Sheldon Creed took home his second victory of the year Sunday afternoon after hanging on to win on the first-ever NASCAR Truck Series race on the Daytona Road Course. Creed had to fend off a hard-charging teammate Brett Moffitt for the victory in an overtime restart that came with two laps to go. The victory now puts Creed and the GMS Racing No. 2 team on top of the playoff standings, leading just by three points over Grant Enfinger.
“Nerve-wracking,” a smiling Creed said of the race after climbing out of his No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet truck.
“Brett’s [Moffitt] really good on road courses and he’s helped me so much on the Chevy simulator. I just thought about not making a mistake there. He tried crossing me up a couple of times there in [turns] three and five and I just stopped in the corners so he couldn’t get the run.”
“I’m so thankful for my guys. They’ve been working really hard. We’ve had a rough couple weeks, last weekend running up front and lost an alternator.”
“Just thankful for everyone in our corner,” Creed continued. “Thank you Brett for running me clean there. Just so excited.”
In addition to the historic event for the Truck Series, the Daytona Road Course also marked the first of three races for the Triple Truck Challenge, where a driver can win up to $500,000 should they win all three races or $50,000 for one race.
There were also three stages that saw 12-13-19, which made up the original 44 lap event. Though, due to overtime, the race was extended to 46 laps instead.
Stage 1 Lap 1 – Lap 12
Stage 1 was surprisingly calm with Moffitt dominating the stage. The stage wasn’t all easy for Moffitt however, as the Iowan barely overshot the last chicane on the frontstretch. Had he done so, Moffitt would have had to serve a penalty for a stop and go. Fortunately for Moffitt, he held on to his No. 23 Chevrolet and got the stage victory.
A caution on lap 12 for the No. 42 stopped on track was displayed. With the caution coming out on the final lap of the stage, the stage was ended under yellow. Following Moffitt were Creed, Christian Eckes, Austin Hill, Todd Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Tanner Gray, Austin Wayne Self, and Derek Kraus completing the top 10.
While Stage 1 didn’t see too much action, pit road was a busy place during the stage break for several drivers.
Bobby Kennedy piloting the No. 00 Reaume Brothers entry jumped out of the truck and was replaced by team owner Josh Reaume, with Kennedy not feeling well. Meanwhile, Grant Enfinger changed a battery, and Stewart Friesen changed an alternator. The No. 02 of Tate Fogleman was also penalized for being too fast on pit road.
Stage 2 Lap 14 – Lap 25
Like Stage 1, Stage 2 saw a lot of action but there were no yellows that took place.
Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton stayed out under the stage break to assume the lead.
A few drivers went off course including Johnny Sauter in the No. 13 Truck. Sauter missed the Turn 9 and 10 chicane on the backstretch and went off into the grass. By going off the racing surface, the Wisconsin native had to stop for a brief period of time before returning on track. The leader Eckes went off as well in Turn 3 while trying to hold off Crafton. The No. 18 Safelite Tundra spun, which allowed Crafton to go by with the lead. Another driver, Jennifer Jo Cobb ended up missing a corner, and was penalized and had to serve a drive-thru.
As the laps began to wind down in the stage, Todd Gilliland and Derek Kraus came to pit road for battery changes to their machines.
Crafton while the leader missed the Turn 9 and 10 chicane as well, thus giving up the lead. Even though Crafton did not stop after cutting through the grass, the series officials did not penalize him as he lost two positions in the process.
With Crafton going off course, the incident saw Creed take the lead and go on to win the second stage. Hill, Ankrum, Smith, Kris Wright, Spencer Davis, Raphael Lessard, Alex Tagliani, Moffitt, and Ty Majeski were the top 10 finishers in Stage 2.
Stage 3 Lap 28 – Lap 46
Three cautions slowed the final stage throughout the final 18 laps.
Jordan Anderson in his No. 3 Chevrolet came to a stop in Turn 8. Derek Kraus as well came to a stop in Turn 3 for the fourth yellow of the race. The final caution flew with just three laps to go. Carson Hocevar making a Truck start for Niece Motorsports in the No. 40 truck collected damage in the first turn and could not get his truck to fire up. In doing so, the yellow was prompted and forced NASCAR Overtime restart.
Even the Overtime restart couldn’t slow Creed down, as he drove his No. 2 Chevy to victory lane for his first Daytona win when the checkered flag flew.
There were five cautions for seven laps and 10 lead changes among six drivers.
In addition, Creed picked up $50,000 due to the Triple Truck Challenge.
Official Results following Sunoco 159 at Daytona Road Course
- Sheldon Creed, won Stage 2, led 19 laps
- Brett Moffitt, won Stage 1, led 13 laps
- Raphael Lessard, led three laps
- Matt Crafton, led seven laps
- Austin Hill, led one lap
- Tyler Ankrum
- Grant Enfinger
- Parker Kligerman
- Scott Lagasse Jr
- Stewart Friesen
- Austin Wayne Self
- Christian Eckes, led three laps
- Zane Smith
- Ben Rhodes
- Tanner Gray
- Tyler Hill
- Spencer Boyd
- Bryan Collyer
- Tate Fogleman
- Natalie Decker
- Johnny Sauter
- Alex Tagliani
- Mike Skeen
- Tim Viens
- Kris Wright
- Cory Roper, 1 lap down
- Norm Benning, 4 laps down
- Carson Hocevar, OUT, Accident
- Codie Rohrbaugh, 5 laps down
- Derek Kraus, OUT, Electrical
- Jennifer Jo Cobb, 8 laps down
- Ty Majeski, OUT, Overheating
- Todd Gilliland, OUT, Electrical
- Spencer Davis, OUT, Brakes
- Jordan Anderson, OUT, Drivetrain
- Mark Smith, OUT, Brakes
- Bobby Kennedy-Josh Reaume, OUT, Ignition
- Roger Reuse, OUT, Clutch
Playoff Standings
- Sheldon Creed, 14 playoff points
- Grant Enfinger, 11 playoff points
- Zane Smith, 8 playoff points
- Austin Hill, 6 playoff points
- Matt Crafton, 5 playoff points
- Brett Moffitt, 4 playoff points
- Ben Rhodes, +75
- Christian Eckes, +74
- Tyler Ankrum, +5
- Todd Gilliland, +2
Below the cut line
11. Derek Kraus, -2
12. Tanner Gray, -45
13. Raphael Lessard, -55
14. Johnny Sauter, -67
Up Next: The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series visits Dover International Speedway Friday August 21 at 5 p.m./ET live on Fox Sports 1.
