Sheldon Creed’s two-year stint at Richard Childress Racing in the Xfinity Series ended sourly. The California driver was ready for a restart, and Joe Gibbs Racing became his new home.
“I was looking at the future, and I wasn’t in love with where I was,” Creed told NASCAR.com of his move to JGR three days before the 2024 Xfinity Series season got underway. “I liked it, I had fun and had a lot of good people around me, but I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I wanted to. I felt like I would fit in better here or somewhere else.”
RELATED: JGR announces four-car Xfinity lineup for 2024 | The JGR lineup reveal in photos
Admittedly, JGR wasn’t the first call Creed made. Once Josh Berry announced he was moving to the Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing, Creed called JR Motorsports, but Sammy Smith filled that spot quickly. Stewart-Haas Racing was another potential suitor.
Steve deSouza, JGR’s EVP NASCAR Xfinity Series/Development, explained it wasn’t the first time they spoke with Creed. With JGR rebranding its Xfinity program, the timing was perfect.
“Sheldon and his grandfather (Maurice Ortega) have come to us three times, and a lot of times it was timing, and it just didn’t work,” deSouza said. “This year, it came up with a number of sequences of events on their side and some on ours. We had a slot that was open for an interim period of time, and they called right in there.
“I got a text from Maurice and a phone call from Sheldon on the same weekend, and they didn’t even know that either one of them had called me. I was thinking they were just exploring, which they had done a couple of times previously. We were happy to get him.”
With little sponsorship, Creed admitted that moving to JGR was a challenge. But after two winless years with RCR and a total of 11 top-five finishes, the move was made.
“I felt like I was stuck,” Creed said of his time at RCR. “Some weeks, we would be good, and some weeks, we would run 15th all day. That was frustrating to me. There was maybe nothing that I could do about it, but it was tough to accept that. I didn’t think it was me.
“I’ve said in the past that I think Gibbs cars are some of the best. I’m getting rid of that excuse now this year. Now, it’s up to me. I like that pressure, and me saying that puts pressure on myself. If I don’t do good this year and run the same, I’ll go race dirt for fun. This is a proving year to myself as well.”
Creed’s drive to perform is visible to deSouza and JGR. They know he has something to prove after moving to the Xfinity Series in 2022 as a top prospect after winning the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series title with GMS Racing.
“[Creed] has ambition,” deSouza said. “He’s won in everything. He has championships in everything he’s run, and this has been a struggle for him. Part of our mission is to try to work with him and get him through that. Clearly, he’s got the speed. He’s impatient at times, so we will try to coach up on that and focus on what’s important from the technology side of performance. From the drivers meetings we’ve had, he’s very knowledgeable about a lot. He doesn’t vocalize a lot of it, but in the discussions, it’s very clear that he understands all of it and can have a dialogue about it, which is very encouraging.”
Creed is labeling 2024 a make-or-break season. He believes he must wheel the No. 18 Toyota to multiple wins in order to call his first season under the Toyota banner a success.
“I came out of trucks winning, and if I wasn’t the favorite, I was at least looked at,” Creed said. “I went to two years of not running good and, in my opinion, got forgotten about. If I could turn this into a good year with multiple wins and a shot at the championship, then I feel like I put my name back in the conversation.”
WATCH: Chaotic end to 2023 Martinsville playoff race | Creed on Martinsville finish | Hill discusses Martinsville
Before the season went green, Creed hadn’t spoken to former RCR teammate Austin Hill, who he had a run-in with during the final laps of the penultimate race of the 2023 season. The former teammates rubbed fenders at Martinsville Speedway, allowing Justin Allgaier to get the win. The following week, neither driver was eligible for the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. He also laughed off comments made by Richard Childress following the Martinsville race, saying, “I’ve had drivers drive for me before, but nobody as stupid as Sheldon Creed.”
Creed knows he will be racing Hill’s RCR team aplenty throughout the 2024 season, and the No. 21 team is undefeated thus far in two superspeedway races. The No. 18 car nearly lost out on the battle with Hill in the season opener, as Creed scored his third consecutive runner-up finish dating back to that Martinsville race.
If Creed performs well with JGR, he’s hoping it snowballs into an opportunity at the Cup level. His primary goal is to make it to the Cup Series in a solid car. Creed has kicked off the season with a bang, scoring top fives in both races at Daytona and Atlanta. As the series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 2, 5 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), he ranks second in the championship standings.
MORE: 2024 Xfinity Series schedule | 2024 Xfinity standings
“I would just love to have a paid-for ride,” Creed added. “I want to race Cup; that’s my goal is to race a good Cup car. That’s goal number one, down the road, whether that’s next year, two years from now. Who knows, I could be here at Joe Gibbs Racing in an Xfinity car another three years.”