Uneventful Snowball Derby inspection day ends with qualifying order draw

Now hear this: Snowball Derby week officially began on Wednesday with a totally procedural technical inspection and qualifying pill draw day.

For the most part, there were no real issues in tech with head technical inspector Ricky Brooks praising the teams for their preparation before opening practice on Thursday.

“It’s been good, certainly nothing to write about,” Brooks said.

Another inspector said it was “scary” how easy the afternoon went with every car passing inspection without any major change.

Knock on wood was the other part of that exchange.

But the most important aspect of Wednesday night was the qualifying order pill draw. For time trials on Friday night, drivers will turn their two qualifying laps based on the number they randomly drew on Wednesday night.

Traditional wisdom states that the later a driver goes out, the cooler the weather is, and the faster a lap time she or he will put down.

However, Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola is unique due the humidity-based mist that films over the track in December. It makes the racing surface greasy and can come and go at any point of the night. For that reason, many drivers want to go out sooner, especially given the way time trials has played out in recent years.

So maybe somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot.

“I drew an 18 and I’m tickled to death,” Jeremy Pate said.

The fastest 30 drivers of the 57 on the ground on Friday night will automatically advance to the main event. One driver will earn an automatic provisional and the rest will go to Saturday’s Last Chance Race. Five will advance from that race to comprise Sunday’s 36-car starting lineup.

Bubba Pollard will also go out in the middle stages, 26th, but didn’t seem to care one way or the other where he drew.

“It works for us,” Pollard said. “Listen, the fastest cars are going to qualify up front. There isn’t anything that’s going to change that. It’s a pretty good spot. This is really where I wanted to be – somewhere from 20th to 30th.”

That sentiment was shared by fellow favorite Ty Majeski.

“It doesn’t matter where you qualify,” Majeski said. “The cars with speed are going to be up front.”

Making his Snowball Derby debut is NASCAR Truck Series notable Jordan Anderson and he likes his 40th place draw, even if he’s at risk of the dew.

“I like going out later just because I can watch and see what everyone else is doing,” Anderson said. “So maybe we can watch and see how cars are driving with the weather and use that to our advantage and make some adjustments once qualifying rolls around.

“It’s a coin flip, but 40th, I’ll take it.”

The complete qualifying order — based on the pill draw can be found below. New Smyrna Speedway veteran Brad May will have the opportunity go out last.

SUPER LATE MODEL QUALIFYING ORDER

1. Corey Heim
2. Carson Hocevar
3. Kyle Bryant
4. John DeAngelis
5. Jake Garcia
6. David Rogers
7. Josh Berry
8. Derek Thorn
9. Jesse Dutilly
10. Matthew Craig
11. Preston Peltier
12. Connor Okrzesik
13. Jack Dossey III
14. Dalton Zehr
15. Jett Noland
16. Corey LaJoie
17. Austin Nason
18. Jeremy Pate
19. Colten Nelson
20. Augie Grill
21. Derek Kraus
22. Michael Atwell
23. Derrick Griffin
24. Bubba Pollard
25. Ty Majeski
26. Steven Davis
27. Trey Bayne
28. David Gilliland
29. Jeremy Doss
30. Rich Bickle
31. Tim Curry
32. Cole Moore
33. Lucas Jones
34. Dan Fredrickson
35. Michael House
36. Harrison Burton
37. Chris Davidson
38. Mason Mingus
39. Casey Smith
40. Jordan Anderson
41. Casey Roderick
42. Jeff Choquette
43. Rodrigo Rejon
44. Giovanni Bromante
45. Hunter Robbins
46. Jerry Artuso
47. Derek Griffith
48. AJ Wernette
49. Chandler Smith
50. Johnny VanDoorn
51. Kyle Plott
52. Stephen Nasse
53. Travis Braden
54. Boris Jurkovic
55. Kaden Honeycutt
56. Cole Butcher
57. Brad May

PRO LATE MODEL QUALIFYING ORDER

1. Cody Brake
2. Wayne Anderson
3. Justin Bonnett
4. Bill Melvin
5. Dan Leeck
6. Bubba Pollard
7. Carson Hocevar
8. John Bolen
9. Brandon Oakley
10. Derek Thorn
11. Jett Noland
12. Rodrigo Rejon
13. Elliott Massey
14. Connor Okrzesik
15. Jackson Boone
16. Chris Hacker
17. Mason Keller
18. Mike Garvey
19. Augie Grill
20. Mason Diaz
21. Kyle McCallum
22. Stacey Crain
23. Jack Dossey III
24. Ryan Paul
25. Justin South
26. Stephen Nasse
27. Jarrett Parker
28. Jo Jo Wilkinson
29. Jacob Beasock
30. Trever McCoy
31. Sammy Smith
32. Brandon Curren
33. Kyle Plott
34. Daniel Dye
35. Perry Patino
36. Jake Griffin
37. Dustin Smith
38. Dylan Fetcho

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