Sheldon Creed saw his Mission 200 hopes buried in the mud at Watkins Glen. A dramatic off-track excursion during the final stage sent the Haas Factory Team driver airborne and tumbling down the leaderboard.

"I knew my chances of making it through were slim, and I tried to slow down as much as I could before I got to it. And then yeah, I didn't want to be on the brake pedal. So I coast over it, and I knew I was going way too fast.

"Didn't feel good, but I'm surprised we were able to finish the race," Creed said after the race.

Having started his race in third place, Creed fell to 15th place by the end of Stage 1. He recovered somewhat to finish the second Stage in 11th place. But the mud crash happened in the final stage, causing him to finish the race in 29th place.

"Like I was surprised I didn't knock the radiator out of the car. I don't know what the best strategy there was at the end for us. Obviously, it had no splitter or pan underneath the front so it didn't turn very good. But yeah, I just tried to save as much fuel as I could just so we didn't have to stop," Creed further added about the race.

In the final stage, Sheldon Creed was fighting for the track position with Justin Allgaier. In that battle, he got pushed into a run-off area, where his car was launched into the air after coming in contact with the wet grass around the Bus Stop chicane.

Despite the dramatic incident, Creed and his HFT were able to help him finish the race. However, it deeply impacted his run and handed him a huge blow in the Drivers' Championship, something he wanted to avoid in the long run.

Sheldon Creed looks for Cup Series seat with stellar NOAPS run

Sheldon Creed's true season started after the Daytona race at Atlanta, where he won after a 137-race winless streak. Before the sad finish at The Glen, his last nine races were all top-10 finishes.

With such a brilliant start to the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series season in 2026, Sheldon Creed looks forward to having an entry to the Cup scene. For this, he wants to finish the NOAPS season on top.

"I want to win races and be really consistent towards the front every week with a shot to win the championship at the end of the year," Creed said.

"Obviously, points are way more important this year than the previous 10 years. I'm just try-ing to run up front and pop off top fives. I want to be the guy that, when Cup teams are looking for the next guy to bring up, I'm on their list."

Currently, Creed is in second place in the Drivers' Standings with 485 points and a win. He trails the leader Justin Allgaier by 155 points. Jesse Love follows him closely in third place with just a six-point difference.

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Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason