Kyle Petty blames Richard Childress, Andy Petree for Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed drama at Martinsville
Kyle Petty believes there’s plenty of blame to go around for the higher-ups at Richard Childress Racing for the end of the Xfinity Series race at Martinsville.
To set the stage, RCR teammates led the field to green in Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill during the final laps of the race, and beat on each other all the way to the final corner. However, neither would win at Martinsville, as Justin Allgaier snuck past Creed and won by a nose.
Afterwards, Childress himself had some words for Creed, “I’ve had drivers drive for me before but nobody as stupid as Sheldon Creed,” he told NBC Sports. “You don’t do that as a team player. What else do you want me to tell you?”
Hill echoed those sentiments, and the extra layer of Creed leaving the team after next weekend’s race weighed heavy on everyone’s mind as well. After seeing what went down, Petty made his thoughts known on the matter, sharing his thoughts on how the team handled the aftermath of the situation.
“Martinsville should be the cut-off race in every round of the Playoffs,” Petty started. “They should run it three times during the Playoffs. I’m telling you, it never fails to live up to the hype, and live up to the expectations. But everybody is talking about the Xfinity race. The finish between two teammates. Between Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill. Comes down, they take the green flag, they race hard. They move each other out of the way. Same stuff we saw on Sunday with Ryan Blaney and with Denny Hamlin. Not any different. Until we come off that final corner. John Hunter Nemechek gets in the back of Austin Hill, and spins him out. That’s not Sheldon Creed’s fault. Sheldon Creed’s trying to win his first race. Why should Sheldon Creed move over and let Austin Hill win? Why? Tell me. I don’t understand.
“I’m a card-carrying hater of team racing, and that would’ve been the ultimate slap in the face, for anyone who doesn’t like team racing, and an ultimate slap in the face for Sheldon Creed. I know he’s not going to be there next year, but he’s trying to win his first race. All they had to do was finish first and second. Let Sheldon win the race. Austin Hill run second. Richard Childress goes to Phoenix with two shots at the championship. The way it turned out, he’s got no shot at a championship. I put it back on Richard Childress and Andy Petree. Team leadership. They’ve got two-way radios, they’ve had them for a number of years. Talk to your drivers. Tell them what the big picture is. Tell them to back it down, and you’ve got two drivers headed. Richard Childress said that Sheldon Creed was the dumbest driver that has ever driven for him. Remember people, Richard Childress and Andy Petree hired Sheldon Creed.”
Drop the mic, Kyle Petty. He mades multiple good points about Richard Childress and team-racing, and why Sheldon Creed wasn’t anywhere near the wrong.
The NASCAR on NBC analyst knows what he’s talking about. It’ll be fascinating to see how Austin Hill and Sheldon Creed race each other in their final race as RCR teammates at Phoenix this weekend.