Bad pit stop costs Sheldon Creed first career win at Darlington

With nine laps to go in Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington, it looked like everything was finally going to come together for Sheldon Creed.

After getting by Christopher Bell for the race lead, Creed drove out to a one-second advantage with five laps to go. Unfortunately, a caution for AJ Allmendinger bunched the field back up, making the race's final pit stop pivotal.

Unfortunately for Creed, the No. 18 pit crew's "money stop" was anything but right on the money.

A slight issue on the right side doomed Creed, giving the lead back to Bell for the race's final restart. While Bel and Cole Custer would make contact in the closing laps, Creed didn't quite have enough to challenge the race leaders and was forced to settle for a third-place effort.

The podium finish for Creed is his 11th top-five finish of the season through 23 races, and vaults him up to fifth in the Xfinity Series standings.

Unfortunately, it's also the latest gut-wrenching loss in a long list of heartbreaks. Creed owns the record of the most runner-up finishes in the Xfinity Series without a win (11) and every top-five finish is just another reminder of how painfully close he's come to victory.

Despite putting together one of the most consistent seasons in recent history, Creed's 2024 campaign will be remembered for little more than heartbreak if he's unable to break through for his first win.

If Creed is unable to win his first Xfinity Series race over the final 10 events of 2024, he'd go into 2025 with three winless Xfinity Series seasons under his belt amid a transition to the Haas Factory Team, which will be his third in four years.

In order for Creed to be considered a top NASCAR prospect, he needs that breakthrough victory sooner rather than later.