Sheldon Creed wins rain shortened Kentucky race
By Nick Lewis
Sheldon Creed won the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway after lightning struck the area surrounding the track Saturday, July 11.
For Creed, the win marks the first of his career in the Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series in his 37th series start. During the 30-minute lightning delay, heavy wind gusts and rain poured onto the track and NASCAR officials called the race giving Creed the win.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think it was going to rain at the beginning,” said Creed. “I even asked if that was an option, I never got told it was going to rain.”
Creed took over the lead following a restart in which Korbin Forrister and Jennifer Jo Cobb made contact in Turn 2, bringing out the sixth caution of the race. Creed who, started in third-place on the bottom on lap 48, made it three-wide on the apron of the track.
Creed made a move on Parker Kligerman pull side-by-side with leader Ben Rhodes going into Turn 1. Creed got the edge in turn one and was able to take the lead on corner exit. Rhodes said that if he knew it was the race winning move, he would’ve pinched him in the corner.
“It’s so frustrating that the race was cancelled because I know we could’ve won the race tonight,” said Rhodes. “I guess we’re going to settle with a second place.”
Creed said that his first win is odd having no fans in the stands and having it be a rain shortened event. He said he’s probably not getting all the emotions that someone usually does during their first career win and attributed his success to the people at the GMS shop. Putting a lot of pressure on himself, Creed said that it’s been hard for him to enjoy his journey so far.
The race started off with multiple cautions, it was possible that the race was on track to have as many cautions as the previous race at Pocono Raceway.
In the 71 laps that were completed, 25 of them were run during the seven cautions that had taken place. Rhodes thinks that the lack of practice led to the multiple cautions at the beginning of the race and is a supporter of having practices once the pandemic ends.
“You would’ve seen a different start of the race today if there was practice,” said Rhodes. “I don’t think there would’ve been as many wrecks. I like practice, I’m a big supporter of practice and I know all my competitors are too. The people you find that don’t want practice are probably the drivers that are probably the back-marker teams.”
Finishing after Creed and Rhodes were Matt Crafton, Johnny Sauter, Austin Hill, Christian Eckes, Zane Smith, Derek Kraus, Tanner Grey and Todd Gilliland. The Gander RV & Outdoor Truck series travels to Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday July 18 for the Vankor 350. The race is the second part of a double-header with the Xfinity Series and will run at 8 p.m, on FS1.
