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Heartbreak for Creed as Bell wins Darlington Xfinity race in overtime

After 93 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Sheldon Creed has 11 runner-up finishes — and zero wins. Saturday, he ran down his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell from three seconds back and passed him for the lead with just nine laps to go. It appeared he was driving away with that elusive win when the caution flag flew for A.J. Allmendinger slamming the outside wall, and forced the race into overtime.

The entire field filed down pit road to get fresh tires for the two-lap shootout. However, a slow stop cost Creed dearly, dropping him from the lead down to third. He restarted behind the duo of Bell and Cole Custer. Exiting Turn 2, Bell and Custer became locked together. The two cars shot down the track and it seemed as though a wreck was unavoidable, but they managed to escape unscathed. Somehow, they didn't lose any positions either.

Race winner Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Haircuts Toyota Supra (Photo by: Danny Hansen / NKP / Motorsport Images)

Bell skipped away, earning his 19th career NASCAR Xfinity Series win. Custer crossed the line just a few car lengths back in second, and Creed had to settle for third.

"That was wild, for sure," said Bell." Darlington is such a tough race track. Off of (Turn) 2, whether you're on the bottom or the top, it flushes you to the wall and you kind of get a bit of a wiggle. Once again, I feel terrible for Sheldon, to essentially win the race -- he passed me on the long run, and then to lose the lead on pit road is a big bummer."

Creed was completely dejected after another shocking loss. "I lost one the same way a few years ago. This has always been a really good place for me and I've always loved racing here. Man, I don't know what to do to be any better than that. I feel like I put in one of my best performances today. I loved my pit crew and they do a great job for us. I can't blame that on them. We just got beat on pit road today. Bummer."

Chase Elliott and Sammy Smith rounded out the top-five. Shane van Gisbergen improved on a 15th-place result in his first Xfinity race at Darlington earlier this year, earning a seventh-place finish on Saturday.

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points
1 C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 150

1:50'49.144

  5  
2 C. CusterStewart-Haas Racing 00 Ford 150

+0.351

1:50'49.495

0.351 6  
3 S. CreedJoe Gibbs Racing 18 Toyota 150

+0.834

1:50'49.978

0.483 6  
4 C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports 17 Chevrolet 150

+1.097

1:50'50.241

0.263 6  
5
S. SmithJR Motorsports
8 Chevrolet 150

+1.484

1:50'50.628

0.387 6  
6
J. LoveRichard Childress Racing
2 Chevrolet 150

+1.666

1:50'50.810

0.182 6  
7 S. van GisbergenKaulig Racing 97 Chevrolet 150

+1.824

1:50'50.968

0.158 6  
8
C. SmithJoe Gibbs Racing
81 Toyota 150

+1.958

1:50'51.102

0.134 6  
9 A. HillRichard Childress Racing 21 Chevrolet 150

+2.054

1:50'51.198

0.096 6  
10 J. AllgaierJR Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 150

+2.220

1:50'51.364

0.166 5  
11
J. Jr.Joe Gibbs Racing
19 Toyota 150

+2.543

1:50'51.687

0.323 6  
12 R. ChastainDGM Racing 92 Chevrolet 150

+2.636

1:50'51.780

0.093 6  
13 P. KligermanBig Machine Racing Team 48 Chevrolet 150

+2.946

1:50'52.090

0.310 6  
14
C. KvapilJR Motorsports
88 Chevrolet 150

+3.079

1:50'52.223

0.133 6  
15 N. GragsonRette Jones Racing 30 Ford 150

+3.094

1:50'52.238

0.015 6  
16 J. WilliamsKaulig Racing 11 Chevrolet 150

+3.359

1:50'52.503

0.265 6  
17 J. BurtonJordan Anderson Racing 27 Chevrolet 150

+3.429

1:50'52.573

0.070 7  
18 R. SiegRSS Racing 39 Ford 150

+3.446

1:50'52.590

0.017 5  
19 M. DiBenedettoRSS Racing 38 Ford 150

+3.763

1:50'52.907

0.317 6  
20 B. PooleAlpha Prime Racing 44 Chevrolet 150

+3.902

1:50'53.046

0.139 5  
21 R. EllisAlpha Prime Racing 43 Chevrolet 150

+4.054

1:50'53.198

0.152 6  
22
K. SiegRSS Racing
28 Ford 150

+4.124

1:50'53.268

0.070 6  
23
L. HoneymanYoung's Motorsports
42 Chevrolet 150

+4.379

1:50'53.523

0.255 7  
24 D. StarrJoey Gase Motorsports 35 Chevrolet 150

+6.116

1:50'55.260

1.737 6  
25
C. HeimSam Hunt Racing
26 Toyota 150

+8.608

1:50'57.752

2.492 5  
26
A. AlfredoOur Motorsports
5 Chevrolet 150

+8.768

1:50'57.912

0.160 6  
27 A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 149

+1 Lap

1:50'56.618

1 Lap 6  
28
S. MayerJR Motorsports
1 Chevrolet 149

+1 Lap

1:50'57.200

0.582 6  
29
G. VanSS-Green Light Racing
07 Chevrolet 149

+1 Lap

1:51'03.289

6.089 5  
30 G. SmithleyAlpha Prime Racing 45 Chevrolet 148

+2 Laps

1:51'04.903

1 Lap 6  
31 J. ClementsJeremy Clements Racing 51 Chevrolet 146

+4 Laps

1:50'55.179

2 Laps 10  
32 B. JonesJR Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 146

+4 Laps

1:50'57.592

2.413 10  
33 C. FinchumSS-Green Light Racing 14 Ford 142

+8 Laps

1:51'08.484

4 Laps 9  
34
B. PerkinsRSS Racing
29 Ford 133

+17 Laps

1:51'05.295

9 Laps 5  
35 R. HerbstStewart-Haas Racing 98 Ford 129

+21 Laps

1:50'59.288

4 Laps 11  
36
P. RetzlaffJordan Anderson Racing
31 Chevrolet 125

+25 Laps

1:51'02.872

4 Laps 7  
37 K. WeathermanDGM Racing 91 Chevrolet 54

+96 Laps

46'24.202

71 Laps 5  
38 J. LoganoAM Racing 15 Ford 12

+138 Laps

10'02.253

42 Laps 3
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