Can Sheldon Creed Turn His Playoffs Hopes Around?

Will Sheldon Creed point his way into the playoffs?

For Sheldon Creed, it’s been a year of learning in his first full-time season in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion’s struggles have been well documented, and in the first 16 races of the year, Creed had more finishes outside the top 20 (nine) than inside (seven).

But ever since Atlanta Motor Speedway, the 17th race of the season, Creed has found his footing. In the eight races since, Creed has scored 50 stage points, three top fives and four top 10s with an average finish of 12.8. After race 16, Creed had zero top fives and an average finish of 20.6.

After the 16th race of the season at Road America, Creed was 17th in points and 98 points below the playoff cut line. At Daytona International Speedway just two weeks ago, Creed was 13th in points, 43 points below the cut line. There were just three races remaining in the regular season after Daytona, and while making up 15 points per race on 12th-place Ryan Sieg wasn’t impossible, it would be a tall order. But in last weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway, Creed came oh-so-close to punching his playoff ticket with a win.

In that race, Creed led 47 laps and had an average running position of fourth before ending up second at the checkered flag. He was out front in the closing laps of the race, and he had to hold off challenges from Noah Gragson and Kyle Larson in the final 15 laps. Larson and Creed went side-by-side into turn 1 on the final lap, with both cars hitting the wall. Gragson was able to escape the calamity to take the lead in the final corner while Creed had to settle for second.

Creed was all smiles with Larson after the race, and although he fell short of his first Xfinity win, Creed now finds himself 16 points behind Sieg with two races remaining. Creed now has a legitimate chance to make the playoffs on points after it looked like he would need to win for much of the summer.

The two final races of the regular season are at Kansas Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, and if history is any indication, Creed looks poised for strong results.

Creed’s best Xfinity race came at Darlington, a track at which he scored two Truck wins. He also scored a top-five finish at Pocono Raceway, a track he dominated in the 2020 Truck race before ending up third. Creed never won at Kansas or Bristol in the Truck Series, but he certainly had the speed to do so. He led the most laps at Kansas in the fall…