Sheldon Creed in Position to Shake Monkey Off His Back in NASCAR Xfinity Series

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• Sheldon Creed clicked off a fast lap at 171.645 mph for his second pole of 2024.

• Creed, the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series champion, has yet to win in the Xfinity Series despite finishing runner-up 10 times.

• Riley Herbst in the Monster Energy Ford qualified second fastest (171.233).

Sheldon Creed knows what it's like to knock on the door. He's ready to kick the door down.

Creed, who has three runner-up finishes this season, on Friday afternoon raced to the pole for Saturday's Cabo Wabo 250 at Michigan International Speedway.

Driving a Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Creed clicked off a fast lap at 171.645 mph for his second pole of 2024 and third in 91 career Xfinity starts.

Riley Herbst in the Monster Energy Ford was second (171.233), while Taylor Gray in the Operation 300 Toyota (171.156) and Cole Custer in the Autodesk/Haas Automation Ford (171.119) will start Saturday's 38-car race on the second row.

Creed, the 2020 Craftsman Truck Series champion, has yet to win in the Xfinity Series despite finishing runner-up 10 times, including three times this season.

"I feel like we've been really consistent, we run top five a lot," Creed said. "Even if we have had issues, we're in the top five. I feel really good about where our team's headed."

The 26-year-old Creed is in his third full season in the Xfinity Series and is looking not only for his first win, he's also hoping to lock down a spot in the 12-driver Xfinity Playoffs. With six races left in the regular season, eight drivers are locked into the Playoff field with wins. Creed is second among the four drivers inside the cutline should points be the deciding factor for the final four spots.

"We have nine top-fives (in 20 races), but we need to clean up our races a little bit to get higher stage points."

Friday's qualifying was also good for Creed's teammate, Chandler Smith, who qualified fifth. Creed, however, is not expecting the teammate factor to come into play on race day.

"I feel like it goes both ways," Creed said. "There's times you need them and you can't trust them, and then there's times they come and pick you up. I always try to work well, but at the end of the day we're all racing for each other.

"Yeah, we help each other, but I'm not going to put myself out of line and lose 10 spots to help, you know."