It’s the start of a new era. Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer kickstarted their tenure at the newly rebuilt Haas Factory Team with an impressive performance at Daytona International Speedway. Despite falling short of a victory at the United Rentals 300, the duo finished the season-opener in second and third place respectively, giving them plenty of positives for the year ahead. It may seem like a bittersweet ending at the ‘World Center of Racing’, even though the team almost achieved the perfect result on their debut race.

They say teamwork makes the dream work, especially on superspeedways. However, that didn’t seem to be the case for Creed and Mayer, after the pair relinquished their advantage to Richard Childress’ Jesse Love.

Sheldon Creed reflects on what could be done differently

“Welcome to Xfinity, Haas Factory,” said Sam Mayer after the checkered flag was waved at the iconic Daytona International Speedway. Built from the ashes of the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing, the newly rebranded organization almost achieved the perfect result in the season-opener. Both Mayer and Creed opted for the inside lane during the overtime restart, but Jesse Love who was leading the race received a helpful push from Taylor Gray, despite both the racers competing for different manufacturers. That proved to be the difference maker.

Sharing his thoughts after the race, Sheldon Creed candidly said, “I think everyone is kind of catching on. If you marry yourself too much to your manufacturer cars or your teammates, you just get passed. Just trying to change the approach a little bit with our teammates and attack more, and I think handling will be a little more of an issue where it’s really not here, and yeah, just happy with another good start to a season and ready to get through Atlanta and get to real racetracks.”

There was an element of luck involved with Jesse Love’s triumph, as neither Sheldon Creed nor Sam Mayer could mount a late charge as a multi-car crash during the white flag maintained the status quo until the race ended. Despite working together at the 2.5-mile oval, both the Ford racers couldn’t break the No. 2 Chevy’s dominance at the season-opener, falling narrowly short of a triumph.

If there’s one thing Creed has learned from the race, it’s that being reliant on his Ford partner wasn’t enough to secure a victory. Not only did Jesse Love have the speed, but he was also helped by a Toyota driver despite running a Chevrolet car. The California native said after the race, “Just didn’t quite have the help out back that I needed. He (Love) could rebound and get back by me.” Things might not have quite worked out for the Haas Factory Team this time around, but they would have taken a second and third-place result on their debut if offered at the beginning of the race.

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Sam Mayer enjoyed working with his new teammate

There are worse things than finishing runner-up. While it was a case of so close, yet so far for the Haas Factory Team, both its drivers made it to the podium on the team’s debut, a promising set of results under any circumstances. After three-and-a-half years at JR Motorsports, Mayer switched to the No. 41 Ford team this season and couldn’t help but express his happiness at his team’s performance in the season opener.

Reflecting on the race, Mayer said, “It was awesome. This was some of the most fun I’ve had working with a teammate, just purely because at JRM, there’s four, sometimes five of us, so you’re kind of working with whoever’s around you because there’s someone around you at all times. Whereas now, you have to really find your one teammate out there and really hook up with him and do everything on your own. It was a lot of fun because it was challenging, but we both did a really good job. Sheldon is one of the best (restrictor) plate racers in the series right now, so that helps a lot, too.”

The sentiment was echoed by Sheldon Creed as well, who went on to say, “I had a lot of fun — probably the funniest I’ve had on a speedway.” Both drivers have time to develop a stronger partnership, which will go on to help them at future races. Could Creed and Smith develop a strong partnership, which may propel either one of the drivers to win the championship when the season ends? The signs are looking good, but time will tell how their rapport evolves as the season progresses.