While most fans had complaints about the organisation and logistics of NASCAR’s first race weekend at the Coronado Naval Base in San Diego, one fan had a unique experience. 

No race has ever seen security on high alert as in San Diego, an active naval base. Yet, one fan risked it all to have a word with Sheldon Creed during the second red flag of the NOAPS race on Saturday.

While federal agents eventually arrested the fan for his stunts, a video uploaded jointly by Creed and The CW Sports on Instagram shows the fan got to Creed’s car, had a brief chat with him that ended with a fistbump, and then hopped back over once Creed told him he shouldn't be there, all while wearing flip-flops.

Creed's first reaction over his team radio was, “I think he’s wasted.”

Later, after the race, Creed, who finished third for the Haas Factory Team, recalled the fan coming up to his car while speaking to the journalists, including Dustin Long.

In the video uploaded on X by Long, Creed told him, “He kinda popped in my window and gave me knuckles. I was like, okay. I asked him, 'How’s my damage?' I don’t think he really understood. Then he kinda looked at it, and then I have no idea what he said, he was slurring. He was like, 'Are you guys still racing?'”

Creed added, “I was like, 'We’re just sitting here under a red flag for fun.' Kinda wild.” Creed said that his spotter told him that people were coming for him, and he advised him to go back over the fence before trouble arrived. 

NASCAR officials went over and asked Creed if the fan had touched anything on his HFT Chevrolet, and Creed told them that he had just "leaned on his A-pillar.”

Sheldon Creed has his Matt Kenseth moment

While the fan got his fist bump from Sheldon Creed before the feds eventually arrested him, Creed felt like he had his moment in the sun, recalling memories of a legend in a similar setting back in 2007. 

In the same interview, Creed said, “I didn’t know who it was, but I felt like Matt Kenseth at Watkins Glen when that fan popped over. Honestly, I thought it was funny.”

In 2007, during the race at Watkins Glen, under a similar red flag, a bare-chested fan hopped over the fence and went straight to Matt Kenseth’s car to get an autograph on a baseball cap. 

The fan was escorted off without getting the autograph, and Kenseth, who started the race for Roush Fenway Racing in 3rd, finished 12th once the 26-minute-long red flag was lifted with normal racing resuming. 

While Creed will look at this moment with a laugh, fans would be wary of trying such stunts, especially at a track that is also an active Navy Base.

You can read more on the Daytona Racing Digest!

Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Suyashdeep Sason