Family tradition held the key to success Saturday night at the Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida, as John Hunter Nemechek and Chase Elliott finished first and second in the Snowflake 100 for Pro Late Models. The event serves as an appetizer for today's Snowball Derby for the super Late Models that takes the green at 2 p.m. and can be seen live on pay-per-view at Speed51.com.
The Snowflake was hampered by six cautions and two red flags through the first 39 laps as drivers tried to fight their way to the front of the 36-car field. Nemechek, who is the defending champion of the Snowball Derby, outran pole-sitter Justin South to turn one at the drop of the green to take the lead and he would continue to choose the outside lane for the numerous restarts.
The first stoppage occurred on lap six when a multi-car pileup in turn four blocked the track and required a long period of cleanup around the entire half-mile speedway after drivers drove away from the melee trailing fluid. In all eight drivers were eliminated in that crash including 13-year-old Chandler Smith who had earlier raced his way into the field through the Last Chance race.
The oil dry dust filled the air as the field went back to green with Nemecheck still leading South before veteran Indiana driver Scott Hantz spun in turn two on lap seventeen. Nemechek's outside line again prevailed on the restart and the race was slowed once again on lap 24 for a Josh Williams spin. Each of these cautions would allow Kenzie Ruston to earn back one of the two laps that she lost after pitting earlier in the race and the young lady who announced her engagement to Daniel Hemric this week would soon be a driver to watch.
Nemechek again held the lead on the restart, but this time South was able to fight back and on lap 27 he drove under Nemechek to take the lead. The caution waved again two laps later as slight contact from Dalton Armstrong sent Hunter Robbins for a spin as they were racing for fifth. For the restart South chose to take away Nemecheck's chosen lane and started on the outside, but John Hunter found the bottom to his liking and took the lead back from South as they exited turn two. Dustin Smith spun down the front stretch and lap 32 and Josh Bragg did the same on lap 34 so race officials chose to display the red flag and allow one crewman to each car in order to clean the grime from the oil dry off of the windshields.
The race went back to green only to have the caution wave again five laps later for a medical emergency in the infield and that would be the last caution of the event.
With the race now finding its rhythm Chase Elliott used the high line to move into second with Bubba Pollard taking over third. Brett Holmes who had started 18th settled into fourth and 16-year-old Kaz Grala, driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports #51 had quietly advanced from 31st to fifth after winning the Last Chance race. As those five ran in single-file order, the fabulous announcing duo of Bill Roth and Robbie Harvey pointed out the charge being made by Ruston as she gradually picked off positions to make her way up to sixth, while not far behind her and going completely unnoticed was the run being made by Minnesota's Cole Anderson.
Anderson had started 27th on the grid and had obviously had a setup that was coming to him in the closing laps as he not only matched Ruston's run to the front, but even passed her late in the race to take over the third spot with five laps remaining. Nemechek was strong and even bold in traffic, once going through the middle of two lapped cars and he never allowed Elliott to get within striking distance over the closing laps as they finished one-two. Anderson took the white flag in third with Ruston in fourth, but as they emerged back into view coming off turn four on the final lap it was the former dirt-tracker from Alabama Holmes who was back in third leading Ruston to the checkers as Anderson limped across the line in fifth. Pollard and Graza finished sixth and seventh while Ryan Paul, Zane Smith and Hunter Robbins completed the top ten.
The stage is now set for today's 300-lap Snowball Derby that pays a solid $22,500 to win and $1,500 just to start. Open wheel prodigy Christopher Bell had apparently set quick time on Friday night driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports #51, but both he and John Hunter Nemechek were later disqualified in tech. Nemechek fell back on his defending champion provisional while Bell started 22nd and raced his way to the win in Saturday's 50-lap Last Chance race. Wisconsin's Ty Majeski and NASCAR's Chase Elliott will start from the front row, but fans will have to pay attention to both ends of the starting field will Bell and Nemechek poised to make big runs to the front. It should be a thriller!
This is my first time to the Derby and it is a much bigger event than I even imagined. I arrived an hour before qualifying started on Saturday, but still had to park precariously on the shoulder of a four-lane road over a mile away from the track since the parking lot was already full, so today I will take the option of parking at the fairgrounds and riding the shuttle to the track.
Just like any other sporting facility that has bleacher seats with numbers on them (i.e. Knoxville, Kinnick Stadium, etc.) the seating is not laid out properly for the clientele and, or the stadium seats that they bring with them to sit on. Do these places think that everybody has a 32" waist and is the size of a 10-year-old? Five Flags has a rule that states that stadium seats must be no wider than 18", but that rule is not well enforced as the folks who were sitting on seats 1 and 2 and 5 and 6 all had stadium seats that made it tight for just me to sit in between them so I am not very optimistic about also squeezing in my father-in-law today who thankfully does have a 32" waist.
The track itself is incredibly fast with high-banked sweeping turns allowing drivers to average 105 to 110 mph and, while the low line is preferred, there is definitely room to race race two and even three-wide. And on Sunday, when they move all of the haulers out of the infield, it will be nice to be able to see all the way around the race track. Looking forward to today's finale and I am guessing that it will seal the deal and convince me to make this trip again in the future.
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