By Adam Carabine
It was a back-and-forth battle between the best two cars Saturday at Darlington, with Cup Series regular Christopher Bell earning his second Xfinity Series win in as many starts.
Sheldon Creed started P2, next to pole-sitter Bell, and the two of them battled for the lead all day. While Bell led the majority of the laps (108 to Creed’s 30), it was a late caution that ruined Creed’s day.
Bell’s Number 20 Toyota was better on shorter runs, though wasn’t able to keep up the speed on longer runs. With the final stage running nearly caution-free, teammate Creed in the JGR 18 Toyota erased a 3-second deficit over the course of about 25 laps, taking the lead with 8 to go.
At this point it looked like Sheldon Creed was on his way to earn his first ever career Xfinity win, something that has been plaguing him for quite some time. He currently holds the record for the driver who has the most runner-up finishes, without having scored a win.
With 3 to go in the race, AJ Allmendinger had a tire go down and brought out the caution flag as he slammed into the Turn 1 wall. With Darlington being a track that quickly eats up tires (Creed was running about 4 seconds slower than his fastest lap when the caution came out), there was no doubt that pitting was the right call for all of the leaders.
Unfortunately for the 18 team, a slow pit stop cost them a few spots on pit road, giving up the lead to Christopher Bell. Cole Custer also passed them on pit road and started the final restart beside Bell on the front row.
“I’m obviously really bummed because today was our day, and I feel like I put on one of my best performances,” Creed said after getting out of the car.
Bell was aware that the final caution and subsequent overtime restart gifted him the opportunity to win. “I had lost the race, there’s no doubt about it,” he told the media after the race.
It was a frustrating finish for Creed, who felt like the final result was out of his hands.
“I was optimistic at first, my pit crew had done really good all day, and I figured we’d come in first and leave first. I needed to at least be on the front row, […] I’m bummed that I can’t control pit road.”
Christopher Bell was complimentary of Sheldon Creed in his post-race media availability, though he said he didn’t feel bad beating someone who has been searching for that elusive first win.
“As an Xfinity regular a couple years ago, I loved whenever the Cup guys came down. You want to race against the best. I want [Creed] to win, I think he deserves to win, but I want him to earn it. 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.”
To his credit, Creed was still able to crack a smile despite a disappointing end to the race, poking fun at his record:
“Well, I’m glad I didn’t run second again. At this point I’ll run third before I run second.”
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