Sheldon Creed / No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra Preview – The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra News and Notes:

  • CREED AT LAS VEGAS: Sheldon Creed and the No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra team head out west this weekend for The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In his four Xfinity Series starts at the one-and-a-half-mile speedway, Creed has taken home two top-10s, highlighted by a best finish of seventh to go along with five laps led back in 2022. Overall, the California native holds an average start of 11.0 and average finish of 17.0 in the neon city. During Creed’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career, Vegas was a welcomed place as he scored two top-fives, four top-10s, and 104 laps led in six starts.
  • ATLANTA RECAP: Creed’s day at Atlanta had its ups and downs, but ultimately turned the quiet day into a quality run. He ran securely in the top-10 for the first half of the race, scoring stage points with an eighth and tenth place finish in the first two stages, respectively. For most of the final stage, Creed found himself fighting to make the top-15 until a late-race caution induced a fuel mileage battle. Crew chief Sam McCaulay made the decision to pit under caution, which proved invaluable as Creed was able to pass a number of cars that ran out of fuel in the final laps. The nifty call led to the No. 18 GR Supra team to leave with a fourth-place finish, Creed’s second top-five on the year.
  • CONSTANT CONTENDER: Although his streak of second-place finishes ended this past weekend in Atlanta, Creed now has a streak of four consecutive top-fives dating back to Martinsville last season. With stage points scored in every stage this season thus far and his two top-fives to start the year, Creed currently holds second place in the Xfinity Series point standings.
  • ON THE PITBOX:Crew chief Sam McAulay will lead the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra crew this season. Despite his rookie status, McAulay is an established mind at JGR as he joined the organization in 2007 and worked his way up the ranks from intern to lead race engineer for the No. 11 Cup Series entry of Denny Hamlin. Since the start of his tenure on the No. 11 in 2017, McAulay has contributed to 25 victories, including three Daytona 500 wins and a Coke 600 win as a crew chief when he filled-in for the suspended Chris Gabehart in 2022.
  • FRIENDS OF JACLYN FOUNDATION: Founded in 2005, the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization with a mission to improve the quality of life for children with pediatric brain tumors and other childhood cancers while raising awareness for said diseases.
  • JGR AT LAS VEGAS: Joe Gibbs Racing has earned three NASCAR Xfinity Series victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In 82 combined starts at the track, the organization has posted 25 top-five finishes, 46 top-10s, five pole awards, 1118 laps led. Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch have both taken JGR to victory lane at Las Vegas.
  • FOLLOW ALONG:Follow along for updates and a behind-the-scenes look at Creed’s 2024 season.

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  • RACE INFO: Coverage of the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled for Saturday, March 2nd, at 5 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1, PRN Radio, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Sheldon Creed, Driver of the No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra:

“You’ve gotten the two speedway races out of the way. How are you feeling going into the first true intermediate track of the year?”

“I’m excited. Really excited. The speedways can be a bit of a wild card and to leave them with two top-fives is a huge win in my book. I think this weekend is the first one where we can truly see what we’ve got. Having speed on intermediates is key to competing for a championship in this series, so it’s important for us to get dialed in and run a clean race to set the tone for what’s ahead.”

JGR PR