Sheldon Creed is leading the NASCAR O’Reilly Series Chase for the Championship through three races with Haas Factory Team but will move to Sam Hunt Racing in 2027 where the goal will be simply to make the playoffs.
Why?
“I have zero complaints, and I wouldn’t say it was my first choice to move on, but, unfortunately, business has to make sense, and that overrules results and performance on track sometimes,” Creed said during his introductory press conference on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
At the end of the figurative days, this sport requires funding at that funding has to cover the cost of engineering and maybe even a salary for a driver to make a living. There are other factors too — what other teams require for funding or how much a team and manufacturer are all willing to pitch in as well.
Watch: Sheldon Creed, Sam Hunt discuss multiyear deal, 2027 expectations
All told, at Sam Hunt Racing, Creed has a place where he can make a living and potentially race for well over a decade while also hoping to turn it into a marquee program similar to those he raced at before.
“I’ve had the privilege to race, obviously, for (Richard Childress Racing), (Joe Gibbs Racing), now Haas, run good with all of them, and finally found Victory Lane this year, and numerous times now, being the points leader, is massive for us,” Creed said. “I think, for the 00 group, for my team, but yeah, looking down the road, obviously, haven’t gotten a Cup opportunity, and obviously, that’s still my end goal.
“But if I don’t ever get that call, I felt like Sam’s team is somewhere I can race for the next 15 years and make a good living and be able to raise my family and, yeah, just try to build a good life.”
Again, this is a business decision to provide him longevity and a tenable career for years to come. For Hunt, his team gets a Truck Series and ARCA champion who could very well win the NOAPS champion this year.
Creed is a building block for SHR to take another step towards contention.
“I think Sheldon and I; we’ve known each other well for years, so we’ve kind of been able to follow each other’s careers,” Hunt said. “We’re in a similar stage of life too, which is which is fun. I think the timing and the opportunity just presented itself this year. I think for us to take the next step, having a guy like Sheldon, that’s now won races has been a lot of places and can be a really big part of helping us take the next step as a race team.
“It was just what I knew I had to do as a team owner, and I had to figure out how to make that work. It takes a village. There’s a lot of good people that were involved in helping put this all together, but I know the caliber of race car drivers Sheldon is, but I also know the caliber of human he is, and that’s something that’s very important to our organization.”
Hunt valued everything about Creed and together, both are going to be hands-on with the program, but it gives both parties a little bit of what they need to stick around in NASCAR for years and years to come.
“I’ve told him, like, ‘hey, it’s a little different over here and you really got to get your hands dirty and dive into the everyday process’ but I trust Sheldon at a very high level,” Hunt said. “I think it’s just going to be a fun ride for all of us.”
This also doesn’t come with any changes to SHR’s agreement with Toyota. This is just Creed joining the No. 26 team as a building block. To wit, Creed wanted to return to Joe Gibbs Racing but Steve Desouza did not have a fit at this time, and SHR represents the next best step to be part of the Toyota family.
“I believe that Toyota resources are arguably the best in our sport,” Creed said. “I’ve gotten to race for every manufacturer now, so I’ve gotten to see it all and see the way different manufacturers work and different teams work. I think just getting to learn all that will help me, you know, with the 26 team and Kris Bowen (crew chief), and being able just to share some knowledge.
“Also, just maturing as a human over the last five years, we’ll go a long way, but, yeah, I would say it had a lot to do with my decision, and obviously, you don’t want to be someone that’s jumping around and made different manufacturers, but I have. I think it’s all positive, and I think I can bring a lot to the table for Sam and I think we’re going to have the most fun on the team in the garage.”
This is also not going to be a distraction to his championship run this year, either. Haas president Joe Custer continues to speak glowingly of Creed. They are all-in on taking the continued fight to Justin Allgaier, Carson Kvapil and Jesse Love in the Chase.
What about next year at SHR — a team that didn’t make the Chase with Harrison Burton and Dean Thompson.
“I think, yeah, we’ll have to see, right,” Creed said. “See what the first few races have to offer for us. I think we’ll have good runs, and I think we’ll have grinded out days where we struggle. I think making the Chase is a main goal, and we’ll start there, and as we get through the season, try to, like, get closer to the front and get wins. I don’t want to count us out. I think if we can get things right, I think certainly we could be in the hunt.”
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