Sheldon Creed won the Fleetio 200 on Saturday, September 5, 2026, at Darlington Raceway — the Chase-opening race of the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (the national series formerly known as Xfinity; calendar id nascar-xfinity-darlington-2026).
Driving the No. 00 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet (Ollie’s), Creed led the final 53 of 147 scheduled laps and beat Corey Day by 2.961 seconds for his second career O’Reilly Series win and first at Darlington.
How it was won
Carson Kvapil won the pole at 161.636 mph; Justin Allgaier started second. Allgaier dominated early and won Stage 1 (Lap 45). Anthony Alfredo won Stage 2 (Lap 90) after a mid-race surge.
Creed qualified 13th, finished 12th in Stage 1, then used fresh tires after early pit cycles to climb into the Stage 2 fight (third at the stage end). On the Stage 2 break, his Haas Factory Team crew beat Day off pit road and put Creed on the point for the final stage.
From there Creed withstood late restarts — including the last green flag with 40 laps remaining — and pulled away cleanly over the final run. Day nursed a damaged No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to second; rookie Brent Crews completed the podium in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
The Chase opener produced eight lead changes among seven leaders and seven cautions for 38 laps. Twenty-five of 38 starters finished on the lead lap. Creed’s win was the second of 2026 for Haas Factory Team and the 22nd Chevrolet win of the season in the series.
Results snapshot
| Pos | Driver | Team / notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheldon Creed | Haas Factory Team Chevy; 53 laps led |
| 2 | Corey Day | Hendrick; +2.961s |
| 3 | Brent Crews | Joe Gibbs Racing; rookie’s strong Chase-opener run |
| 4 | Sammy Smith | JR Motorsports |
| 5 | Austin Hill | Richard Childress Racing |
| 6 | Anthony Alfredo | Stage 2 winner; 9 laps led |
| 7 | Taylor Gray | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 8 | Sam Mayer | Haas Factory Team |
| 9 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing |
| 10 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing; 3 laps led |
Other Chase notes: Points leader Justin Allgaier (Stage 1 winner; 60 laps led) faded to 17th. Pole-sitter Carson Kvapil finished 12th. Rajah Caruth was 26th after late fuel-pickup issues cost him laps. Jesse Love 13th; Parker Retzlaff 21st.
Chase standings after Darlington (12-driver field): Justin Allgaier leads Sheldon Creed by 7 points, then Carson Kvapil (−19), Austin Hill (−36), Corey Day (−46), Jesse Love (−48), Sammy Smith (−55), Brandon Jones (−58), Sam Mayer (−66), Parker Retzlaff (−78), Taylor Gray (−79), Rajah Caruth (−104).
Purse
Motorsports Wire reported a total race purse of $1,661,806 for the September O’Reilly Series event at Darlington. As with Cup, NASCAR does not release the individual winner’s share from the purse — that figure is omitted here.
History & significance
Darlington’s Labor Day weekend second-tier national race remains a prestige stop on the egg-shaped 1.366-mile oval. The Fleetio 200 opened the O’Reilly Series Chase, so Creed’s win delivered the first automatic statement of the playoff round and moved him into second in the standings.
Creed, the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series champion from Alpine, California, entered 2026 seeking consistency after years of near-misses at the Lady in Black. The victory made him the 140th driver with multiple wins in the series’ modern national second-tier history and his first checkered flag at Darlington after prior runner-up finishes.
What’s next
The O’Reilly Series Chase continues Saturday, September 12, 2026, at World Wide Technology Raceway for the Nu Way 225 (scheduled 7:30 p.m. ET on The CW / MRN / SiriusXM per weekend coverage).