Sheldon Creed, who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Richard Childress Racing, has been penalized by NASCAR following Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway.
According to NASCAR’s Penalty Report, issued on Tuesday, Creed was found to be in violation of Section 4.4.B of the NASCAR Rule Book, which deals with the member code of conduct for all credentialled NASCAR Members.
More specifically, the cited section of the Rule Book includes “attempting to manipulate the outcome of the Race or Championship” and “Wrecking or spinning another vehicle, whether or not that vehicle is removed from Competition as a result.”
Creed, 25, has been docked 25 NASCAR Xfinity Series driver points, dropping him from seventh to eighth in the series point standings. Additionally, the Richard Childress Racing driver has been fined $25,000.
The incident in question, which happened on the 69th lap of Saturday’s Xfinity Series event at Nashville, saw Sheldon Creed running on the inside of Sammy Smith entering the first corner, when he turns right mid-turn, sending the No. 18 Toyota GR Supra into the wall.
Video: Sheldon Creed Gets Into Sammy Smith; Smith and Brandon Jones Crash
On Tuesday afternoon, NASCAR released a statement detailing their reasoning behind the penalty to Creed, which reads as follows: “Following Saturday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway, NASCAR reviewed radio communications from the No. 2 team. In NASCAR’s determination, that communication clearly resulted in the No. 2 car wrecking the No. 18 car on Lap 69, causing the seventh caution of the race.”
The Alpine, California native finished 17th in Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway, earning 20 points, fewer than the number of points he lost as a result of this penalty.