Sheldon Creed saw his hard-earned championship lead evaporate in the blink of an eye on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway, finishing a miserable 32nd after an electrical gremlin struck his machine. The brutal result blew the postseason wide open with just three races left on the 2026 calendar, paving the way for defending series champion Jesse Love to take charge with a dominant victory in the Timberland Pro 200.
Coming into the 200-miler, Creed held a two-point advantage over Love at the top of the standings. Now, he tumbles all the way down to fourth place, staring at a daunting 59-point deficit. The disaster struck during the Stage 1 intermission when Creed attempted a routine fuel-conservation shutdown in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. When the 29-year-old flipped the switch to fire the car back up, nothing happened.
Unable to restart his No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet, a wrecker had to shove the stranded machine back to pit road. His crew scrambled under the hood while he cycled power and messed with steering wheel buttons before the beast finally roared back to life. Unfortunately, the ordeal cost the team three crucial laps, and Creed only managed to claw one of them back before the checkered flag.
"Yeah, I mean just normal under caution, shutting it off and firing it back up, and yeah, shut it off there in the middle of 1 and 2, and I went to re-fire, and there was nothing," Creed said after starting fourth and finishing second in the opening stage.
No. 00 crew chief Jonathan Toney admitted they would need to dig into the car back at the shop to find the root cause of the ignition cut-off, noting they were lucky to avoid further trouble once the car was reset. That speed was evident in the handling, with Creed noting how fast the car felt once they got to work on it during the opening run. But losing multiple laps meant they were merely along for the ride for the rest of the night.
It is a bitter pill for a driver who started the Chase presented by Mobil 1 with an absolute tear, posting finishes of first, second, and first across the opening three rounds. After slipping with a 13th-place finish at Las Vegas and a third-place run at Charlotte, the points cushion that once protected him has vanished entirely into negative numbers.
With three distinct tracks remaining—Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway, and the Homestead-Miami Speedway season finale—Creed knows the mission has suddenly changed from defense to all-out attack. Toney believes the path forward is actually quite simple: win races and stack stage points, starting next Saturday at Talladega where chaos is always guaranteed.
