After dominating much of the first half of the General Tire Grabber 100 Monday afternoon at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Sheldon Creed used the second half of the race to fight his way back in contention for his first ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards win. It took two Green-White-Checkered flag attempts to settle it. Creed lined up third for the afternoon’s final restart and moved into the second position entering turn three coming to the white flag. Creed would secure the second spot and cross the stripe in the runner-up position for his career best finish in ARCA.
“It was just hard racing there, all going for the win,” said Creed. “We dominated the first half of the race today and had to work our way back through the field after our pit-stop. My plan was to push the 22 and get him in front of the 52. It didn’t pan out like we wanted. I can’t thank everyone at MMM for this opportunity. We had two great races with them.”
Creed started the second and final dirt race of the 2017 ARCA season from the sixth position. Creed quickly asserted himself as the car to beat as he gained five positions in the first eight laps to move into the runner-up position. Creed’s march toward the front continued as he caught and passed leader Will Kimmel on lap 19. Creed would extend his lead to over three seconds over Kimmel during that run.
When the yellow flag waved on lap 33, Creed elected to stay on-track while the majority of the lead lapped cars headed for pit-road. Creed proved the power of the No. 78 machine when he managed to hold the top spot and hold off all the drivers with fresher tires behind him.
Creed made his only pit-stop of the race at lap 59 under the yellow flag. The No. 78 team sent Creed back to the race in the tenth position. After the race resumed with 38 laps to go, Creed passed five cars to crack back into the top-five only five laps after the restart.
Creed continued to flex his muscles behind the wheel of the No. 78 as he moved into the top-three on lap 78. Creed would engage in a battle for the runner-up spot with Will Kimmel.
The duo raced ten laps for the spot until Creed secured the position with 11 laps remaining.
The field bunched up for the second Green-White-Checkered attempt. On the restart Creed took the second spot from Shane Lee entering turn three and four as the white flag waved. Creed would cross the finish line in the second spot earning a career best finish.
The General Tire Grabber 100 from the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds will air Saturday, September 16th at 10:00 pm ET.
Eddie Gilstrap Motors ARCA Fall Classic
The ARCA Racing Series heads to Salem Speedway next for the Eddie Gilstrap Motors ARCA Fall Classic Saturday, Sept. 9, the 102nd ARCA race at Salem since 1955. It’s another one day show for the series. Two practice sessions, qualifying and race all on Saturday. Arcaracing.com will have live timing and scoring as well as a live audio call of the race. The race will also air at a later date on MAVTV.
Follow MMM on Social Media: To keep up-to-date with the latest, news, information and race updates, follow MMM racing’s twitter page @MMM_Race and “like” their facebook page at Mason Mitchell Motorsports.
Mason Mitchell Motorsports: Is a championship driver development team fielding multiple entries in the ARCA Racing Series for the 2017 season. The team is based out of Statesville, North Carolina. http://www.masonmitchellmotorsports.com
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