“Not a God Damn Save” – Fans Ridicule Former RCR Outcast and Joe Gibbs Racing’s New Face’s Iconic Save at Auto Club Speedway

Following a successful Truck Series campaign in 2020, all eyes were on the young gun, Sheldon Creed as he made the leap to the big league, transitioning to NASCAR’s second-highest faction, Xfinity Series in a full-time role in 2022. Sky was the limit for Creed who signed with the Chevy camp at Richard Childress Racing but little did the driver know that his two seasons with Richard Childress and Co. weren’t going to be the way he wanted them to be.

Despite the youngster’s promising talent behind the wheel, the RCR equipment and his ugly spat with teammate and fellow driver Austin Hill made his 2022 and 2023 seasons dark and gloomy as he finished 14th and seventh in the rankings despite making it past the regular season. Besides a few glimpses of valor and a ridiculous save at Auto Club Speedway, the 26-year-old failed to rack up a single win in his two seasons, which made the fans even more livid. On top of that, his altercation with Hill got him evicted from RCR and even the “Save of the Year Candidate” couldn’t escape fans’ wrath as they denounced his effort, calling it just blind luck.

2023 season recap – Sheldon Creed, his controversial tenure at RCR, and his phenomenal save

On October 11th, 2023, Richard Childress Racing released its #2 Xfinity Series driver, Sheldon Creed, announcing that the driver won’t be returning to the Chevy camp next season. While it was a disappointment for Creed who in his two seasons on the team couldn’t even pick a win, his tussle with teammate Hill at Martinsville became the final incident that stowed away his aspirations, even getting him on the ugly side of his team boss, Richard Childress.

The Martinsville incident was such a disaster for Creed that some turned against him despite the driver not intentionally destroying his teammate’s playoff chances. In the end, both the RCR drivers failed to make it to the final fray as Creed couldn’t pick up the much-needed victory while Hill did not even cross the finish line courtesy of the multi-car pile-up that took him out of the race.

All these did not even count during Creed’s astonishing save at Auto Club Speedway during the initial phase of the season, with fans denouncing the driver’s attempt to save his skin just as luck. Creed, who was running in the top 10 at the time of the event, shifted to the inside to defend against Josh Berry, who was running ninth, but did so too late, sending him careening onto the inside wall at high speed.

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The commentators and the crowd were on the edge of their seats as the #2 RCR Chevy slid straight for the wall. A collision was imminent, but Creed magically pulled off a stunner to save himself from a vicious crash barely scrapping the wall. While some of the enthusiasts were genuinely shocked to see such a miraculous save from the youngster, others shamed the driver, saying, “At that speed it’s called luck.”

Netizens bash the youngster despite his incredible save

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The RCR implosion at Martinsville seems to have made such a lasting impression on fans’ minds that they resented both drivers’ ugly back and forth. While Hill was the more experienced one of the two drivers, some fans rallied behind the 29-year-old Winston native, denouncing Sheldon Creed unapologetically whereas others bashed Hill for drawing first blood, sparking an unnecessary feud that too at the most critical part of the tournament.

The scene was pretty much dull when Childress gave JGR’s new face a verbal beating after his Martinsville debacle. And the scene pretty much remained that way even after the season ended. Even when NASCAR on NBC shared a post on “Save of the Year”, featuring Creed’s close call with the wall, some fans were not impressed and even wrote, “Not a god damn save.“

One user wrote, suggesting a technicality, “Not a save if the car touches the wall.” While another one keyed in, commenting, “After dumping himself, too.” Whereas another fan compared the scenario with Bobby Labonte’s iconic save in 2010 Daytona just to downplay the young driver’s effort, “Bobby Labonte did it better.”

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What do you think about the whole debacle? Was it an incredible save or was it just plain luck?