So close, yet so far. That’s the best way to describe Sheldon Creed’s year after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came agonizingly close to securing his first win of the season at Darlington Raceway. In the last six years, the 26-year-old has finished runner-up a staggering 11 times without a victory, setting a new record in the process. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly Creed could have done differently, as he led laps and remained in the top five all race long, but still couldn’t get the result.

Sheldon Creed’s third-place finish at Darlington Raceway prompted Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron to express some supportive words, while NASCAR fans also rallied behind the California native on social media.

William Byron comes in support of Sheldon Creed

The race was Creed’s to lose, as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver hunted down Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota Supra and snatched the lead with just nine laps to go. Having led the race for 30 out of 150 scheduled laps, the 26-year-old driver was optimistic that he would finally find a breakthrough at Darlington Raceway to secure the first Xfinity Series win of his career. However, everything changed when AJ Allmendinger made contact with Cole Custer, which brought about a caution with just three laps to go. Creed, who was the race leader at that point, entered the pits for a tire change, but a slight lag in replacing his right rear tire landed him in fourth place for the last restart.

However, he managed to climb one spot to finish in third place, which was Sheldon Creed’s 11th top-five result in the Xfinity Series so far. While there are plenty of positives he can take from his performance, it’s understandable why the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was upset at the outcome. Coming to his support was an unlikely ally, as William Byron took to X to respond to Jeff Gluck’s tweet. Gluck, who writes for The Athletic, had written, “What does this dude have to do to catch a break?” to which Byron replied, “Preach, did everything right.”

Speaking about the race’s outcome and what exactly went wrong for the No. 18 Toyota team, Sheldon Creed said after the race, “I was optimistic at first. My pit crew had been really good all day. I figured we would come in first and leave first. I needed to at least probably be on the front row for a green-white-checkered like that. Just did my best with restarting fourth like that. I don’t know. I’m obviously really bummed because today was our day, and I felt like I put in one of my best performances. To have a caution like that ruin it sucks.”

With three races left before the Round of 12 playoffs at Kansas Speedway, Sheldon Creed is aiming for a race win. His No. 18 Toyota Supra has shown potential, finishing no lower than 8th in the last five races. If Creed maintains his momentum and gets the basics right, his winless streak could soon come to an end.

Creed’s efforts win over the hearts of NASCAR fans

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It didn’t take long for fans to express their support and sympathy towards Sheldon Creed, who fumbled yet another winning situation in the Xfinity Series. This season, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has finished runner-up four times in 23 races, prompting one fan to write, “Dude has the worst luck in the sport.”

Echoing that sentiment, another fan couldn’t help but feel sorry for the 26-year-old racing driver, who has worked tirelessly all season without having anything to show for it. The fan wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter), “I’m not sure I’ve ever been more heartbroken for somebody in all my time watching racing… Dude is giving his all and just can’t catch the right break.”

After the race, Creed had gone on to say that he isn’t making a dollar this year as results aren’t translating to race wins. He said, “we brought all the money we could. I’m literally not even making a dollar this year, so it just hurts when they get away like that.”

The California native is set to join the Haas Factory Team next year, irrespective of how his ongoing Xfinity Series season plays out. On that note, one fan wrote on X, “Creed is one of the best talents in the series, and the fact that he just sat there on TV and said Joe Gibbs doesn’t pay him any money whatsoever is embarrassing.”

Remember when Joey Logano finally put an end to the marathon NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville? He clinched the win by expertly stretching his fuel through a staggering five overtimes. What was supposed to be a 400-mile race turned into a grueling 331 laps on the 1.33-mile track, all thanks to a record-setting 16 cautions. On the same stretch, a fan came up with a conspiracy theory that NASCAR enjoys having late restarts in its races, perhaps because of the entertainment value that it brings. The fan said, “NASCAR loves their late race restarts. Commentators practically begging someone to wreck at the end to bunch everyone up.”

One fan felt jaded at the way modern NASCAR races are being approached. Expressing dislike for late cautions, and circumstances that could steal a potential victory from a deserving driver, the fan wrote, “Being the winning car, being in great position to win a race means nothing in modern NASCAR. I’ve grown to dislike late cautions with pit stops that often screws a winning effort. You dig a gold mine all day, take a break, and the next guy hits the gold with one hammer strike.”

Do you think Sheldon Creed will win a race this season? Let us know in the comments!