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The Food City 300 at Bristol opened the Xfinity playoffs with a chaotic race. A caution-free stage 1 was the calm before the storm. In fact, the commentators marked it as the first-ever green flag stage at Bristol Motor Speedway. No sooner than the pronouncement was made, that havoc ensued.

Intra-team wars seemed to be the running theme of the event. First with the collision of JR Motorsports‘ cars, followed by the crash of Richard Childress Racing drivers. But the most heated team dynamic was disclosed after the race ended.

Richard Childress Racing driver repeated ominous quote of Xfinity star performer

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The Bristol race had barely recovered from the collision of Josh Berry, Sam Mayer, and Brandon Jones when Sheldon Creed caused another one. Richard Childress Racing’s #2 driver bumped into his teammate and regular season champion Austin Hill.

The #21 Chevrolet driver was racing in the 8th position when he got hit by Creed at turn 4 of the track. Creed still managed a respectable 11th-place finish, but Hill spun out of the race. In the post-race interview, Creed accepted responsibility for the accident. He admitted to the nudge that ended Hill’s race but maintained it wasn’t intentional.

“I came off the bottom a little bit, but it’s not like I was coming up onto the straightaway. I should’ve been lower, but did I think I was gonna hit him? No. I thought he was gonna clear me, I just caught him evidently just enough.” However, it was his response to the next question that was particularly noteworthy.

Referring to Hill’s radio comment of ‘Who needs enemies when you have teammates’, a reporter sought Creed’s reaction. Sheldon Creed laughed it off and followed it up with a veiled reference to Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s confrontations earlier in the season. Creed answered, “No, I like my teammates. I’m not John Hunter”.

Interestingly, this comment was first made by Nemechek after the Xfinity race at Road America.

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John Hunter Nemechek had a jam-packed year. He won race after race to reach the top of the playoff chart. The #20 driver negotiated a move to the Cup Series with Jimmie Johnson’s Legacy Motor Club. In between this, he managed to take out time for an altercation with his JGR teammates.

The #20 driver was driving in 6th place in Stage 2 of Road America when he slid and damaged his Toyota. Nemechek believed the incident was triggered by JGR’s #19 driver Connor Mosack. Nemechek was not amused by this Joe Gibbs Racing episode and famously said ‘Who needs enemies when you have teammates’.

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Come 2024, Nemechek will share his Cup Series team with Eric Jones and Hall of Famer Jimmie Johnson. And for now, he’s on board with the pairing. When NASCAR Race Hub asked about his future teammate, Nemechek only had good things to say.

“I’m really excited to work with Eric. He’s done very good over the last few years, won some races. Definitely seems like he’s been a big building block within the legacy Motor Club organization over the last couple years. So excited to get in, work with him and try and build this Legacy Motor Club to what Jimmie… and everyone involved wants it to get to.”

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The races next season would bring forth their shared dynamic on the racetracks. In the meantime, the upcoming playoff races would continue to entertain the racing fandom.

Read More: Despite Conquering Tricky Kansas, Jimmie Johnson’s Latest Recruit Suffers Major Loss at Richard Childress’ Driver’s Hands