NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sheldon Creed (00) during the Xfinity Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

At long last, Sheldon Creed is a NASCAR O'Reilly Series winner

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Feb 21, 2026 11:35 PM ET

A NASCAR driver's first win is a truly special occasion.

For some, it's validation for years of hard work. For others, it's just the first step in a career that could one day be enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

For NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Sheldon Creed, Saturday's win at EchoPark Speedway was like getting a two-ton monkey off of his back.

Creed scored his first NOAPS win in 138 starts on Saturday after a wild finish that saw Ross Chastain spin race leader Austin Hill going into turn 3 on the final lap. As the CW's television booth went wild, Creed flew under the checkered flag and into a new reality that once seemed like it'd never present itself.

SHELDON CREED IS A WINNER IN THE NASCAR O'REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES! pic.twitter.com/dt5ReFaVEM
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) February 22, 2026

But Creed is now a winner in NASCAR's second-highest division. No longer will the 0-fer storyline follow him to the racetrack every week. And for the driver with the most runner-up finishes (15) before his first O'Reilly Series win, that's a pretty good deal.

Sheldon Creed reacts to first career win

"I don't have to finish second again before winning," Creed said. "It's been four years of trying, 137 starts, 15 second-place finishes."

Creed won the 2020 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship and won a total of eight races in the Truck Series over a two-year span. But his O'Reilly Series career was less smooth. 2025 saw Creed join Haas Factory Team, his third organization in his fourth season of full-time NOAPS competition.

"[It] wears on you," Creed said. "Obviously had a lot of good runs, but never finished it off, never won. It all worked out for us tonight."

No matter what happens next week at Circuit of the Americas, throughout the rest of the 2026 O'Reilly Series season or for the rest of his NASCAR career, Creed will never again be known as the guy who couldn't get it done.

His name will forever be in the record books as a NASCAR O'Reilly Series race winner, and there's no amount of future runner-up finishes that can take that away.

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

More must-reads: