It’s clear Richard Childress Racing has taken a side in what transpired at the end of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville between Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed.
Both drivers were racing for a win, and in effect, a spot in the Xfinity Series championship race. Both drivers doom slammed each other on the final lap and neither teammate won as Hill was spun out from behind and Justin Allgaier cleared Creed at the finish line.
Both Richard Childress Racing cars were eliminated as a result.
Hill, who just signed an extension with Richard Childress Racing to remain in the Xfinity Series and despite having Cup Series offers, gestured towards Creed crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz as he walked towards the infield care center.
“For neither of the RCR guys to make it into the final four it’s just frustrating,” Hill said. “I’m pretty excited for him to go to his next adventure over at Gibbs and I don’t have to put up with him no more. I can now have Jesse Love as my teammate and hopefully, he races me better, races me cleaner.
“Right there in the middle of three and four, I don’t know what he was doing. He parked it in the middle of the corner and, obviously, I blew the radiator right then and I had no power off the corner. Just ridiculous.”
Creed, who is leaving for the Gibbs Racing Xfinity Series team next season, suggested that a favoritism towards Hill is part and parcel of why he decided not to return for a third season at Richard Childress Racing.
Andy Petree, a longtime RCR executive now serving as vice president of competition, walked towards Creed after climbing out of pit road and very clearly criticized him before letting the driver conduct his media availability.
“He was just mad at how I raced the 21 (Austin Hill) but, roles reversed, they don’t say anything,” Creed said. “Probably the reason that I’m leaving, obviously they’re going to be mad, but I felt like I got him up above the bottom and I gave him a chance to finish second or third.”
It was John Hunter Nemechek that turned Hill around in Turn 4.
Richard Childress did not mince his feelings at all.
“I’ve had drivers drive for me before but nobody as stupid as Sheldon Creed,” Childress told NBC Sports as he left the track on Saturday. “You don’t do that as a team player. What else do you want me to tell you?”
Petree told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he felt like Creed didn’t give Hill a chance to race back to the line.
“The problem I had was that they didn’t race off the last corner,” Petree said. “Whatever brake check move, whatever that was that cost both cars a chance to race for the championship was what I was frustrated with, and I felt like he could have handled it better.
“All I said, why can’t you just race him off the corner. If he just raced off the corner, he wins, and I have no problem at all with the way they raced each other up until the end. I knew gloves would be off and it would be a slugfest. And it was. It was actually a really good finish. But that last little move is what I was frustrated with. Now both cars are out of chance to race for the championship.”
Creed appeared to slow off corner exit of 4, resulting in Hill getting hit from behind by Nemechek, but everyone drove extra hard in the corner, making it arguably a byproduct of hard racing.
The biggest question, with Creed headed to Gibbs next season, is if they will even complete the season together. Creed is listed on the entry list for Saturday’s Xfinity Series finale.
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Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.