LAS VEGAS — A third-place performance for Sheldon Creed in Saturday’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway didn’t come without a gamble.
It was a gamble that resulted in the misfortune of his competitors as the driver of the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet made contact with Taylor Gray on Lap 148. The incident put the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota into the wall, ending Gray’s day.
Creed came over the radio shortly after. His words: “Man, that was my fault, but you can only block a guy so many times.” He took further accountability for the incident after the race — noting that Gray was looking to make a pass on then-leader Corey Day into Turn 3.
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“Normally, I’ll kind of eat a couple blocks, but I just watched the replay, and I was just unaware that he was that close to the 17,” Creed said. “I thought he was kind of coming down to block me, and really, he was trying to poke inside the 17. So that’s totally my fault. When he came down, my plan was to just try to roll in there with him and pack some air on him because I let him get away with the first couple (of blocks). Still had a lot of laps left there. Yeah, I just ran into the back of him. That was totally on me. That was bad.”
Gray described the incident as ‘self-explanatory’ and admitted to playing defense on the No. 00 before the contact.
“I blocked him down the backstretch. It definitely didn’t warrant me getting wrecked, but it is what it is,” Gray said. “He knew what he was doing, right? He’s ran these cars long enough, and he’s been in the series long enough. He had the mentality to go into (Turn) 3 and wreck me. Obviously, he was pretty good at doing that.”
It’s not the first time Gray has been on the short end of contact. Last year, he was caught up in a humdinger ending to the Martinsville spring race, where Sammy Smith rammed the back of the No. 54 to spin Gray in the final set of corners to cause a heated exchange between the two by the infield care center.
But even amid a blistering spring prelude in the Nevada desert, tempers were cool, and no consultation occurred between Gray and Creed.
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However, Creed understood what a future exchange on track could mean if he sees the No. 54 in his rearview mirror.
“He owes me one moving forward,” Creed said. “So whenever that comes, I’ll understand when it comes back to me.”