NASCAR at Phoenix race results: Sheldon Creed wins Truck Series championship

Sheldon Creed is NASCAR’s Truck Series champion. The GMS Racing driver took the checkered flag at Phoenix Raceway in an overtime finale that saw a shake up of the running order in the final laps of the race, the Lucas Oil 150, when a late-lap caution flew.

Playoff driver Zane Smith finished in second.

Brett Moffitt, another playoff driver, was racing in first with a four-second lead and three laps left in the race, but a spin by Dawson Cram brought out the yellow flag and forced an additional six laps. Creed, who was in the top three when the flag came out, said he had “nothing to lose” as he was trailing the leader by a few seconds.

Creed’s No. 2 Chevrolet team made a call to pit for tires and fuel as Moffitt and Grant Enfinger, in second place, stayed out. Creed then drove low and stayed low on the final restart of the race, speeding around each turn of the 1-mile track to emerge in first and stay there through the checkered flag, to claim the 2020 Trucks championship.

“I pride myself on my restarts week-in and week-out,” Creed said on FS1 after his win. “And just nailed the restart right there.”

Smith, who won the first stage of the race and led the first 48 laps, also pitted during the final yellow flag and gained positions after the final restart. Despite Smith’s rookie success this year, he said it was a “disgusting feeling” coming up short. He crossed the finish line less than a second behind Creed.

“I get to go do it all again next year,” Smith said. “So hopefully we’re one spot better.”

Moffitt, who led the most laps of the race (78) and won the second stage, was also crestfallen after a personally and professionally challenging year. He was in position to take the title after a season that started with two broken legs for the No. 23 Chevy driver. He finished in 10th.

“Race strategy has been a downfall of us all year, for sure,” Moffitt said. “We’ve thrown away multiple wins because of it. It’s frustrating to lose a championship because of it.”

Despite an intense finish and season characterized by dramatic wrecks and retaliation, the championship race was a relatively mild event. The first caution for an incident didn’t come until the final stage of the race, when Carson Hocevar smacked the wall after a tire went down. That yellow flag gave Enfinger an opportunity to come to pit road for four fresh tires and adjustments after he failed to break into the top three for the first two stages.

The adjustments worked for the driver of the No. 98 Ford and Enfinger was up to second by the end of the last stage, but he dropped to 13th after the final call to stay out. He said he wanted to stay out because his car had trouble firing off on new tires all night.

“My biggest hope was I should stay out and 10 trucks would stay out,” the ThorSport Racing driver said. “That wasn’t the case. That’s where we got beat.”

He was the only non-GMS Racing driver in the Championship 4. Despite multiple drivers competing for a single team, there’s only one who will be celebrating a championship victory.

Creed said he planned to drink a few beers, see his friends and family and play some cornhole the night of his win. He said he’ll go to a vacation house tomorrow for more celebrations with the teammates who helped put him in Victory Lane.

NASCAR Truck Series championship race results

* — Championship 4 driver

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 9:57 PM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription