Sheldon Creed will not return to Richard Childress Racing for a third season in 2024, the team announced Wednesday.
“We will make an announcement regarding the driver of the #2 Whelen Chevrolet in the near future,” reads an RCR statement.
Currently in his second full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series campaign with the team, Creed has displayed promise with thirteen top tens—already equalling his total from his rookie season—to go with five top tens and a pole. However, he has yet to win a race as his time in the series has been plagued by bad luck that ranged from losing in mad dashes on the final lap (examples include Darlington in 2022 and Portland and Watkins Glen in 2023), getting spun while leading (as was the case at COTA in March), being defeated by just .005 (Daytona in August), and even topping qualifying only to crash from overdriving his car and having his rally cut short by flooding (Chicago in July).
He is seventh in points after narrowly qualifying for the Round of 8 in the Xfinity playoffs, beating former series champion Daniel Hemric in Saturday’s elimination race in Charlotte by just two points.
Despite his improving performance, Creed has mostly lived in the shadow of his team-mate and fellow Xfinity sophomore Austin Hill, who won 2022 Rookie of the Year and is second in points with four victories. Both drivers have had similarly timed NASCAR national series career progressions, being Truck Series colleagues during which Creed won the 2020 championship and eventually making Cup Series starts.
Creed finished twenty-ninth at Kansas in September in his maiden Cup start with Live Fast Motorsports.
“We have decided to leave Richard Childress Racing at the end of the 2023 Xfinity season,” Creed said. “RCR and Whelen gave me my first opportunity out of the Truck Series, and although we haven’t gone out and won all the races we would’ve wished to, I’ll be forever grateful for the friendships, hard work, learning, and growing we have done. Additionally, I can’t thank Whelen enough for their never ending support of me and our team. Extremely excited to share my 2024 plans with you all soon.”
