If the start of the 2026 NASCAR season has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected.
Tyler Reddick, after going winless in 2025, has begun the new campaign with back-to-back wins at a pair of unpredictable drafting tracks. But the biggest story from the past weekend at EchoPark Raceway in Atlanta might have been the finish to Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts Series event.
For a long time, it looked like the day might never come for Sheldon Creed. But after 137 starts without a victory and 15 runner-up finishes, he is finally a winner at NASCAR's secondary level.
Austin Hill's "Sacrifice" gives Sheldon Creed "One Last Breath" in thrilling first career O'Reilly win
When Creed moved up to the O'Reilly (then Xfinity) Series in 2022 after a championship-winning career in Truck Series, it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before he found his groove at the next level too. After a slow start to his first season in which he missed the playoffs, he came along late in the year and fell just short to Noah Gragson in a memorable finish at Darlington Raceway.
No matter, though; his day was coming soon. If not in year one, then surely in year two. Instead, though, the result ended up being the first of Creed's 15 second place showings without finding Victory Lane, and with three different teams.
During his first four O'Reilly Series seasons, Creed found just about every possible way to lose. He lost on last lap passes. He lost in photo finishes – twice, in the same year, to the same driver in Justin Allgaier. He lost in situations, such as the 2024 Darlington race, in which he had the win in the bag, just for a late caution to come out and result in him losing the lead on pit road.
You always have to believe that ultimately, luck will at some point give you what it takes away. But for some drivers, it never does. By the end of 2025, Creed seemed destined to be another Brian Scott, or the O'Reilly Series' version of Mike Skinner at the Cup level. He had led 606 laps, the equivalent of about four full lower series races, and yet never the last one.
Then, Saturday happened, and it happened in the most fitting way for Creed to possibly win. Austin Hill was leading on the final lap with Ross Chastain in second. The two of them made contact entering turn three, and Creed's No. 00 Chevrolet escaped from third to take the checkered flag in a fashion all too similar to how he'd lost so many times before.
It's the feel-good story of the young 2026 season. When a driver is as snakebitten in the win column as Creed, you start to question if there are some supernatural forces working against him, and if it's even humanly possible for him to ever break through. You want to root for him change the narrative, but you wonder if it's a lost cause.
Wonder no longer. At last, the racing gods have taken Creed "Higher".