The NASCAR Xfinity Series recently concluded its regular season, and SHR’s Cole Custer was crowned the champion. The Stewart Haas racing driver dominantly won the Bristol race after leading 104 laps. As he took the chequered flag, seeing who came second was hardly a guess.

It was Sheldon Creed, of course! The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has had a frustrating streak of second-place finishes in the series so far. The Bristol finish was his 13th career second-place finish in Xfinity and 6th of the current season. However, Creed’s incredible consistency has made him a championship contender. But can a driver win the title without winning a race? Creed thinks he can!

Sheldon Creed on his formula to win the championship

In his 96 Xfinity Starts, Creed has failed to bag a single win. Well, he came close on 13 occasions, but it doesn’t count if you don’t take the chequered flag. It is a record Joe Gibbs’s driver is naturally not proud of but is hopeful to break it. After the Bristol race, he said, “I think that our momentum is great. We’re really consistent, so we need to keep that up. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s not a cool record, but we’ll win one of these days.”

Recently on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, he was asked if he could win the championship despite being winless in the season. “It’s doable,” replied the #18. Sheldon spoke, sighting some precedence. He gave the example of Matt Crafton, who won the 2019 Truck Series Championship despite being winless in the season. “I mean, it’s been proven by (Matt) Crafton in ’19 in a truck I think he finished second that day in Homestead. So it’s obviously doable,” he added.

Crafton is not the first one to achieve the feat. Even Austin Dillion won the driver’s championship in the 2013 Xfinity Season after being winless for the whole season. So the #18 can do it too! But Creed has different plans. Further in the conversation, he said, “I think Aric Almirola is in the car, in the 20 car at Phoenix. So he could win the race and win the championship title or the owner’s title and we could run second and win the driver’s title. So certainly doable. Do I wanna do it that way? No, I wanna go win races.”

While previously the second-place finishes bothered the 26-year-old, upon recent reflection they don’t anymore. On this note, he recently said, “I mean, for a second there, it was getting annoying. I got annoyed with myself and why do I keep running second, but lately, I just haven’t cared and have been having a lot of fun being fast and consistent and in the picture of winning.” Despite not winning a race, Creed has had an incredible season and is a top runner for the championship with a bright future ahead of him.

What are Sheldon Creed’s plans in NASCAR?

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In the 26 races so far in the season, Creed has managed to finish 13 times in the top-5 and 17 times in the top-10. His average finish so far has been 12.077. And not just in this season, but throughout his Xfinity career so far he’s shown top form. He started running full-time in Xfinity in 2022, after which he has bagged 24 top-5s and 45 top-10s, with an average finish of 15.

According to Creed, his shift to JGR from RCR has been a big help in progressing this consistency. During the Playoff Media Day, he said, “I think it certainly has [helped my confidence]. I think I came to [Joe Gibbs Racing] pretty low on confidence, and I’m not sure I was having fun with it anymore, and yeah, I think that’s all turned around. I think my confidence grows every week.” With the consistency that he’s shown, a win is just around the corner, which he believes he needs for his future career.

Creed in NASCAR has risen through the ranks, starting with the Truck Series in 2016, and then performing at his best in Xfinity. The next destination naturally is the Cup Series, and the #18 knows what it takes to get there. “I think at this point, where everything is at, you have to win races if you want to go to the Cup [Series] and have a paid-for ride and not have to bring money to a Cup team. That’s the goal. I think I’m consistent enough to maybe have Cup teams interested, but they want to see winners and I have to do that more often.”

What do you think are his chances of getting into the Cup?