career NASCAR Xfinity Series win, Sheldon Creed had to be tired of finishing second. Fortunately, in Saturday's Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help a Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway, the 26-year-old driver didn't finish second. Unfortunately, he still didn't win as he finished third in what was his latest near-miss heartbreak.
But Creed took the latest loss, as he has each of his other close calls, in stride.
“No. I lost one the same way a few years ago here," Creed said when asked if he was shaking his head after a third-place finish. "Just this has always been a really good place for me. I’ve always loved racing here. Just, man, I don’t know what to do to be any better than that. I felt like I put in one of my best performances today. I love my pit crew, and they do a great job for us. I can’t blame that on them, we just got beat on pit road today so bummer.”
After powering by Christopher Bell, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, for the race lead in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 139, of the race, it looked like the long-awaited first-career win would be right around the next few sets of corners for Creed.
Then, with three laps to go, a tire came undone on AJ Allmendinger's No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro, which sent him into the outside wall to send the race into overtime. What looked like a slam dunk first win for Creed, unraveled as fast as Allmendinger's tire.
Bell would win the impending race off of pit road, and after a fierce charge from Cole Custer on an overtime restart attempt, Bell would narrowly hang on to win the race.
In his post-race press conference, Bell admitted that he knew he had lost the race, barring a late-race caution, when Creed passed him for the lead. And while he wants Creed to take a win someday, Bell says you simply never say die in the NASCAR National Series, and he doesn't feel bad for winning Saturday's race.
"As an Xfinity regular a couple of years ago, I loved when the Cup guys came down. And you want to race against the best. I want him to win, I think he deserves to win, but I want him to earn it," Bell explained. "I say that with all due respect because he did earn it today, and unfortunately the yellow flag came out and he didn't get the win. But another race where Sheldon did a great job, and did everything right, but unfortunately didn't get the checkered flag."
Bell nearly didn't get back to the finish line to grab the checkered flag himself as he had a close call with Custer on the exit of Turn 2 on the overtime restart attempt.
"I thought I was going head-on into the inside wall," Bell admitted. "I glanced into my mirror coming off of Turn 2, and I felt like I had him cleared, and then I got a tail wag off of Turn 2, and he was still at my quarter panel. Fortunately, I had the momentum on the top, I guess, and slid in front of him, and was able to gather it back up."
Bell, who wasn't originally scheduled to run the NASCAR Xfinity Series race this weekend at Darlington Raceway, as this is typically a race that Denny Hamlin runs for the team, Bell says he got the call from Joe Gibbs Racing about a month ago to pilot the No. 20 Toyota GR Supra. Now, after a hard-fought win on a sweltering day in South Carolina, he'll look to get some rest before climbing back behind the wheel in tomorrow night's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500.
"It's hot, but I've got a lot of time to recover for tomorrow," Bell explained. "It's a night race. I think it's beneficial to do these things. Especially at race tracks like Darlington, where it's really tough."
With his runner-up finish, Custer whittled Justin Allgaier's regular season championship lead down to 28 points. Custer now has three races remaining to catch Allgaier before the Playoffs begin.
While his teammate celebrated a win over Custer, Creed would be left once again thinking what could have been in third.
Chase Elliott finished the race in fourth in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro, and he was followed by JR Motorsports' Sammy Smith in fifth.
Jesse Love, Shane van Gisbergen, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, and Justin Allgaier rounded out the top-10 finishers in the race.
Saturday's race was a strange one as several contenders found trouble in the opening Stage including Riley Herbst, Parker Retzlaff, who spent several laps on pit road, and Sam Mayer, who actually spun from the race lead with a flat tire.
In all, the race featured 12 lead changes among four different leaders with Bell leading the most laps as he crossed the finish line first 108 times in the 150-lap contest. The race also featured a total of six cautions.
With three races remaining until the start of the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, Sammy Smith now holds a 10-point advantage over Ryan Sieg for the final Playoff berth. Brandon Jones, Anthony Alfredo, and Brennan Poole sit in positions 14 through 16, but those drivers will likely need a win to advance to the Playoffs as they are all 132-points-or-more behind Smith.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend for the Focused Health 250. That race is set for Saturday, September 7 at 3:00 PM ET. USA Network and the NBC Sports App will carry television coverage of that race.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.