MADISON, Ill. – Sheldon Creed has been quick to admit that it took longer than he would have liked to score his first ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory, but his second win came in decidedly quicker fashion.
Creed dominated Friday night’s PapaNicholas Coffee 150 at Gateway Motorsports Park, leading a race-high 85 of 120 laps around the 1.25-mile oval and coming out on top of a race-long duel for dominance with Christian Eckes.
The pair combined to lead every lap of the race, but it was Creed who made the winning pass with 40 to go and never looked back, earning his second ARCA win in the last three races after also triumphing at Michigan Int’l Speedway two weeks ago.
“This was just a perfect day for us,” said Creed in victory lane. “To be first in first practice, qualify first, get the pole with a new track record and get the win there … you can’t ask for any more than that.
“I really wish we could’ve raced that 15 (Eckes) a little bit longer. I think we were just racing really hard on that last restart we had,” Creed added. “I was super-tight underneath him and got him loose … sent him up the track a bit. Sometimes, you’ve got to race hard to win though. I knew it was going to have to happen on a restart. I’m pumped we got this second win tonight and I don’t want (the winning) to stop.”
A lap 75 caution bunched the field up and set the stage for Creed and Eckes’ battle to come to a head, after championship contender Zane Smith made contact with Gus Dean and tagged the wall off turn two to bring out the final yellow flag of the night.
That put Creed and Eckes on the front row, and the decisive move of the race for Creed came on the ensuing restart with 41 laps left, when he hung tough on Eckes’ inside of when the green flag waved.
Creed drove his car deep into turn one and then stayed side-by-side with Eckes for the entire lap.
The next time the duo went off into the first turn, Creed got tight and washed up just as Eckes went wide out of the groove and lost a ton of momentum, free-falling to the back of the top five as Creed drove off to a healthy advantage he wouldn’t relinquish again.
Chase Purdy came through as Eckes faded to grab the runner-up spot, but didn’t have enough time to run Creed down despite finding some speed out of his No. 8 Bama Buggies Toyota in the closing laps.
“I think a little bit of what we were missing was driver … and then I made some in-car adjustments later on that helped,” noted Purdy. “We pitted, we snugged up the car a little bit so it wouldn’t feel so free getting in, and that really helped us a lot.
“I finally figured out how to roll the top a lot better there before the end, but I really think if I would have figured out about 10 or 12 laps sooner, we probably would have been in better shape (at the end),” Purdy added. “It looked like we were running him down pretty fast in the last four-or-five laps. We closed it from a straightaway to half a straightaway. … If we just keep inching at it, we’ll get there.”
Harrison Burton completed the podium to give MDM Motorsports a sweep of the top three at the finish.
Eckes, who led the 35 laps that Creed wasn’t out in front, rallied from sixth after his miscue with 40 to go to come home fourth, but was visibly disappointed after feeling like he had a car capable of winning.
“This Venturini Motorsports team brought me a great car, but unfortunately, things didn’t go our way,” lamented Eckes. “I’m not really sure what happened – whether he got into my left rear or packed some air on the fender. Either way, it sent me up the racetrack and put us behind. … Gateway did a great job making the track a lot race-able compared to last year. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t come home with the finish we deserved.”
Riley Herbst charged back to complete the top five after spinning on the opening lap of the race.
Gus Dean, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Travis Braden and Bret Holmes were the rest of the top 10. Veteran Ken Schrader, making his first ARCA start since 2016, was the final car on the lead lap in 11th.
Smith finished seven laps down in 16th after his crash and now trails Creed by 155 points.
The ARCA Racing Series returns to action on Thursday, June 28 at Chicagoland Speedway.
The finish:
Sheldon Creed, Chase Purdy, Harrison Burton, Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Gus Dean, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Travis Braden, Bret Holmes, Ken Schrader, Toni Breidinger, Will Kimmel, Bobby Gerhart, Natalie Decker, Zane Smith, Brad Smith, Eric Caudell, Max Tullman, Matt Dooley, Dick Doheny, Mark Muenier, Mike Basham, Con Nicolopoulos, Wayne Peterson.
