NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

November 5, 2026

Sheldon Creed

Press Conference

An Interview with:

Q. What's it like being here compared to the last time?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, I guess I won it the COVID year, so there was nothing really. It was all off Skype, Zoom.

Yeah, really cool. Obviously we're the furthest back, so I feel like I have the least amount of pressure. I'm just going to try to go win the stages and win the race. If I can't do that, I'm going to knock the fence down trying.

But yeah, overall just cool to be a part of it, the experience. Had a great two years with Haas, and it'll just be a lot to remember.

Q. How important or how cool would it be (indiscernible)?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, it would be awesome to end with a win with these guys. If I go win both stages and win the race, I'm guaranteed to finish second in points. I'm 20 back from Jesse, and I'm 19 back from Corey. I think I'm 10 back from Kvapil.

Yeah, would love to go win the race and at least run second in the championship, and then obviously I need something to happen to Justin or -- depending on how my stages go and his, he'll have to run probably 10th, 15th or worse. 10th is probably being courteous. Probably 15th or worse. A lot will have to go our way, but still cool to have an opportunity.

Q. On a scale of 1 to 10 (indiscernible)?

SHELDON CREED: Championship-wise? I feel pretty confident that we can win the race. But I'm not in control of what everyone else does behind me. I don't know. I haven't even thought about it. I've just been focused on doing my part this week to be ready to try to win the race, and I'll be happy with whatever happens.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, I mean, we talked about this a lot this week actually. If the caution does come out that 20, 25 laps into the stage, do you risk taking tires to go get stage points? And you could bolt tires on and you're probably going to go win the stage. Depends how many guys do. Yeah, depending on how the end of the race works, you could run yourself out of tires and then you can finish worse than 20th very easily.

Yeah, I see us running tires all the way to the end of the stages, and yeah, just trying to have all the sets for the end.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, it would be incredible. Obviously getting to win the Truck championship in 2020 was awesome, and obviously we all thought the O'Reilly experience would go better earlier on. Yeah, to take this long has been tough, but yeah, just to be in the situation that we're in and having an opportunity to win it if everything goes right is really cool for us.

Yeah, if everything goes our way on Saturday, that would be amazing.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: A little bit, but there's not much. I would say your first couple laps when you do decide to go up there, which is probably after lap 8 to 10 or so, I think you get away with that your first couple laps, you can kind of shade yourself into it. But to run it the right way and get the most speed out of it, you have to enter on the fence.

A lot of risk for reward there, but with me being in the situation that I'm in, my risk is going to be probably very high compared to maybe some others.

Q. What are you going to remember about your time (indiscernible)?

SHELDON CREED: I mean, just mostly I'm going to remember the people, everyone in the shop, the road crew. Everyone has been great. It's been arguably the most fun I've had in a two-year stint. It's all the people. Like the people are just amazing there, and the ceiling I feel like could be so high.

It was a little disheartening to not get a deal done to go on for hopefully a couple more years, but yeah, I'll just cherish this time for a long time to come.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, we negotiated a long time, all the way through the summer. But yeah, unfortunately just couldn't meet in the middle somewhere. That was pretty much it. Just couldn't agree.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: I mean, yeah, I feel like it's a season that I thought I would have three years ago. So yeah, I figured it would take me a year to kind of settle in and learn the car and all the tracks, but I didn't think it would take until my fifth season to do this.

I don't think a ton has changed about me, like driving-wise. I think I've matured a lot and make a lot smarter decisions and got smarter with the car and how things work, but I just feel like our car has had just good speed all season long, and was able to find consistency early on.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Oh, yeah, definitely. I'd say that's probably where I've improved the most is just kind of knowing the feels that I want and kind of what direction I think we need to go with adjustments. I never really told my crew chief exactly what I think I need or what adjustment to make, but maybe what corner of a car to work in has certainly helped and just kind of knowing where I want to be at and what balances I need to go fast.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: I don't know. I'm actually really excited. I love this track in general. I'm excited that we have an opportunity, not only to go win the race, but try to win the championship if everything goes right. But at the same time, very bittersweet because I really do, I love all the guys on my team and everyone at the shop. Yeah, didn't want to separate.

Not a dig at Sam. I'm really excited to go race for Sam next year and have a good time, and I think we're going to run well. But yeah, just bittersweet. Got along really well. I thought our group was really special, and I feel like all the guys on our team feel the same way.

Q. When will you say goodbye?

SHELDON CREED: I had people in the shop this week going, well, this is the last time I'm going to see you. I'll be back in the shop the next couple weeks.

Q. Grab a beer or something?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, I'll probably go try to do something with everyone and just kind of make my way around the shop just thanking everyone.

Q. I was looking at your shoes. Those might be the coolest racing shoes, and I've seen a lot of cool ones over the years?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, Connie from Sparco. I wear Vans. Obviously being from the West Coast, Vans is like all I wear, so when they came out with these shoes a few years ago, they can kind of print whatever they want on them, so they're kind of Vans inspired.

Q. They must be good luck for you.

SHELDON CREED: I don't know. They feel good.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Just everything. Everything about it. Location, how worn out and slick it is. You can run all over it. Probably running the fence is my favorite part. But yeah, just how technical and really -- it's extremely difficult. For whatever reason, that makes it funner, or more fun. That's not a word, I guess, right?

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, very cool. I hadn't really won other than some micro sprint races since having kids. Yeah, getting them to enjoy Victory Lane, experience that -- I don't know if they'll remember it. My youngest probably won't. But maybe Axel. He's 4. Maybe that will be some of his first memories.

Q. Were they excited when you won the second?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, they got spoiled there for a couple weeks. Then I thought every time I go to the racetrack they get to go to Victory Lane. Yeah, just very cool to experience that with them and see their emotions and them get excited is really cool.

Q. (On his Cup aspirations).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, I mean, I hope to have the opportunity one day. Just need to keep being good in this series and trying to win races, and yeah, hopefully a Cup owner will take a chance on me one day.

Q. Coming into this, obviously you have a huge deficit. How do you manage that?

SHELDON CREED: I mean, just one week at a time. I feel like the last how many years we ran the playoff system, if you had a bad one, it didn't kill you or you didn't feel it as much. Especially if you had a couple wins. Yeah, now you feel those races a bit and you see it in the standings and how it changes every week. Yeah, just got to put them behind you and move on and try to go as good as you can the next week.

Q. Do you feel like you have to win?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, to have a shot at winning the championship, 100 percent.

Q. Do you have a personal favorite track?

SHELDON CREED: I always say this. Darlington, Bristol, Homestead, my three favorites. Kansas is right there in that as well.

Q. How would it be to have championships in multiple national series in NASCAR?

SHELDON CREED: I mean, awesome, because there's only how many that have. There's a bunch of guys that either have O'Reilly-Cup or Truck-O'Reilly. If I could add an O'Reilly to it, then I would have an ARCA, Truck and O'Reilly. That would be really cool. Then if I got the opportunity to go Cup racing one day, to eventually try to work for that. Yeah, just to have multiple would be awesome.

Q. What would a championship mean for you?

SHELDON CREED: I mean, everything that you worked for since I was a kid. That's all I've done is raced. Yeah, it would just be fulfilling goals and dreams. I don't know; it would be incredible. It would be awesome.

Q. I missed the story about the shoes. What was that all about?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, well, I wear Vans every day of my life, and Connie from Sparco, when they started coming out with these guys, you can print whatever you want. It was actually her idea to kind of do a Vans themed shoe. All mine are based on Vans.

Q. Do you feel like this track reminds you of a championship?

SHELDON CREED: It does, it really does. Just the way it races, there's so many options. You can run all over it. Guys are going to be really good on the short run. You're going to have guys that are going to be really good on the long run. Yeah, just trying to manage all that, I think it will be great for the five of us, and hopefully it's us five battling all night.

Q. Your last race for Haas, is it bittersweet at all?

SHELDON CREED: Very much so, yeah. It's been an incredible two years with them. I've had so much fun and just built a special connection with those guys. Yeah, really excited to go race this weekend, but also, it's kind of sad.

Q. This track really impacts the community in Miami. I'm not sure how many times you've raced here, but what does this track --

SHELDON CREED: Eight times, nine times. It's one of my favorites. It's in my top three for a lot of reasons, location, just the layout, the way the track races. Yeah, I don't know, it's one of my favorites.

Q. Obviously a lot of rich history when it was here until 2019. What are some of the moments that you remember sticking with you from the races back then?

SHELDON CREED: Like my races or just in general?

Yeah, growing up, watching all the championship races end here is always really cool. Jimmie stands out. Martin Truex stands out to me. Brad Keselowski's championship. My first time here in a truck. I run fifth. Yeah, every time I come here, I feel like it's special, and I'm glad it's now the last race of the season again.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, I mean, the composite body is super tough, and you can hit the wall and not kill your race car, which is nice. You can't hit it too hard because you can cut the tires, and you can move the body, which does hurt how it drives sometimes. But yeah, compared to the truck, the truck you only get away with so much contact, if any, especially now with the trucks and the bodies, they're still steel, so yeah, you can't really hit anyone or anything, and it can kind of kill your race car just the way it drives.

One day I think all the series will be composite. Trucks are the only ones that aren't. I think they're a great option for a body.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, you can kind of risk a little more for speed, and if you do touch it, yeah, it just doesn't kill your race car.

Q. You actually tamed Darlington. What was that like?

SHELDON CREED: Yeah, that's been one of my favorites for years. I've been really close there. Did you see any car after? It didn't have a scratch on it. Usually there my whole right side is all scratched up. Yeah, that one honestly was probably the most special for me just because I've always loved that place and been close there a few times in the O'Reilly car, so to lead the last, whatever, 50-some laps of the race and do it that way was awesome.

Q. What were your thoughts with the back-to-back --

SHELDON CREED: Well, I had a week in between. Gateway was in between. Yeah, Bristol was incredible. We didn't run very good all night, and then just the pit call at the end was all we needed.

Q. (Inaudible).

SHELDON CREED: Sheet metal for sure.

Q. You can bend sheet metal but (indiscernible) --

SHELDON CREED: No, you cut the sheet metal off. You don't reuse it. Where the composite is actually really tough. Even if you scratch them up or move them, you can just move it back at the shop, and you don't have to replace bodies every week. Like with the truck guys, I would say the top teams in truck, say the top 25 trucks, they're getting like door tops down every single week, where we might put a new nose and maybe a tail on our cars, so it's a little more cost effective.

Q. Do they drive much different?

SHELDON CREED: Very similar. You wouldn't say that there's a difference. Just you can -- the composite is tougher and you get away with some more.