The Xfinity Series playoff race at Charlotte Roval is proving to be an entertaining watch for the race fans. While all the eyes are on the four drivers desperately trying to make the cut for the Round of 8, Sheldon Creed’s tussle with RCR drivers made the highlights in the stage 1 run.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is good on points coming into the race at Roval. However, his advance in a bid to collect more points was met with resistance from Jesse Love. The Turn 7 was predicted to be the dive-bomb spot after it was reconfigured this season, and this is where Love made his move on the #18 JGR car.

In a desperate attempt to get past Creed, Love didn’t let his foot off the gas exiting Turn 7 and bumping into the #18. The impact was enough for Creed to lose his handling and spin across the track. This was just an example of how dive bombs would come into play with the new changes. Although Love gained a position, Sheldon Creed was passed by multiple race cars.

On the Initial view, it did look like Jesse Love was racing him hard and made the most of the new corner and the reconfiguration. However, the fans weren’t sold on this thought and highlighted the rift the JGR driver has with his former team. Some fans even claimed that Richard Childress Racing is still not over with the way Creed parted ways with the team last year.

Fans believe that RCR intentionally tried to derail Sheldon Creed’s playoff run

Sheldon Creed, citing his reason to leave RCR, blamed the lack of speed on his race cars in the two years he spent at the team. There was also bad blood between Creed and Austin Hill at the time, as the latter crashed out of the playoff race at Martinsville, courtesy of his teammate. Hill even took to social media to express his disappointment with how his teammate raced him. Now that Creed has joined JGR, it feels like the drivers at RCR are still not over with his conduct at the team. This was argued by this race fan, who trolled the JGR driver with his reaction to his incident with Love. “Tell Jesse Love to take Sheldon Creed out” – Richard Childress.

It’s one thing to be disliked by your fellow teammates. But you know you’re in trouble if a veteran team owner like Richard Childress comes out to bash his driver publicly. Following the race at Martinsville, Childress called him “stupid” for the way he dumped his teammate Austin Hill. While, for some, it has happened in the past, a few believed that Creed would continue to pay his dues, and today’s incident was just an example of that. “RCR boys still don’t care for Sheldon Creed.”

Creed’s move to JGR hasn’t overturned his fortunes; rather, he’s piled on his streaks of runner-up finishes. To make matters worse, during stage 2, he was collected in a crash and had to end his race on DNF. And when the picture became clear after the race finished, he found himself on the wrong side of the cutline, ending his playoff run. Had it not been for Love’s bump and run on the JGR driver, he could’ve advanced to the next round. But it looks like the RCR curse will keep on lingering. “Sheldon creed will never stop getting the short end of the stick.”

Not only that, this wreck was the final outcome of Jesse Love and Austin Hill battling out amongst themselves. It was as if the script was being rewritten in the way RCR drivers compete in vital playoff races. Although Creed no longer races for the RCR, he still managed to get caught in the ruckus. Enable to process, the future HTF driver, this fan wrote, “It’s both hilarious and ironic. Sheldon Creed got taken out by two RCR cars battling.”

Although Sheldon Creed might have made mistakes in the past, he certainly is a talented race car driver. And that has garnered him the support of a few loyal fans, who were quick to jump to his defense. This fan pinned the blame on Love for intentionally wrecking Creed, who was only racing for stage points. “RCR terrorists hitting Sheldon Creed like that 💔”

Interestingly, both the RCR drivers Austin Hill and Jesse Love were able to advance to the Round of 8, while Creed will have to rebuild with a new team in 2025.