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Stephen Nasse claims Snowflake 100 win and gets to keep it this time

Daniel Vining

Stephen Nasse has had Snowball Derby and Snowflake 100 victories taken away from him in inspection and race control respectively but this win was going back to Pinellas Park.

The only open question is whether or not the Tom Dawson Trophy is coming back alongside the Bill Bryant Trophy come Sunday night.

“There’s not an ounce of doubt in my mind that this trophy won’t be going home with us,” Nasse said. “I know everything in this car is legit and it’s always been legit. You know, there were just other circumstances I think that caused us to lose that other, that first Derby (2019) and the rough driving in the Flake was just a bump and run and everyone knows that.

“I’m happy for my guys and my dad, everyone on this team that’s been working so hard. We’ve had good runs with this car. We knew it was a good car. We didn’t take it to Nashville because we didn’t want any problems and needed it to be prepared for the Derby.

“Qualifying went about as I expected but it didn’t take long to make quick work on a lot of those guys and find my way in a good spot.”

Nasse, a notoriously suspect qualifier on larger short tracks, could only muster a 24th place starting spot but also caught some lucky breaks. Derek Thorn was sent to the rear for spinning Carson Brown. Jake Finch was sent to the rear for spinning Augie Grill.

Meanwhile, pole sitter Dylan Cappello led the first eight laps before giving way to Matt Craig. This was while Nasse methodically worked his way through the top-25. There was even one dramatic restart where the three even went three-wide for the lead with 43 to go.

But Cappello had been warned earlier in the race about jumping a restart alongside Nasse and a second offense resulted in being sent to the rear and contributed to an 11th place finish.

“I was warned once apparently but I never knew that,” Cappello said. “I never beat anyone to the line. I heard him fire off a little bit and then, I fired off, and thought he spun (his tires) a little bit and gave it back and didn’t think anything of it.

“I come back around and they show me the black flag and I guess they had time to watch it back on the second one during the red flag. I don’t know. I guess I was warned once but I never heard about it.”

The west coast racer and engineer turned NASCAR Truck Series crew chief for Layne Riggs at Front Row Motorsports laid down a big pole lap in time trials and contended throughout that first half.

The race featured several big crashes, including one that sent ASA champion Casey Roderick airborne and into the wall.

Roderick was released from the EMS vehicle on Saturday night but was reported by his team to be ‘very sore.’

Meanwhile, Matt Craig continued to run within a half second of Nasse but just couldn’t find more.

“We just needed a little more front turn,” Craig said. “You know, we worked really hard to get front turns and we had it for probably maybe 60 laps and it kind of just started to fade on me. Got a little tight, got beat.

“We had a really good car and from where we started and finished, came a long way. I’m proud of my guys, the crew, Marcus Richmond came on board, so I do think this is something to be proud of. It hurts a little bit but we just needed a little more turn to get there so maybe next time.”

For Nasse to exorcise his Snowball Derby demons, he will once again need to pass over 25 cars on Sunday. Can he become the first driver to sweep Snowball Derby weekend?

“I believe so,” Nasse said. “Listen, I don’t want to be too confident. Because usually when I am, things go wrong but I will just say the same thing like I did with this. I know the car is really good and it don’t matter where you start, it’s matter where you finish.

“We ain’t only racing for two laps so we’ll go out there and hopefully put on another show tomorrow.”

  1. Stephen Nasse
  2. Matthew Craig
  3. Seth Christensen
  4. Spencer Davis
  5. Cole Williams
  6. Michael Hinde
  7. Dustin Smith
  8. Carson Brown
  9. Colin Allman
  10. John Bolen
  11. Dylan Cappello
  12. Kaden Honeycutt
  13. T.J. DeCaire
  14. Nick Loden
  15. Zack Dixon
  16. Brandon Lopez
  17. Jarrett Butcher
  18. Travis Braden
  19. Chase Pinsonneault
  20. Anthony Bello
  21. Casey Roderick
  22. Conner Jones
  23. Jett Noland
  24. Luke Baldwin
  25. Jeremy Miller
  26. Augie Grill
  27. Jimmy Renfrew, Jr.
  28. Hudson Bulger
  29. Sylas Ripley
  30. George Phillips
  31. Derek Thorn
  32. Jim Wall
  33. Jake Finch
  34. Vito Cancilla
  35. Jason Vail
  36. Bubba Pollard

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

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