No time like the present: Sheldon Creed still searching for first NASCAR Xfinity Series victory

Same song, different verse. 

Monday night's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona was just another narrow defeat in a long line of narrow defeats for third-year driver Sheldon Creed. 

After winning eight races in two seasons in the Truck Series, and the series championship in 2020, the California native looked to be one of the most promising young stars in the sport. And while he's been fast, he is yet to find victory lane in NASCAR's second-tier series. Monday night's runner-up finish to former teammate Austin Hill was his eighth second-place finish since joining the series full-time in 2022. 

Who could forget Creed's classic battle with Kyle Larson and Noah Gragson at Darlington, his heart-wrenching photo finish with Justin Allgaier at Daytona or the Martinsville Meltdown last October, where he and Hill were both knocked out of the playoffs? 

Add in close defeats at Portland, Watkins Glen, Phoenix and the most recent race at Daytona, and the runners-up seem to be adding up for a driver who may be running out of time to prove himself in the upper echelons of NASCAR. Running up front and making the playoffs is nice, but if you can’t put the car in victory lane, team owners won’t be lining up at the door to sign you. 

Modern-day NASCAR is a “what have you done for me lately” world, and with it being more than three years since Creed’s Truck Series championship and over two years since his last NASCAR win, many are wondering if he has the coveted killer instinct that you must have to survive in a cutthroat sport. Those questions about his mindset were further exemplified at the end of Monday’s race, where he appeared to back off on the final lap rather than giving chase to leader Hill, with Creed possibly thinking the caution flag had been thrown for an incident earlier in the lap. 

Whatever the case is with Creed’s “killer instinct,” or lack thereof, one thing is abundantly clear — there’s no time like the present for him to grab his first Xfinity Series victory, lock himself into the playoffs and prove to everyone that he can still be a championship caliber driver. 

While the clock may be ticking, Creed’s goal is to be a few seconds ahead of the field and bring home that first trophy, wherever and whenever it might be.