Sheldon Creed Captures Third O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Win of Season at Bristol.

BRISTOL, TN (September 18, 2026) – Sheldon Creed used a strong final overtime restart on Friday night to clear William Sawalich and score his third NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series victory of the season, his second win in the last three races. The victory extended Creed’s Chase lead to 11 points over Justin Allgaier, while Sam Mayer earned his third consecutive top-10 finish and climbed to fifth in the Chase standings.

00 Sheldon Creed:

Coming off back-to-back top-two finishes to open the Chase, Sheldon Creed carried that momentum into Bristol, starting second in the No. 00 Ollie’s Chevrolet. The points leader held his position through the opening laps and began to build a gap, but traffic quickly became a challenge as Brent Crews and Carson Kvapil worked their way past, dropping Creed to fourth. The No. 00 continued to lose ground late in the stage, with Creed crossing the eighth line and collecting three stage points.

Creed restarted eighth following the first round of pit stops but immediately found himself fighting traffic on the bottom lane, falling to 10th. A lap 124 caution for a single-car spin bunched the field back together, but Creed was unable to make significant progress and settled into ninth. He remained there through the end of Stage Two, adding two more points before making additional handling adjustments to his No. 00 Ollie’s Chevrolet for the final stage.

Restarting ninth, Creed ran inside the top 10 through the longest green-flag run of the race, holding 10th until a lap 282 caution. The No. 00 Ollie’s team brought Creed to pit road for fresh tires, winning the race off pit road as only a handful of cars elected to stop. Restarting ninth, Creed immediately capitalized when the leaders made contact, charging to fifth before picking off more cars and moving into second. A lap 297 caution set up an overtime finish, and Creed got the jump on the restart, making the race-winning move using high lane in turns one and two. He held on to score his third win of the season, and second in the last three races, extending his Chase lead to 11 points over Justin Allgaier.

“It was a great call by my crew chief and engineer there to put tires on at the end, and a fast stop from my crew to get me out first. We struggled with the balance of our Ollie’s Chevrolet all night, so hats off to these guys for never giving up,” Creed said. “I’m just extremely proud of everyone at Haas Factory Team. I want to thank Chevrolet, Ollie’s, Road Ranger, Boulder Crest and everyone that helps us out throughout the season.”

41 Sam Mayer:

After moving up four spots in the Chase standings following last weekend’s strong run at St. Louis, Sam Mayer earned his seventh top-four start of the season after Friday’s qualifying session was washed out. Starting fourth in the No. 41 Starkey Chevrolet, Mayer was shuffled back to seventh early but quickly worked his way forward on the bottom lane and returned to the top five. Mayer eventually closed in on the lead -pack late in the run but ultimately crossed the line fifth in Stage One and earned six stage points.

Mayer restarted fourth and settled into fifth, fending off Taylor Gray through the opening laps of Stage Two. The first natural caution of the race came on lap 124, and Mayer used the bottom lane to regain fourth in his No. 41 Starkey Chevrolet on the restart. He continued to hold off Gray as the field spread out, earning a fourth-place finish in the second segment, bringing his nightly total to 13.

Mayer maintained fourth after the second round of pit stops before a slow restart dropped him to fifth. He held the position through a long green-flag run until a lap 282 caution brought the field back together. Staying out under caution, Mayer restarted seventh in his No. 41 Starkey Chevrolet and quickly moved back into the top five when the leaders made contact. After getting caught behind the incident and falling to 10th, Mayer methodically worked his way back toward the front before a caution with three laps remaining set up overtime. Mayer held seventh through the overtime finish to earn his third consecutive top-10 finish.

Up Next

The NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series takes next weekend off before heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the fourth race of the Chase on Saturday, October 3rd, with race coverage on the CW set for 7:30 p.m. ET.

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.