BRISTOL, Tenn. – Like a stealth bomber, Sheldon Creed waited until the last minute to make his move.
Thanks to an astute call from crew chief Jonathan Toney, Creed had new tires for an overtime restart on Lap 304, and he used them to full advantage in winning Friday night’s Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The victory, Creed’s second in three Chase races, left the driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet on top of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason standings, 11 points ahead of top-seeded Justin Allgaier in second.
But the result left Allgaier angry after finishing fourth and left Jesse Love disconsolate and apologetic after running Allgaier into the outside wall after a Lap 286 restart.
Benefiting from a caution with three laps left in regulation, Creed lined up in the inside lane beside race leader William Sawalich on Lap 304. Getting an excellent launch on his new tires — after Toney had called him into the pits for fresh rubber on Lap 280 — Creed got an excellent launch and seized the lead.
Sawalich moved to the top of the track in an attempt to counter, but Creed prevailed, beating Sawalich to the finish line by 0.253 seconds at the end of the two-lap overtime. Creed, who picked up his third victory of the season and third of his career, was credited with leading only the final three laps.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol
“Just a great call by my crew chief and engineer to put tires on,” said Creed, who lined up eighth for the penultimate restart on Lap 286 and quickly advanced to second. “Great pit stop by my guys to get me out first and be the first one on tires.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really good all night with the balance of our Chevrolet. Hats off to these guys. They just never give up. I just think the (overtime) restart there, I tried to time the 18 (Sawalich) well. With a lot newer tires, it was just easier for me to get going. I got clear and I was just kind of watching up top.”
Creed has finished first, second and first in the three Chase races, as the O’Reilly Series faces a week off before resuming in the Focused Health 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Oct. 3 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, ESPN Unlimited, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Allgaier was the leader for the Lap 286 restart, but in a bid for the lead, Love ran the No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall shortly after the race went green. As soon as the race ended, with Allgaier in fourth and Love a disappointing 17th, Allgaier strode to Love’s No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet to express his dissatisfaction.
“(I was) just questioning why,” said Allgaier, who won the first stage despite creasing the nose of his Camaro during contact with the back bumper of Nick Sanchez’s Chevrolet in heavy traffic. “The race car we had was so good tonight. I’m just disappointed at coming out of here the way we did.”
Love, the defending series champion, was contrite and upset over a decision that cost both him and Allgaier the chance for a victory.
“Honestly, I got caught up in the moment racing with him,” said Love, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 41 points behind Creed. “I knew on the last restart (Lap 286), I had to get a good launch, and I was able to accomplish that. I came off (Turn) 4, we were side-by-side, and I needed to run my best corner, and instead I got caught up with racing him, and in turn that led me down a path to make an enemy I needed not to make.
“I made a terrible decision that took ourselves out of contention to win.”
Rookie Brent Crews ran third, with Corey Day securing the fifth spot. Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Parker Retzlaff, Dean Thompson and Sammy Smith completed the top 10.
Carson Kvapil led a race-high 156 laps but pitted with smoke trailing from the back of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevy with 44 laps left. Kvapil finished 24th, four laps down, but held the third position in the standings, 37 points behind Creed.
Love led 80 laps before the run-in with Allgaier, who was out front for 49 circuits. The only other drivers to lead laps were Sawalich with 13 — interrupted by the Lap 297 caution that changed the course of the race after Ryan Sieg slammed the outside wall in close quarters with Day and Retzlaff — and Creed with three.
NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series garage, confirming Sheldon Creed as the winner. The Nos. 17 and 54 each had one lug nut not safe and secure. Both teams will lose pit-stall selection for the next race at Las Vegas.