Creed Claims 2nd NASCAR O'Reilly Win, 2nd in Points at Darlington

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Sheldon Creed was known for second in a whole new way Saturday at Darlington Raceway, claiming his second career NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series win and jumping to second in the standings.

Creed's crew chief, Jonathan Toney, used a tire strategy and better restarts to get his driver in position to make the winning pass on the second-to-last restart with 53 laps to go.

TOP-10 FINISHERS (LAP 147): Sheldon Creed, Corey Day, Brent Crews, Sammy Smith, Austin Hill, Anthony Alfredo, Taylor Gray, Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements, Brandon Jones

Once a 15-time second-place finisher, Creed is now a two-time winner in the 2026 NOAPS season. He is also just seven points behind perennial season dominator Justin Allgaier. 

Allgaier finished 17th after hitting the wall with an ill-handling car in the final run. He led the most laps (60) and won the first stage.

JR Motorsports teammate Carson Kvapil beat him in the second stage. He led 20 laps and also finished outside of the top-10, in 12th. 

While Kvapil beat Allgaier in the second stage, no one could beat Anthony Alfredo. Straight up, with no tire advantage or outlying factor involved, Alfredo passed Kvapil in the closing laps of the second stage and won the stage for the No. 96 VIking Motorsports team.

STAGE TWO TOP-10 (LAP 90): Anthony Alfredo, Sheldon Creed, Sammy Smith, Carson Kvapil, Justin Allgaier, Austin Hill, Sam Mayer, Kyle Sieg, and Ryan Sieg.

Alfredo finished sixth while his Chase-qualifying teammate, Parker Retzlaff, finished 21st. 

No one finished off a more remarkable comeback quite like Corey Day, who went from seemingly regressing in form to finishing second.

Day struggled in the first 69 laps. An incident with William Sawalich seemed to end his chances at winning, with damage to his car. However, crew chief Adam Wall made a call at the end of the second stage to put on fresh tires. That allowed Day to finish second in the stage and get track position that lasted through the end of the race.

In a similar-looking car, Rajah Caruth almost finished off a similar-looking comeback. He made up two laps after mechanical issues and was up 21 positions to sixth in the final run of the race before the issues reappeared. 

Caruth finished 26th, two laps down. He is last in the Chase standings heading to World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway.

Last year, Brandon Jones finished fourth at Gateway and was the highest-finishing driver among this year's Chasers.