NASCAR
Sheldon Creed Secures Second Career Triumph in Chase Opener at Darlington
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Entering the 2026 O’Reilly Series Chase as the third seed, Sheldon Creed saw his best start yet to any title run. The opening Chase round at Darlington went to perfect plan for the No. 00. The Californian left The Track Too Tough To Tame by taking career win number two. Now within sight of the overall points lead, a new contender has certainly emerged after Darlington.
Front row starter and points leader Justin Allgaier was flawless in Stage 1, only for Anthony Alfredo to take Stage 2. The No. 7 was far from a perfect-handling car as the night wore on, however, progressively losing ground on each run. A lights-out pit stop after this stage the gave Sheldon Creed the top spot in the No. 00 Chevrolet. Leading 53 laps unchallenged, Creed took home his second win on the year and first since Atlanta in February.
“This is everything to me, I’ve been so close here so many times,” Creed said. “If I could pick a place on the schedule to get a win, this is it, great to finally get it done. I wasn’t real happy with the car the first run. We worked on it all night. JT and the boys gave me what I needed at the end and we were able to get away. Super proud of everyone at Haas Factory Team. Just want to thank everyone, my grandfather and my entire family. Hopefully one of these days I’ll win one in front of them, but that was super exciting to have the kids and wife here for this one. Just super happy to open The Chase with a win. I don’t know where everyone stacked us, but hopefully we put our name in the card and can make a run for the championship.”
With the win and Allgaier struggling, Creed is now second in the standings, only seven points off the lead. Darlington’s top finishers behind Creed were: Corey Day, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, and Austin Hill. The rest of the top-10 were: Anthony Alfredo, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements, and Brandon Jones. Hear from a few of these drivers below.
.@corey_day_ after closing in to 2nd in the closing laps at Darlington. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/OjUE6qVDiO
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 6, 2026
.@Brentcrews says he was rooting for a late caution on his faster tires in the closing laps, the 19 was 3rd and best of the non-Chasers. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/Ng7VmC9jYK
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 6, 2026
.@sammysmithSS says track position allowed him to execute this race and close out a strong 4th-place showing. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/2vokA6ELuz
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 6, 2026
.@_AustinHill was 5th in Darlington and gains a spot in the standings, now only 36 points back in 4th. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/d2R9rF5s33
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 6, 2026
Not listed in the top-10 was points leader Justin Allgaier. The ill handling No. 7 Chevrolet backslid to 17th when the checkers waved. Allgaier’s 25-point advantage is now whittled down to just a seven-point lead heading into Gateway.
.@J_Allgaier says his car began losing handling in the second stage, and eventually backslid to 17th at the finish.
The regular season champion is still the points leader, but now only by 7 heading into Chase race two. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/LiOEMwWo0Q
— Peter Stratta (@peterstratta) September 6, 2026
The O’Reilly Series Chase roars on into World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway next Saturday. The Nu Way 225 goes green ay 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Allgaier’s home track would be a very fitting place for the points leader to regain control of this championship battle.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Meg Oliphant/Getty Images
