Sheldon Creed breaks down wreck with RCR teammate Austin Hill: 'It's on me'

There’s some drama within the Richard Childress Racing team this weekend. NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers and teammates Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill made contact during Friday night’s race at Bristol, resulting in Hill smacking the wall and ending his run for the night.

Hill took the high line coming out of Turn 4 and Creed drifted up the track, inadvertently clipping his teammate and sending him into the wall. There wasn’t much contact, but just enough to cause some problems.

After the race, Hill declined to speak with reporters. But Creed provided his perspective on what happened. It took responsibility for the incident.

“Obviously, it wasn’t my intention to come off the corner and get him in the left rear,” Creed said, per NASCAR’s official website. “I didn’t think we were going to come together. I’d just seen the replay on a phone. I came up off the bottom onto the straightaway, but he also maybe had a couple feet to the wall. So I don’t know. It’s on me, right? I’m the one trying to make the pass and I’m the one on the bottom of the race track, so yeah, we’ll have to talk about it.

“He’s gonna be pissed. Austin doesn’t take things like this easy. So yeah, we’ll have to have a tough conversation and move forward.”

"Richard Childress is not going to like that."

Sheldon Creed gets into his RCR teammate Austin Hill, who hits the wall! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/UIXFWSrVFf

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 16, 2023

Although Hill won’t be pleased — and neither will RCR — Creed did mention that the two are friends. Eventually, the two will probably get over it. But in the heat of the moment? You can understand why there might be some tension.

Every race is important this time of year with NASCAR in the playoffs of both the Xfinity and Cup Series. That also adds to the frustration.

Creed finished the Food City 300 from Bristol in 11th place. Hill’s race ended prematurely in 33rd because of the DNF. Justin Allgaier claimed the checkered flag in Friday night’s short track event.

The Xfinity Series is currently in the Round of 12 of the playoffs. Friday’s night race at Bristol marked the first race of the stage. Two races remain before the series dwindles down to eight drivers.

Next week, NASCAR’s Xfinity Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300. The Round of 12 closes out on Oct. 7, when drivers head to the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course for the Drive for the Cure 250.