Sheldon Creed records 11th second-place finish at Michigan
With his runner-up result in the Cabo Wabo 250 Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, Sheldon Creed now owns the NASCAR Xfinity Series record for the most second-place finishes without a victory.
Creed, who won the pole, led the opening 23 laps before spinning from the lead in Turn 4.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver rallied to race inside the Top-5 before NASCAR Overtime, ultimately finishing second to Justin Allgaier.
For Creed, it was his fourth second-place finish of the 2024 season, which is the most of the Xfinity Series field this year, and his 11th overall.
“This one might have frustrated me the most out of all of them so far,” Creed said.
Creed acknowledged he was trying to save fuel prior to a caution for a Kyle Weatherman crash with nine laps to go in the originally scheduled distance of 125 laps.
When the race resumed — after rain extended the race to overtime and caused a brief red flag — Creed restarted behind Allgaier with two laps to go.
Allgaier extended his lead to over half a second over Creed at the white flag. Creed closed the gap to three-tenths of a second heading into Turn 3 before a multi-car crash triggered NASCAR to throw the caution and freeze the field.
Creed and teammate John Hunter Nemechek settled for second and third-place finishes respectively.
“I was probably too conservative behind the 20 (John Hunter Nemechek) trying to save fuel,” Creed said. “…Just had a really good car, but that caution for rain came at a bad time for us.”
Creed is 10th on the playoff grid with five races left before the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs are set. Not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs at this time, Creed has a 70-point cushion over the cutline and 13th-place Ryan Sieg.
If Creed can make the playoffs, he will do so for the second consecutive season and second overall time in his career.
The next scheduled race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is scheduled for Friday, August 23 at Daytona International Speedway.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.