NASCAR Xfinity Series

Sheldon Creed’s Pro Skater falls short, Noah Gragson takes Darlington

2 Mins read
Credit: Logan Riely/Getty Images

Sheldon Creed was going to do all he could to make the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, even if it meant running full speed and riding the wall. Unfortunately for him, as sparks poured out of his car, Noah Gragson had more than enough momentum on the inside line through the final two corners to beat him to the finish.

Creed, whose rookie season has been plagued by bad luck and misfortunes, looked to be the late favourite in Saturday’s event at Darlington Raceway as he led much of the final stage. Brandon Jones‘ spin set up a fourteen-lap run to the finish in which he faced challenges from Gragson and Cup Series driver Kyle Larson. Larson caught Creed’s bumper in the waning moments before attempting his move as they began the final lap, which led to contact that pushed Creed into the wall.

As Larson and Creed ran side-by-side along the backstretch, Gragson capitalised by passing both of them on the inside. Creed felt his right-front tyre suffer a flat and, not sensing any other option if he wanted to win, did not brake entering turns three and four and consequently hit the wall. The move sacrificed Creed’s car to scrape more speed together in what many dubbed a “video game move”, but Gragson on the shorter inside groove with a consistent high speed rendered his action for naught.

Despite the defeat, Creed did not hold ill feeling towards Larson and shook his hand on pit road. Although he fell short of the win, the runner-up finish is the best of his Xfinity career to date and elevated him to thirteenth in points, sixteen below the playoff cut line with two races remaining. The forty-seven laps led were also his most in an Xfinity race.

“I was hoping they were going to get to racing behind me and kind of let me go there and when Kyle got next to me, my only opportunity was to go and side-draft as hard as I could,” Creed told NBC Sports. “We got in the wall there and I felt the right-front go down there going down the backstretch, so the only option was to pin it against the fence like playing Xbox or something. It worked for a while and then I just got stuck in it. Man, I wish that would have worked.”

Gragson won Stage #1 and led a race-high eighty-two laps en route to his career-best fourth win of 2022. It is his second win at Darlington after the 2021 Sport Clips VFW Help a Hero 200.

The race was delayed for two-and-a-half hours by rain after the first stage. Gragson’s JR Motorsports team-mate Justin Allgaier claimed the second stage and would finish fourth.

Race results

FinishStartNumberDriverTeamManufacturerLapsStatus
129Noah GragsonJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
232Sheldon CreedRichard Childress RacingChevrolet147Running
31916A.J. AllmendingerKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
467Justin AllgaierJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
5717Kyle Larson*Hendrick MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
6554Ty GibbsJoe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
73618Christopher Bell*Joe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
8158Josh BerryJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
91726John Hunter Nemechek*Sam Hunt RacingToyota147Running
10421Austin HillRichard Childress RacingChevrolet147Running
11121Sam MayerJR MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
12910Landon CassillKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
131011Daniel HemricKaulig RacingChevrolet147Running
14119Brandon JonesJoe Gibbs RacingToyota147Running
151148Ross Chastain*Big Machine Racing TeamChevrolet147Running
161634Kyle WeathermanJesse Iwuji MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
171445Stefan Parsons*Alpha Prime RacingChevrolet147Running
182539Ryan SiegRSS RacingFord147Running
19224Bayley CurreyJD MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
202791Mason MasseyDGM RacingChevrolet147Running
211351Jeremy ClementsJeremy Clements RacingChevrolet147Running
223144Ryan EllisAlpha Prime RacingChevrolet147Running
233838Kyle SiegRSS RacingFord147Running
241827Jeb BurtonOur MotorsportsChevrolet147Running
253008David StarrSS-Green Light RacingFord147Running
262936Josh WilliamsDGM RacingChevrolet146Running
27266Ryan VargasJD MotorsportsChevrolet146Running
282131Myatt SniderJordan Anderson RacingChevrolet145Running
293278Brandon BrownB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet145Running
303535Dawson CramEmerling-Gase MotorsportsFord145Running
312847Brennan Poole*Mike Harmon RacingChevrolet86Axle
322366J.J. YeleyMBM MotorsportsToyota83Engine
332007Joe Graf Jr.SS-Green Light RacingFord61Accident
34898Riley HerbstStewart-Haas RacingFord56DVP
352402Ty Dillon*Our MotorsportsChevrolet55Electrical
363468Kris Wright*Brandonbilt MotorsportsChevrolet55Accident
373723Anthony AlfredoOur MotorsportsChevrolet51Accident
38335Tommy Joe MartinsB.J. McLeod MotorsportsChevrolet44Radiator
DNQ13Chad FinchumMBM MotorsportsFord
Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points
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Justin is not an off-road racer, but he writes about it for The Checkered Flag.
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