It often resembled a spectacle rather than a race, but the Snowball Derby provided a series of memorable moments on Tuesday night at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida.
Following two days of rain and then a race full of controversy, Christian Eckes edged out John Hunter Nemechek in a 15-lap duel that will go down among the best in event history. The teenage duo swapped the lead four times over the final two laps, but Eckes ultimately prevailed at the line by a record 0.017 second.
“It was really unreal,” Eckes said. “I never even dreamed of coming here to win this race.”
Even more remarkable was that the final lap was the only one the 16-year-old led at the line. Eckes started the race in 12th and spent much of it outside the top 10. But attrition dwindled the field down from 36 to about 15 competitive cars by the end of the race.
Even Nemechek had spent a large portion of the race outside of the top five, but both he and Eckes survived to put on an instant classic by the end.
“I got a little bit free coming off the corner, and he had a little bit better drive and was able to get by me,” Nemechek said. “You could not ask for anything better for a show for the fans, that’s for sure. I appreciate everyone coming here on a Tuesday.
“It is disappointing being that close, but we have to smile about it. (Eckes) made the crossover move one corner earlier, and I should have kept him to my outside and we would have been all right. It was a definitely a close finish.”
While the finish was memorable by itself, the events leading up to it may also stand the test of time.
The rainouts forced teams to relieve their hired pit crews of their duty and turned the race from a live pit-stop affair to a controlled one. This meant stopping the field on the backstretch under red-flag conditions during every caution to correctly sort out the running order.
That turned the race into a four-hour, stop-and-go marathon with tempers running high.
On lap 270, Stephen Nasse and pole-sitter William Byron were inside the top five and came together in the conflict of the night. Byron washed up the track in turn 3 and inadvertently dumped Nasse. The short-track veteran was so outraged by what he perceived as overly aggressive racing that he reversed course on the track and rammed his car right into Byron’s quarter panel, knocking both cars out of the race.
Track security had to separate the Nasse and Kyle Busch Motorsport crews from each other. Nasse spent the rest of the evening berating the short-track industry on Twitter.
Meanwhile, Chad Finley had dominated the race but fell out with a motor problem on lap 279. He had led 179 laps and had the car to beat.
This all set up the finish between Eckes and Nemechek.
Eckes collapsed on the front stretch in jubilation while celebrating. The win was also the first for Fury Race Cars, which is operated by Tony Eury Sr., Tony Eury Jr. and Jeff Fultz. The complete race results can be viewed below.
2016 Snowball Derby
- Christian Eckes
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Ty Majeski
- Donnie Wilson
- Chandler Smith
- Casey Roderick
- Grant Enfinger
- Zane Smith
- Noah Gragson
- Raphael Lessard
- Bubba Pollard
- Derek Thorn
- Connor Okrzesik
- Casey Smith
- Spencer Davis
- Corey LaJoie
- Dalton Armstrong
- Dalton Sargeant
- Derek Scott, Jr.
- Chad Finley
- Stephen Nasse
- William Byron
- Daniel Hemric
- Kaz Grala
- Derek Kraus
- Cole Anderson
- Augie Grill
- Jerry Artuso
- Jeff Choquette
- Scotty Ellis
- Chris Davidson
- Christopher Bell
- David Rogers
- Harrison Burton
- Kyle Plott
- Brandon McReynolds
