HFT Duo Earns Pair of Top-10 O’Reilly Finishes on Saturday at Darlington. Creed Finishes Seventh; Mayer Rounds Out Top 10.

DARLINGTON, SC (March 22, 2026) – Sheldon Creed paced Haas Factory Team at Darlington Raceway with a seventh-place finish, marking his fifth consecutive top-10 result at the track. Sam Mayer added a 10th-place result after rebounding from early handling issues to work back through the field, while Cole Custer finished 28th on Sunday in the Cup Series.

O’ Reilly Series00 Sheldon Creed
Despite grazing the wall on his qualifying lap Saturday morning, Sheldon Creed rolled off 13th in the No. 00 Ollie’s Chevrolet at Darlington. He quickly picked up a position early, but like teammate Sam Mayer, Creed battled a loose condition throughout Stage One. Managing the handling issues, he fought through the opening run to finish the stage in the middle of the pack and keep himself in contention.Creed gained valuable track position during the stage break, moving up six spots before the restart and jumping to 14th within the opening lap of Stage Two. With adjustments improving the car’s balance, he showed strong pace throughout the stage, running as high as 11th for much of the segment. Creed narrowly missed out on stage points, crossing the line 11th after a late battle with William Sawalich.Continuing to mirror his teammate’s progress, Creed benefited from another quick pit stop to gain five positions and restart sixth in the final stage. After an early battle with Corey Day, he settled into a steady rhythm inside the top 10 before a lap 122 caution set up a 15-lap dash to the finish. Restarting seventh, Creed held his ground through challenges from Parker Retzlaff and Sammy Smith, ultimately securing a seventh-place finish-his fifth consecutive top-10 at Darlington and third straight top-10 result of the 2026 season.“That’s just the beauty of this place. It’s really hard and even though I wasn’t really happy, you can go anywhere,” Creed said. “I could put my car in places that had decent speed, so hats off to my team and the adjustments they made throughout the race to keep getting me better.”41 Sam Mayer
Sam Mayer extended his streak of strong qualifying efforts at Darlington, starting inside the top 10 for the sixth consecutive race. After battling early with Brandon Jones and Justin Allgaier, Mayer was faced with a loose No. 41 Audibel Chevrolet during the long green-flag run in Stage One, likely due to a track bar issue. He managed the handling challenges through the 45-lap stage, giving the team an opportunity to make key adjustments under caution.Restarting Stage Two from 22nd, Mayer wasted little time charging back through the field. With a more balanced car underneath him, he quickly gained positions and maintained steady forward progress throughout the run. By the end of the stage, Mayer had advanced nine spots to finish 13th, putting himself back within striking distance of the top 10.\A strong pit stop during the stage break gained Mayer four positions, moving him up to ninth for the final restart. He maintained a consistent presence inside the top 10 until a caution on lap 122 reset the field. After pitting for fresh tires, Mayer lined up 10th for the closing run and held firm on the restart. Over the final laps, he created a comfortable gap and drove to a solid 10th-place finish, marking his third top-10 result of the season.“I’m super proud of these guys for staying in the game the whole day because this was a dog fight and a half,” Mayer said. “It was fun out there trying to hold on to our Audibel Chevrolet, and I can’t wait to get back out there next week at Martinsville.”Cup Series41 Cole Custer
Cole Custer entered his 10th start at the 1.366-mile track with a significant challenge after qualifying 35th but steadily worked to improve his track position throughout the opening stage. In a caution-free Stage One, the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Chevrolet maintained a consistent pace while managing pressure from Joey Logano and Ty Dillon. Custer’s disciplined effort resulted in an additional three spots, closing the stage in 32nd.Custer continued that forward momentum on the Stage Two restart, moving past Justin Allgaier and Ty Dillon. A lap 111 caution for an incident involving Eric Jones allowed Custer to take the wave around and return to the lead lap. After pitting under green on lap 134, he remained in contention as the field cycled through stops. Despite a lengthy green-flag run to end the stage, Custer finished Stage Two one lap down.An early caution in the final stage on lap 197, following an incident involving Riley Herbst, led the No. 41 team to pit for fresh tires in an effort to set up a free pass opportunity. However, the race ran green to the finish, eliminating any chance to regain a lap. Custer continued to turn consistent laps and ultimately recorded a 28th-place finish at Darlington.

“I feel like our team grinded that race out pretty well, and we got the best finish we could,” Custer said. “I can’t thank HaasTooling.com and Chevrolet enough, and we’ll head to Martinsville where we’ve had some good runs recently.”

Up Next
NASCAR heads to its first short track this season as Martinsville Speedway hosts the seventh points race on the NASCAR Cup Series/O’Reilly Series schedule next weekend. Race coverage for the O’Reilly Series is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday on the CW, and for the Cup Series at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday on FS1.

About Haas Factory Team:
Haas Factory Team is a NASCAR Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program owned by Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation. New in 2026, Haas Factory will align with Chevrolet. As part of the manufacturer switch, HFT will have a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, which will include using Hendrick-built engines across both series. The team will feature Cole Custer driving the No. 41 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the NASCAR Cup Series, while Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer take on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series in the No. 00 and No. 41 Chevrolet Camaros, respectively. Based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, the Haas Factory Team reflects a commitment to performance and engineering excellence, carrying forward Gene Haas’s commitment to motorsports.