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Sheldon Creed Explains How he Went from Being a Rookie in 2019 to a NASCAR Champion in 2020

Published 11/24/2020, 11:10 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

It was a year to rejoice for Sheldon Creed, as he took home the 2020 NASCAR Truck Series title. Creed was certainly one of the favorites heading into the Championship 4 race at Phoenix.

He kept the confidence built up over several races in the regular season. And with a strong showing in the Playoffs, secured his spot in the final race. However, he still had to see out his rivals and win the title, in what looked to be a very tough outing.

Speaking at the NASCAR awards ceremony, Creed highlighted what efforts he had to put in 2020 as compared to his work in 2019. And how the journey panned out for him in a strange season affected by the pandemic, which ultimately saw him crowned Truck Series champion.

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Creed got more confidence after securing a NASCAR Trucks Playoffs spot

Sheldon is quoted as saying, “I always try to have some confidence into what we’re doing and didn’t really know until we got down in Turn 1 and Turn 2 and had so much grip. And got back to the gas early and realized we had a really good shot coming off at 2.”

 

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The restart at the final couple laps saw Creed take the outside line first, before cutting inside to accelerate into the lead. And with Zane Smith and Chandler Smith breathing down his necks, it certainly posed a challenge for the man from California.

The GMS No.2 continued and said, “I mean it is hard to have that confidence after just your first win and had confidence that we’d get 2 or 3 and then we got in our stride there. Confidence kept coming, trucks kept getting better. And as we had gotten to the Playoffs, I felt like we had more and more confidence to get it done, and here we are.”

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Creed has also put in a lot of work off the track to perfect his technique

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“That was huge, I kind of came in last year as a rookie. And didn’t know what kind of work to put in or the effort level to bring with me. Just really worked hard with Josh Wise, my teammates, brought more efforts this year. And just tried to perfect the whole product.” concluded the 2020 Truck champion.

USA Today via Reuters

With the current season done and dusted, Creed will have some time to take his mind off racing. Before he gets back to the grind again in a few months’ in a bid to defend his title successfully.

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MORE – WATCH: How Sheldon Creed Defied All Odds in a Thrilling Finish to Win the NASCAR Truck Series 2020 Title

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Written by:

Bhargav Gopal

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Hailing from Bengaluru, Bhargav is an F1 and NASCAR author for EssentiallySports. He is a huge fan of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Bhargav also has an MBA in Sports Management from the Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences, Pune.
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