A gutsy pit drives Sheldon Creed to a NASCAR O’Reilly Series Chase victory at Bristol Motor Speedway in Friday night’s Food City 300.
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Like a stealth bomber, Sheldon Creed waited until the last minute to make his move.
Sheldon Creed. Chase Win:
Thanks to a savvy call from crew chief Jonathan Toney, Creed had new tires for extra work in the 304 lap, and he used them to full advantage to win Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
the victory Creed is second in three Chase racesNo. 00 left the Haas Factory Team Chevrolet driver atop the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason standings, 11 points ahead of second-place Justin Allgeier.
But the result left Allgeier fuming after finishing fourth and Jesse Lowe comforted and apologetic after running Allgeier into the outside wall on the lap 286 restart.
Bringing out a caution with three laps to go in regulation, Creed lined up on the inside lane alongside race leader William Savalic on lap 304. Getting off to a great start with his new tires. after Tony called him to the pits for fresh rubber on lap 280, Creed got off to a great start and took the lead.
Savalic moved to the top of the track to try to fight back, but Creed prevailed, beating Savalic to the finish line by 0.253 seconds at the end of two laps of overtime. Creed, who took his third win of the season and third of his career, was only credited with leading the final three laps.
“Just a great call from my crew chief and engineer to put tires on,” said Creed, who finished eighth on the penultimate restart on lap 286 and quickly moved into second. “Great pit stop by my guys to get me out first and be first on the tires.
“Honestly, I wasn’t good with the balance of our Chevrolet all night. Hats off to these guys! They just never give up. I think the (overtime) restarts there, I tried to time the 18 (Sawalich) well. With much newer tires, it was just easier for me to move. I found out and I was just looking.”
Allgeier talks to Jesse Love
Allgaier led the 286-lap restart, but to fight for the lead, Love ran the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall shortly after the race went green. As soon as the race ended, with Allgaier fourth and Love a disappointing 17th, Allgaier walked up to Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to express his displeasure.
“(I was) just asking why,” said Allgaier, who won the first round despite having the nose of his Camaro folded when it came in contact with the rear bumper of Nick Sanchez’s Chevrolet in heavy traffic. “The race car we had was so good tonight. I’m just disappointed to get out of here the way we did.”
Reigning series champion Love was remorseful and upset over a decision that cost both him and Allgeier a chance at victory.
“Honestly, I caught up with him in the moment of the race,” said Love, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 41 points behind Creed. “I knew on the last restart (lap 286), I had to get a good launch and I was able to do that. I went out in (turn) 4, we were side by side and I should have run my best corner and instead I got caught in a race with him and it took me down a path to make an enemy I shouldn’t have made.
“I made a terrible decision that put us out of contention.”
Rookie Brent Crews finished third and Corey Day secured fifth. Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Dean Thompson and Sammy Smith rounded out the top ten.
Love led 80 laps before battling Allgeier, who was out for 49 laps. The only other drivers to lead the laps were Savalich, 13, brought out by a lap 297 caution that changed the course of the race after Ryan Sieg hit the outside wall with Day and Retzlaff close behind, and Creed, three.
In addition to leader Sheldon Creed, Justin Allgeier is second, 11 points behind Creed.
Carson Kvapil led a race-high 156 laps, but smoke billowed from the back of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy with 44 laps remaining. Kvapil finished 24th with four laps to go, but finished third in the standings, 37 points behind Creed.
Jesse Love is fourth, 41 points behind the leader, and Sam Mayer is fifth with 78 points.
Next
Creed has finished first, second and first in three Chase races as the O’Reilly Series faces a week off before resuming Oct. 3 in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The defending winner is retired driver Aric Almirola.
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