Sheldon Creed captures first career O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win at EchoPark Speedway

HAMPTON, Ga. — Sheldon Creed finally gets the monkey off his back and wins the Bennett Transportation 250 at EchoPark Speedway.

Creed capitalized when Austin Hill threw a late block on Ross Chastain entering Turn 3 on the final lap.

The move spun Hill to the inside and opened the door for Creed to drive through and steal the win — his first in a NASCAR national series since Darlington in 2021.

After a brief red flag for cleanup, Chastain controlled the restart with six laps to go where he would maintain the lead until two to go.

Hill surged ahead just before the white flag, but his block in the final corner unraveled his race. Hill somehow saved the car to finish 12th while Chastain salvaged sixth.

Other notable results included Parker Retzlaff. He matched his best career O’Reilly Series finish as he came home second.

Corey Day recovered from two incidents, a broken swaybar, a loss of a lap, and many frustrated drivers to post a fourth-placed finish.

Rajah Caruth led 19 laps and bested his career best finish as well in eighth. Finally, Jesse Love led the most laps, 31, and finished fifth. His best at the speedway.

Final Stage Recap

The final stage restarted without a hitch but soon turned into a frenzy.

With 59 to go, rookie Corey Day drifted high in Turn 3, clipped Carson Kvapil, and collected Justin Allgaier.

Allgaier and Kvapil retired with heavy damage. Day, citing a tire issue along with a later diagnosed broken sway bar, continued a lap down.

Austin Hill inherited the lead and restarted with 51 laps remaining. Jeremy Clements spun solo with 41 to go, but NASCAR kept the race green. Moments later, debris from Cody Ware brought out the caution. Day received the free pass.

Hill and Love lined up nose-to-tail on the restart and quickly took control until Love’s aggressive move to the bottom opened the door for Creed to slip past.

With 24 laps left, contact between Sammy Smith and teammate Rajah Caruth sent Caruth scrapping into the wall.

Two laps later, Smith’s right-side tire failed entering Turn one and triggered an eight-car pileup. Smith retired, while several others continued with damage.

Chastain led the field back to green with 15 to go. A

nother incident and cleanup forced NASCAR to red-flag the race with ten laps remaining, setting up a six-lap shootout that ended with Creed’s breakthrough.

Stage Two Recap

During the stage break, Taylor Gray hit his tire carrier while exiting his box leading to a safety violation. Three drivers sustained other penalties under the break as well.

Jesse Love took only two tires to retain the lead for the restart.

Sheldon Creed led his 600th career O’Reilly Series lap which stood as the second most all time before capturing a win at the time.

One lap later, Rajah Caruth dove three-wide to the bottom under Creed and Justin Allgaier, seized the lead, and controlled the final 19 laps of the stage.

Gio Ruggiero, already dealing with a penalty, cut a right-front tire with 15 to go but limped back to pit road.

Caruth held off teammates Justin Allgaier and Carson Kvapil to win Stage 2 — his first career O’Reilly Series stage victory.

Stage One Recap

Chaos erupted on lap five. Ryan Sieg drifted high off Turn 4, opening the door for rookie Corey Day to shoot the middle. A move too early on to make.

The tri-oval dogleg tightened quickly, Sieg naturally came down the track, and the contact sent him spinning into the outside wall.

Defending winner Austin Hill, who started 20th, checked up in time to avoid the wreck.

The crash collected his brother Kyle Sieg, Harrison Burton, and Blaine Perkins, ending their nights. Patrick Staropoli continued.

An angry Ryan Sieg climbed from his car and showed his frustration by showing Day a cute little bird as he drove by.

On the restart, Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray made contact after Gray misjudged the side draft. Soon after, the No. 96 of Anthony Alfredo suffered a right-rear flat and then a following commitment cone penalty.

Mayer’s left-front tire failed on lap 28 only a few laps after his contact with Gray which rendered him a lap down.

The surprise top-twenty qualifier of Joey Gase parked his car with an engine failure on lap 36.

Late in the stage, Hill slipped out of the lead pack with a loose condition, and Love surged ahead to claim the stage win, narrowly edging Caruth at the line.

Full Results