CREED AT ATLANTA: Sheldon Creed takes his summer hot streak and his CW Sports Toyota GR Supra to Atlanta this weekend for the Focused Health 250. In five starts at the track, Creed has scored one top-five, two top-10s, 55 laps led, and an average finish of 16.2. In his last start at the track earlier this season, Creed scored his best finish at Atlanta, which was a fourth-place performance.
DARLINGTON RECAP: Creed showcased one of the greatest Xfinity Series performances as well as perhaps the worst heartbreak of his career last week at Darlington. After starting second, Creed ran in the top-five for the entire day, proving to be the class of the field along with teammate Christopher Bell. After a fifth-place finish in stage one, Creed came back to score his first stage win of the year in stage two. In the final stage, Creed chased down Bell from four seconds behind to take the lead with eight laps to go before a late-race caution sent the race in overtime. Creed lost the lead on the last minute round of pit stops and could not overcome the setback in overtime, leaving him to finish third despite leading 30 laps on the day.
Sheldon Creed / No. 18 CW Sports Toyota GR Supra Preview
Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
No. 18 CW Sports Toyota GR Supra News and Notes:
- TOP FIVE LEADER: With his third-place finish in Darlington, Creed maintained his position as the leader for top-five finishes in the Xfinity Series with 11. Creed also holds a five-race streak of top-tens dating back to his fifth-place finish in Pocono, which he extended with his 15th top-10 of the year in Darlington.
- STUCK ON SILVER: Creed’s second-place finish at Michigan marked his 11th career second-place finish in the Xfinity Series. The most recent runner-up performance placed Creed in sole possession of the NXS record for second-place finishes without a win. Remarkably, 50% (11/22) of his career top-fives have been second-place results.
- CW SPORTS: CW Sports is the incoming broadcast partner of the Xfinity Series starting on September 20th with the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was announced earlier this year that The CW has secured the exclusive broadcasting rights of all NASCAR Xfinity Series races, practices, and qualifying sessions beginning in 2025 and extending through the 2031 race season. The deal marks the first time in Xfinity Series history that every race will be available on free, over-the-air broadcast television with additional content available through The CW’s digital platforms.
- ON THE PITBOX: Crew chief Sam McAulay will lead the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra crew this season. Despite his rookie status, McAulay is an established mind at JGR as he joined the organization in 2007 and worked his way up the ranks from intern to lead race engineer for the No. 11 Cup Series entry of Denny Hamlin. Since the start of his tenure on the No. 11 in 2017, McAulay has contributed to 25 victories, including three Daytona 500 wins and a Coke 600 win as a crew chief when he filled-in for the suspended Chris Gabehart in 2022.
- JGR AT ATLANTA: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers have combined for 73 starts at AMS. JGR cars have visited Victory Lane six times with five different drivers – Christopher Bell, Mike Bliss, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, and most recently, John Hunter Nemechek. Nemechek earned his win last season in this race.
- FOLLOW ALONG: Follow along for updates and a behind-the-scenes look at Creed’s 2024 season.
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- RACE INFO: Coverage of this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway is scheduled for Saturday, September 7th, at 3:00 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Sheldon Creed, Driver of the No. 18 CW Sports Toyota GR Supra:
“You are amidst your best stretch of runs this season. How do you look to keep it up in Atlanta this weekend?
“Atlanta is a little more unpredictable than most of the tracks we’ve ran at this summer so it’ll take some good fortune. I loved the growth we showed with our speedway package at Daytona a few weeks ago so I’m looking forward to seeing what we can bring to the track on Saturday.
Sheldon Creed’s Stats at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Poles | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 55 | 10.8 | 16.2 |
Sheldon Creed’s 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Stats
Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Poles | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
23 | 0 | 11 | 15 | 2 | 79 | 9.0 | 12.4 |
Sheldon Creed’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Career Stats
Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Poles | Laps Led | Avg. Start | Avg. Finish |
93 | 0 | 22 | 44 | 3 | 424 | 9.9 | 15.3 |
About Joe Gibbs Racing:
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR with four NASCAR Cup Series teams, four NASCAR Xfinity Series teams, an ARCA Series team, and a driver development program. JGR is based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Joe Gibbs, who also earned his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was named as one of the NFL’s top 10 coaches of all-time with a winning career that included three Super Bowl Championships as head coach of the Washington franchise. JGR has competed in NASCAR since 1992, capturing more than 400 wins over that span. No team has more combined wins across the sport’s three national series in the history of NASCAR. In addition, JGR has won five Cup Series championships along with four Xfinity Series driver championships and six Xfinity Series owner’s championships. The organization also has captured four Daytona 500 titles, considered to be NASCAR’s premier event each season.