Creed Wins Food City 300 After Late Tire Call
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 19, 2026
Late tire call seals win
Sheldon Creed won the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet, and a late pit call for fresh tires put him in position to do it. The move gave him the edge he needed for an overtime restart, and Creed finished the job by beating William Sawalich to the line by 0.253 seconds. He led only the final three laps, but that was enough to turn a tight finish into his third victory of the season and the third win of his career. It also gave him his second victory in his last three starts, a sharp run that has carried him to the top of the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series postseason standings.
The finish fit the way the race unfolded. Creed did not control the event from the start. He waited, made the tire call when it mattered and then delivered when the race moved into extra laps. That sequence mattered more than long stretches of pace or lap-leading totals. At Bristol, the margin for error shrinks fast, and fresh tires on an overtime restart gave Creed the track position and grip he needed to close it out. The result lifted him over the rest of the postseason field and gave his team another win built on timing, strategy and execution under pressure.
Sawalich, Allgaier chase late
William Sawalich settled for second, Brent Crews finished third and Justin Allgaier came home fourth after a restart that reshaped the battle at the front. Allgaier had a real chance to win before Jesse Love made contact with him on that restart, a move that changed the race at a critical moment. Love finished 17th and took responsibility after the race, leaving Allgaier to absorb the loss of track position and the shot at the victory. The contact gave Creed the opening he needed and pushed Sawalich and Crews into the top three when the checkered flag fell.
Creed’s win also tightened the postseason picture. He now leads Allgaier by 11 points in the standings, a slim advantage that keeps pressure on the leaders. The gap is small enough to keep pressure on the leaders, and Bristol showed how quickly a restart, a pit call or a single piece of contact can swing the balance. Creed left with the win and the points lead. Allgaier left with a fourth-place finish and a missed chance to cut into the gap. Sawalich and Crews left with top-three finishes.
The race order at the front also underlined how many drivers were in position to capitalize if the final restart had broken a little differently. Sawalich held on for second after Creed made his late move, while Crews stayed close enough to take third. Allgaier’s fourth-place result still put him inside the top tier of the finish, but the contact with Love came at the wrong moment and cost him the clean run he needed. In a race decided late, that one restart shaped the entire outcome.
Kvapil leads 156 laps
Carson Kvapil spent much of the day out front before his race unraveled late. He led a race-high 156 laps, the biggest total in the field, and controlled long stretches before smoke came from his car and dropped him to 24th. That left Kvapil with the frustration of pace and position without the finish to match it. His run showed speed and command at Bristol, but the late problem erased the advantage he had built. It also opened the door for the drivers who stayed alive to the finish.
The race itself moved quickly once the field settled into its rhythm. It was completed in 1:53:07 at an average speed of 86 mph, a solid pace for a race that still demanded patience, pit strategy and survival. The fastest lap of the event came in 15.9 seconds, another sign of how fast the leaders could move when the track and the tires lined up. Those numbers fit the shape of the night. Kvapil had the longest run at the front. Creed had the best finish. The late stages rewarded the driver and team that timed the final tire call correctly and handled the overtime restart without a mistake.
The late stages turned on timing, strategy and execution. Creed avoided the trouble that affected Kvapil and Allgaier, while Sawalich and Crews finished near the front. In the end, Creed left Bristol with the race win and the postseason lead.
