(Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Sheldon Creed won’t deny that the 2022 season hasn’t gone the way he had hoped. With just two top-five finishes, Creed has noticeably struggled in his first full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
But, on Saturday, Creed has a chance to right that ship.
“It’s been tough to keep the momentum rolling when we have two good weeks and then a bad week,” Creed said in a media conference on Friday. “I think we’re getting better… we’re not just struggling with our two cars. Everyone out of the RCR camp is.”
Creed has certainly felt the highs and lows of his rookie season. Although he has eight top-10 finishes, Creed also has 10 finishes of 20th or worse.
After finishing sixth to commence his full-time career at Daytona, it took Creed all the way until July to better that result. At New Hampshire and Pocono, Creed recorded back-to-back top-fives in arguably his best two races of the season. He was in the mix for another strong finish a week later at the Indianapolis Road Course before late contact with Ross Chastain derailed that.
“We were going to have a really good day in Indy for points, then like Kyle [Busch] said, just got Chastain’d,” Creed said.
With five races left in the regular season, Creed sits 13th in points and 52 points below the cutline. He’s spent a large portion of the season in that same spot, chasing Ryan Sieg, who started the season extremely strong.
Sieg’s consistency has prevented Creed from significantly cutting into the points gap. However, Creed’s best opportunity to chip away is in the next two races.
Creed finished third in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Watkins Glen last year. He has a road racing background and is seemingly always in contention on road courses. Plus, with Daytona next weekend, anything can happen.
(Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
“I think it’s definitely doable,” Creed said on pointing his way into the playoffs. “[Sieg] seems to struggle a little bit on road courses this year, so if we can have a really good day [Saturday]… I think we can point in.”
On the other hand, winning will lock Creed into the playoffs. Just seven points-earning drivers have won races this year, meaning a victory puts him inside the grid.
Winning a race is the simplest and most efficient option and Creed knows that. The 2020 Truck Series champion isn’t afraid of the pressure that comes with it, either.
“Road course racing creates more of that — you can short pit the stages here,” Creed said. “If we have a really fast car, do we go for good stage points, or do we try and get points in one stage and try and short pit the second one?… I’m glad I’m not the one that makes those decisions. The crew chief does, and I try and just go as fast as I can in the race car.”
Saturday’s Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at Watkins Glen is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on USA Network. Ty Gibbs won last year’s race.
