Sheldon Creed and Richard Childress Racing certainly did not part on excellent terms. After two full-time Xfinity seasons driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for Childress, Creed has moved on to a bigger opportunity in the same series as the driver of the No. 18 Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing.
That doesn't mean the 2020 Truck Series Champion didn't have some things still on his mind about his time at RCR.
Creed took some time during his appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to reflect on his experiences at Richard Childress Racing. Creed was pretty blunt.
? "I've been frustrated the last 2 years just not running well [...] I just felt like (the car) was what was holding me back a lot of the time."@sheldoncreed shares his perspective on departing @RCRracing and joining @JoeGibbsRacing for the 2024 @NASCAR_Xfinity Series season. pic.twitter.com/hwyzv5Qj00
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) December 15, 2023
"If you had asked me in August, even September, I was going to go back to RCR and really just do the same deal again and I don't know," Creed said. "I've been frustrated the last two years, really, just not running well, and it just gets irritating, right? You feel like you're putting in a lot of work and I felt like I was, I don't know, I don't want to say better than the car but it just felt like that was what was holding me back a lot of the time."
That frustration finally hit a boiling point during the Xfinity Series playoffs, where he and former teammate Austin Hill reached the Round of 8.
"I finally think that frustration got to me and I started talking to people," Creed said, "and I was even considering going back to truck racing at some point just 'cause I was over running how I was and I wanted to go win races again. ... And I knew I wanted to go and have a shot at winning races and not just falling into a win or just winning one or two here and there. I wanted to go somewhere where I felt like I have a shot of winning every week. I just felt like it was my time to move on and JGR was going to be a place that I could do that at."
Time will tell if RCR was holding him back. Hill certainly has delivered behind the wheel of his No. 21 car, with six wins combined in the last two seasons with the team.
If the new driver of the No. 2, Jesse Love — fresh off the ARCA Championship — comes in and is competing for wins right from the start while being only 18 going on 19 years old, Creed might have some soul-searching to do because it then would be clear that RCR wasn't holding him back.
Creed and Hill already had a big rivalry as teammates with RCR. Now with Creed moving on to JGR Gibbs versus Childress will be even more exciting to watch in 2024.
