{"id":32117,"date":"2020-11-06T22:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-07T04:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=32117"},"modified":"2020-11-07T07:17:33","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T13:17:33","slug":"sheldon-creed-makes-daring-move-to-win-2020-gander-trucks-championship-at-phoenix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2020\/11\/06\/sheldon-creed-makes-daring-move-to-win-2020-gander-trucks-championship-at-phoenix\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheldon Creed makes daring move to win 2020 Gander Trucks championship at Phoenix"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories\/Trench Shoring Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Championship finalist Sheldon Creed had already apologized to his race team as his No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado began to fall back in the closing laps of Friday night\u2019s Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories\/Trench Shoring Chevrolet, crosses the finish line to win the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

And then a yellow flag came out \u2013 with three laps remaining. Creed gambled on a pit stop for fresh tires even as the race leaders \u2013 fellow championship contenders Brett Moffitt and Grant Enfinger stayed on track. Creed restarted eighth but made an amazing four-wide move on the bottom of the track to pull back into the lead with a lap to go and held off rookie teammate Zane Smith by a mere .617-seconds to earn his first NASCAR national series championship trophy in a dramatic season finale at the one-mile track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it, thank you so much,” the 23-year old Californian, Creed screamed into his team radio as he crossed the finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caution came out and we were like, \u2018we\u2019ve got nothing to lose\u2019,” Creed said of the decision to pit for tires. \u201cI pride myself on my restarts week-in and week-out and just nailed the restart right there.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories\/Trench Shoring Chevrolet, celebrates with a burnout after winning the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was just driving as hard as I can, I wanted this thing so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was particularly heart-wrenching for Creed\u2019s teammate Brett Moffitt, who led a race best 78 of the 155 laps and had held the front position for 59 laps when that final caution came out for Dawson Cram\u2019s spinning No. 41 Chevrolet. The 2018 series champion, Moffitt, was essentially left helpless on the restart as all the trucks with fresh tires \u2013 plus a pair of title contenders \u2013 came at him in a five-wide title-on-the-line run for the checkered.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating losing like that,” Moffitt said. \u201cIt would have been an honor to win with this paint scheme in honor of [NASCAR Cup Series champion] Jimmie Johnson,” said Moffitt, adding, \u201cI guess if broken legs isn\u2019t enough of a handicap, race strategy is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories\/Trench Shoring Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Moffitt , driver of the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet, was referring to an accident he had prior to the COVID-19 NASCAR pause in competition, that broke both his legs. He recovered and valiantly made a run for the title despite the physical setback.<\/p>\n

Smith, the third GMS Racing team driver, was similarly frustrated on pit road after the race. He earned two wins on the season and the series Sunoco Rookie of the Year Honors, but the disappointment in Friday night\u2019s outcome was obvious post-race.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m happy for Sheldon, he had an amazing year along with us,” said the 21-year old Californian. \u201cMan, nothing hurts more than to be the first loser.”<\/p>\n

Non-championship contenders Chandler Smith finished third, Christian Eckes and Raphael Lessard rounded out the top five. Last year\u2019s Phoenix winner Stewart Friesen, Ben Rhodes, Tyler Ankrum, Todd Gilliland and Moffitt rounded out the top-10.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Sheldon Creed, driver of the #2 Chevy Accessories\/Trench Shoring Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix Raceway on November 06, 2020 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

The fourth member of the Championship 4, Grant Enfinger certainly turned in an impressive rally on the night. After earning his championship chance last week in a wild finish at Martinsville, Va. Enfinger was chasing Moffitt down in the closing laps before the yellow flag.<\/p>\n

Like Moffitt, he stayed out during the caution and was also passed on the frantic ensuing restart by trucks with fresher tires. He finished 13th in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just couldn\u2019t go on a short run,” Enfinger said. \u201cWe had good speed on a long run, but just couldn\u2019t pass after that. So we got off sequence. That worked. [Crew chief Jeff] Hensley was leaning towards tires at the end. I was leaning against it just to do something different, and we ended up staying out. That cost us.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just is what it is. We didn\u2019t have quite the short run speed to legitimately contend tonight, but, man, a great season by these guys. I\u2019m gonna try not to be too sad leaving here because it\u2019s been a great year. It\u2019s just unfortunate the way it turned out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Sheldon Creed – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NGROTS_PHX_Creed_110620.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NGROTS_PHX_Stankiewicz_110620.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

GMS Racing owner Maury Gallagher and GMS Racing president Mike Beam – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NGROTS_PHX_BeamGallagher_110620.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Brett Moffitt, Grant Enfinger and Brett Moffitt – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NGROTS_PHX_MoffittEnfingerSmith_110620.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Race – 26th Annual Lucas Oil 150<\/b><\/p>\n

Phoenix Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

Avondale, Arizona<\/b><\/p>\n

Friday, November 6, 2020<\/b><\/p>\n

               1. (3)  Sheldon Creed (P), Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               2. (2)  Zane Smith # (P), Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               3. (21)  Chandler Smith, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               4. (7)  Christian Eckes #, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               5. (13)  Raphael Lessard #, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               6. (9)  Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               7. (6)  Ben Rhodes, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               8. (10)  Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               9. (22)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               10. (4)  Brett Moffitt (P), Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               11. (16)  Johnny Sauter, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               12. (17)  Austin Hill, Toyota, 156.<\/p>\n

               13. (1)  Grant Enfinger (P), Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               14. (5)  Matt Crafton, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               15. (23)  Tanner Gray #, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               16. (32)  Dylan Lupton, Ford, 156.<\/p>\n

               17. (15)  Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               18. (12)  Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               19. (28)  Tate Fogleman #, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               20. (14)  Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet, 156.<\/p>\n

               21. (25)  Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, 155.<\/p>\n

               22. (20)  Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 154.<\/p>\n

               23. (27)  Spencer Davis #, Toyota, 154.<\/p>\n

               24. (8)  Derek Kraus #, Toyota, 153.<\/p>\n

               25. (26)  Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, 153.<\/p>\n

               26. (11)  Danny Bohn, Toyota, 153.<\/p>\n

               27. (18)  Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 152.<\/p>\n

               28. (24)  Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 152.<\/p>\n

               29. (33)  Robby Lyons(i), Chevrolet, 152.<\/p>\n

               30. (29)  Akinori Ogata, Toyota, 150.<\/p>\n

               31. (30)  Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 147.<\/p>\n

               32. (19)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Accident, 103.<\/p>\n

               33. (31)  Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, Brakes, 44.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  99.557 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 34 Mins, 1 Secs. Margin of Victory:  0.617 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  4 for 28 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  8 among 5 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   Z. Smith # (P) 1-48;G. Enfinger (P) 49;S. Creed (P) 50-74;B. Moffitt (P) 75-93;B. Rhodes 94;B. Moffitt (P) 95-153;G. Enfinger (P) 154;S. Creed (P) 155-156.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Brett Moffitt (P) 2 times for 78 laps; Zane Smith # (P) 1 time for 48 laps; Sheldon Creed (P) 2 times for 27 laps; Grant Enfinger (P) 2 times for 2 laps; Ben Rhodes 1 time for 1 lap.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 21,2,23,98,88,99,26,18,52,19<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 23,21,2,99,98,52,26,4,18,24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Championship finalist Sheldon Creed had already apologized to his race team as his No. 2 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado began to fall back in the closing laps of Friday night\u2019s Lucas Oil 150 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway. And then a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":32125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[16,663,395,706],"class_list":["post-32117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-gander-outdoors-truck-series","tag-phoenix-raceway","tag-sheldon-creed"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/NGROTS_Creed_CleebrateFlag_110620-scaled-e1604754615166.jpg?fit=640%2C426&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-8m1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32133,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32117\/revisions\/32133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}