NASCAR O’Reilly Series: Creed and crew makes correct call to win Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Sheldon Creed and crew makes the correct call for tires to win the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ Food City 300 at Bristol.

This is his third win of the season and of his O’Reilly Series career. This win also stands as his second of the Chase over three events.

Creed finally finds victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Haas Factory Team driver has finished runners-up the previous two visits to Thunder Valley and tonight was his time.

Lightning cancelled qualifying which set Creed up with a front row start from second. From there he slipped to the lower half of the top ten. He captured some stage points in both stages but never truly competed for the win until late.

The penultimate caution occurred with 27 laps remaining for Patrick Staropoli which allowed the strategy divergence necessary for the team to mix it up.

They chose to take 100-lap fresher tires and made quick work of the field with 15 laps to go. He took advantage of others trading paint and looked to finish second for the third straight Bristol event before Corey Day and Ryan Sieg caused the final caution of the night with three laps remaining.

With fresher tires Sheldon restarted on the bottom and captured the lead heading into the first corner. He led his first and only laps of the night during the fifth overtime in the series in the previous eight races, in his win.

Creed has extended his point lead in the Chase to 11 over Justin Allgaier with six races remaining in the Chase.

The Top Ten

William Sawalich nearly had his second career victory after the doors were swung wide open by Jesse Love and Taylor Gray. However, his biggest foe Corey Day was in the field and a race-ruining caution flew for Sawalich under two laps before he could take the white.

Second place is better than nothing as he and teammate Brent Crews fall short in the lone overtime restart to usurp Creed for the win.

Justin Allgaier suffered heavy nose damage when he collided with Nick Sanchez during the first stage break on pit road. The damage was noteworthy but not terminal and he maintained his top five speed afterwards.

Allgaier looked determined to return to victory lane and the lead of the O’Reilly Series Chase before Jesse Love missed his marks and slammed him into the wall with under 15 laps remaining.

He would wind up with a respectable fourth-placed finish but enters their final off-week with a larger gap to claw back from.

Meanwhile, Corey Day was able to take advantage of his fresh rubber to rebound to place fifth. Then Taylor Gray also missed his opportunity to win and slid down to finish just outside the top five from sixth.

Sam Mayer and Parker Retzlaff ran towards the back half of the top ten throughout the night. They came home seventh and eighth to continue their steady Chase runs.

Dean Thompson and Sam Hunt Racing had a sneaky good run tonight. They ran inside the top-15 and took advantage of others misfortunes late in their top ten race in ninth.

Finally, Sammy Smith rounded out the top ten from tenth.

Notable Chase Results

In some fashion or another, nine of the 12 Chase drivers sustained some sort of damage or problem during the Food City 300.

While some were able to continue in the top ten like Justin Allgaier, others were not so fortunate.

Brandon Jones was the highest-placing Chase driver outside of the top ten from 15th. Then, Jesse Love had to pit on the final caution due to his suspension damage and placed 17th.

Austin Hill had hard contact with the wall with a resulting tire rub which put him behind the competition. He finished four laps down in 21st.

Two other Chase drivers joined him four laps down for other reasons. Rajah Caruth continued his rough Chase from 22nd after his right-front tire fell flat during the first stage.

Then, Carson Kvapil won the second stage and looked to contend for the victory when he suffered a loose wheel. He leaves Bristol still third in the Chase, but crucially with a 37-point deficit after he finished 23rd.

Below is the full results and updated Chase standings after the Food City 300 from Bristol Motor Speedway.

Full Results and Chase Standings

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