Sheldon Creed had an interesting end to his two-year run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Richard Childress Racing.
It all ended in sparks, with the team and Creed parting on poor terms, as he left the No. 2 Chevy for Toyota's Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2023 season.
Creed, the former 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, certainly was looking for a new home, and he appears to have found that at JGR.
Creed spoke with Dustin Albino from NASCAR.com about how things shook out with RCR and finding a home with Gibbs.
"I was looking at the future, and I wasn't in love with where I was," Creed said. "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."
Creed had plenty of options before signing with Gibbs, as he admitted his first call was to JR Motorsports, but that spot got taken quickly by Sammy Smith. Ironically, Creed took Smith's No. 18 car at JGR this season.
It seemed like JGR was Creed's destined spot.
Creed has never lacked the drive to compete, and that was clear to JGR's NASCAR Xfinity Series/ Development executive vice president, Steve deSouza.
"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 has quickly delivered in his first two starts for JGR, with top five finishes in both races thus far, including a runner-up finish at Daytona to ex-teammate turned rival Austin Hill.
It will be interesting to see if Creed can deliver on his goals of winning races with JGR, as RCR certainly doesn't miss him.
