Dale Earnhardt Jr. Acquits Sheldon Creed of Malicious Intent at Martinsville: “I Just Don’t Buy It”

One of the biggest headlines, if not the biggest one that came from Martinsville from the Xfinity end was the incident that had taken place on the final lap of the race between the two RCR drivers, Sheldon Creed, and Austin Hill as they got into each other and essentially knocked the other out of the championship four. Creed was handed the blame for seemingly deliberately running into his teammate and giving away the win.

Even though that had not been the case exactly.

Now, a few days after that incident, former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about the controversial incident on his podcast show. Junior explained how he did not feel that Creed had any malice in his heart to ruin both him and his teammate’s day like that.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. does not believe Creed’s actions were intentional

Junior commented on the incident, “I just don’t buy it. I don’t buy that he did this intentional thing to hurt his teammate. I don’t believe that in that moment there was spiked, leading the charge in terms of emotion and choice and decision making.”

He later added, “If you listen to the broadcast, that’s my comments coming down the back straightaway. The #21’s going to lift the #21’s trying to get behind him. The #21’s going to try to run through it. And they you know, they both when 2021 makes a hard left in the braking zone to three and slams into this…”

Junior clarified that the action was not intended to be a door-slamming move, but Hill was attempting to slow down and fall behind the #2 car before a gap closed. Meanwhile, the #2 car driven by Creed may have also been strategizing on how to defend against Hill’s move.

At the end of the day, whatever may have been the cause of the altercation between the two drivers, the outcome was poor for both involved. Therefore, with just one race remaining in the season, all they can do is keep their head down, learn from their mistakes, and look ahead to the next season after Creed departs the team post-Phoenix.