Denny Hamlin Left Headscratching Over 2020 Truck Champ’s Shocking RCR Exit After “Lackluster” Season

With new contracts being forged and existing ones terminated, NASCAR has set up the stage for the show to continue in 2024. In a recent twist, it was announced Richard Childress will be seeing one of his star drivers leave at the end of the current season. After just two seasons of holding the RCR banner in the Xfinity Series, 26-year-old Sheldon Creed decided that it was already time to move on to fresher pastures.

Discussing the 2020 Truck Series Champion’s unexpected call, Denny Hamlin couldn’t hold in his curiosity surrounding the ordeal. Taking the mic in his podcast Actions Detrimental, he spoke about his failed expectations for the driver.

Hamlin is left clueless over the reasons for Sheldon Creed’s failure

Several seasons and one championship in the Truck Series later, Creed had made the move to Xfinity under the cap of Richard Childress Racing. The move was expected to yield extraordinary results but one could say that the driver and the team fell slightly short on that end. Despite racing full-time over the last couple of years, Creed is yet to bring in a single win in the series. He ended his maiden season in the 14th spot in the standings and currently stands 8th in the ongoing season.

Calling his stint in Xfinity “lackluster”, Hamlin expressed his blankness over what was causing it. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver talked about how he’d expected so much more from Creed and he just did not live up to it. Hamlin said,

“When I saw Creed run trucks for many years, I thought, ‘Man, he is really, really good. He’s going to excel when he goes to RCR and the Xfinity Series.’ And he just hasn’t. He hasn’t run like I expected him to run and he’s battling around the same spot every week and that is at the back half of the top 10. Maybe even in the -teens. They are not clicking for sure.”

Quoting his disappointment at the failed move, Hamlin was left wondering if it was the driver or the team that was failing to put in the edge to win. Comparing Creed’s failure with the success of his teammate, Austin Hill, Hamlin was only left with further confusion.

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Austin Hill and Creed have had similar kind of trajectories. Their moves from the Truck Series to the Xfinity came at similar times, but the former’s fates have just fared better since. With 6 wins in the Xfinity under RCR in the last two years, Hill has also earned enough points to get him started in the Cup Series. In the maiden season where Creed struggled, Hill won Rookie of the Year. And his superior performance is the exact reason that has caused bewilderment to Hamlin.

Wondering what was behind the unexplainable differences, he said, “I don’t know why is that. Is it Sheldon or the RCR equipment? I don’t know. I just know that the results are not what I expected and clearly not what Sheldon expected. (…) Austin Hill, he’s got success. I mean a lot has come on the superspeedways. He is a contender. Certainly more on the other race tracks. That one’s a headscratcher, for sure.” 

Though Hamlin could not put a finger on where Creed was going to move after his departure, he was confident enough to say that the youngster would have an alternate plan. After all, Creed said to nascar.com on Friday, “I don’t know, I think a lot of things play a role. I’ve been happy. We’ve had OK runs, but I felt like it was time for a change for me just to switch things up a bit.” For now, the question remains on which car the youngster will drive come 2024. But before then, he will want to create as big as an impact he can behind Richard Childress’s No. 2 Camaro.

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