It probably should have been Austin Hill. It probably could have been Ross Chastain, which ironically would have made it three-for-three for Cup regulars this weekend, as Kyle Busch and Carson Hocevar combined to finish one-two in the Craftsman Truck Race earlier in the day, and of course Tyler Reddick’s win in the Cup Series on Sunday.
Instead, it was Sheldon Creed who came to the front when Hill and Chastain got together. Hill nearly spun out. Chastain’s momentum was stalled and Creed, who looked like fate might him pushing Chastain to the win and himself to another runner-up finish, found himself looking at nothing but open track all the way to the checkered flag.
There had been a series-record 15 second place finishes since 2022 Truck Series champion Creed had come up to what was then the Xfinity Series. (Anyone else still calling it that or is it just me?) While it may have shown Creed to be a model of consistency in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, there was also that sense of frustration, of being “oh so close” so many times to come up short.
When the smoke cleared and Creed came through with the lead on the final lap in Atlanta’s EchoPark Speedway, even as an RCR guy, I put aside my disappointment that Austin Hill wasn’t going to go back-to-back to start the season and thought “Sheldon is finally going to get his win!”
It was one of those “feel good” moments, not just for Creed, or the Haas Factory Team, but for NASCAR. One of the good guys in the sport who had been searching for his first win for so long, had finally had his moment.
It was not quite “every man on every crew” but many drivers in the field who, only moments before had been racing for the same top spot that Creed now occupied, congratulated the driver of the #00 Chevrolet. Former RCR teammate Hill, who had a very public dust-up with Creed at Martinsville a few years ago, went to Victory Lane to congratulate the winner. It was a class act by the two former teammates who obviously had put aside their differences and buried the hatchet at some point.
In his post-race interview, Creed said that he hoped this win would be the catalyst for more wins and the next step towards a future Cup ride. Whatever the future holds for Creed, he has gotten the long-awaited O’Reilly Series win. Is this the hurdle he had to get over, the breakthrough win he needed to achieve, to become a regular winner in the series? Could Creed be on his way to another series championship, this time in the O’Reilly Series? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, after a year and off-season of turmoil, 2026 has produced the first feel-good moment and hopefully, much like Creed’s wins in the series, not its last.
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