Story: Tom Baker -Team SWN   Photo: Jonathan Bachman - Getty Images/NASCAR

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Richard Childress Racing had a nuclear meltdown on Saturday at Martinsville. From the owner to his staff to both of his Xfinity drivers, the closing laps of the Dead On Tools 250 was ugly, to say the least. 
 
This race was the last opportunity for teams to make the round of 4 to run for the series championship at Phoenix this weekend.  Going into the event, RCR racer Sheldon Creed had to win in order to advance.  His teammate Austin Hill could advance on points depending on how others also in championship contention fared. 
 
With a few laps to go, a caution flag set up a restart which would seem to have been perfectly set up for RCR.  Creed and Hill shared the front row for the restart.  At that point, depending on how Stewart Haas Racing’s Cole Custer finished, if Creed won and Hill finished second, both RCR cars would have advanced to the championship round.  
 
Did someone get on the radio with the two of them and let them know of the various scenarios, including one that could possibly have put them both in the championship 4?  
 
If not, they should have.  

This video, courtesy of NASCAR's Facebook and NBC Sports, shows us the end of the race and the drivers' post-race comments. 
 
Hill fired the first shot against Creed by driving up the track into him in turn one and it all went downhill from there.  The pair battled and banged, with Creed forcing his way under Hill going into turn three coming to the white flag (last lap) and again in turn one on the final lap.  

Had Hill finished second to Creed, both could have advanced depending on where Custer finished. 
 
Instead, Creed took the lead and then got into turn three a little fast, and then had to slow his car coming out of turn four.  Hill was in the throttle hard at that point, and ran into the back of Creed. That contact set up a chain reaction accident that took out Hill and a few other cars including Custer, but it also meant that Custer advanced instead of Hill. 
 
It gets worse. 
 
When Creed slowed and Hill hit him, Justin Allgaier drove under and by Creed for the win, which then eliminated Creed as well. Now neither RCR car would advance despite them starting first and second on the last restart. 
 
It gets even worse. 
 
After the race, while Creed did his best to explain the unexplainable in a calm and cool manner despite his obvious angst with what had happened, others in the RCR camp shot bullets at him.  
 
Hill did admit that he himself had started the trouble by driving up the track into Creed after the restart, but then proceeded to spill the as-yet-unannounced news that Creed would race for Joe Gibbs next year and added that he hoped incoming teammate Jesse Love would “race me better…race me cleaner” than Creed had. 
 
Team VP of Competition Andy Petree approached Creed on pit road and went on an obscenity-filled tirade about him.
 
But wait, there's more. 
 
Childress, talking with media after the event, called Creed the stupidest driver he's ever had and said “no comment” when asked if he would be in the car at Phoenix. 
 
While it’s true that NASCAR fans live for this type of combative behavior and controversy, it was highly uncalled for and unfortunate from a team perspective. 
 
Creed had run into Hill at Bristol earlier in the year and taken him out of the event, and there’ve been other instances where many feel Creed has made poor decisions, especially when racing his teammate. 
 
I cannot disagree with that, but Hill was not innocent on Saturday, and showed himself to be self-centered in his comments.   We don’t know for sure that Creed will drive for JGR next year, but it was wrong on multiple levels for Hill to let that out of the bag (if he knew) before JGR and Creed did.  
 
I’ve seen multiple occasions through the years where someone wanting to be the bigshot journalist or brag that they were the first to break a story actually ended up killing the story because they released the news before all the necessary signatures had been written on the contract.  
 
Hill’s comment about hoping Love raced him cleaner is also improper.  Hill raced Creed just as “dirty” as Creed did Hill on Saturday, and while both race for RCR, each is a separate team and both drivers obviously want to win for their team. 
 
Had both been more situationally aware, they both could have advanced to the championship round, depending on where Cole Custer finished.  

Instead, neither car advanced and Creed was hit with sniper fire from his teammate (probably to be expected) and two team executives including the owner, which should never happen in public. 

Neither Childress nor Petree seemed to think Hill did anything wrong. 
 
Will Creed be in the car at Phoenix?  Time will tell.  
 
I’m not sure what good it does to fire Creed when he’s already announced that he is going elsewhere after this last race.  

On the other hand, after the team owner calls you “stupid” and a VP cusses you out on pit road, and your “teammate” gives away (if it’s true) your plan for 2024 before you and your new team announce it, how excited should Creed be to get back in the car?  
 
How do Creed and his crew work together under those circumstances?    
 
This is an unfortunate and totally avoidable mess.   
 
What can we learn from RCR's meltdown? 

It’s a good object lesson for other racers and team officials to learn from about grace under pressure, and the wisdom of remaining silent when you have the urge to say something you might later wish you hadn't.