Creed and Allmendinger finish Top-3 and lock up Xfinity playoff spots
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Sheldon Creed and A.J. Allmendinger will race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs after getting Top-3 finishes in overtime at Watkins Glen.
Creed finished second after pitting with 15 laps to go and steadily working his way through the field. Starting the third and final overtime in sixth, a win wasn’t within Creed’s reach as much as his other 11 other runner-up finishes, or even his four third-place finishes, but he was one of a slew of drivers banking on leader Connor Zilisch running out of gas. The runner-up spot changed multiple times from A.J. Allmendinger to Shane van Gisbergen to Chandler Smith to Creed when the caution came out for a calamitous wreck on the backstretch.
“To get clear there in second, I was just waiting for the 88 to run out of fuel there and the caution came out before we finished it. I don’t know if he makes it or not, but I’m not mad at the second today because I thought we overachieved a bit for how we ran, so days like that are always really good. Just another top-five. We will keep clicking away. It is a great time to be starting to get consistent for the Playoffs,” Creed said.
Creed has eight Top-5 finishes in the last 12 races, compared to four Top-5s in the first 13 races. In that time, he as also won his only two poles of the season and gone from 46 points above the cutline to 145 above the cutline. That gap is enough to ensure he won’t have to worry about a playoff spot at Bristol.
A.J. Allmendinger also locked into the playoffs with a finish one spot behind Creed. Allmendinger fiercely battled Kaulig Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen for second, and the win if Zilisch ran out of fuel.
After trading multiple blows with van Gisbergen, the Kiwi won out over Allmendinger. However, Creed and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chandler Smith kicked van Gisbergen back to fifth. Allmendinger benefitted, taking home third and a playoff spot with a 159-point cushion.
Creed, Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Chandler Smith, Austin Hill, Jesse Love, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen and Sam Mayer are locked into the playoffs. That leaves just two playoff spots, which Parker Kligerman (+85 points unofficially) and Sammy Smith (+43) hold. Ryan Sieg is the only who could break through for one of those spots on points.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the Sept. 20 Food City 300. It’s the first race live on The CW, which has the exclusive rights to the series through the 2031 season.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com