Despite all the vast accolades Todd Gilliland has achieved over the past two seasons, he’s yet to compete in the Snowball Derby.
The defending NASCAR K&N West champion intended to make his first start in 2014 but ultimately chose not to enter after a series of poor showings in the Five Flags Speedway Blizzard Series. He made the trip last December but wasn’t even able to make the show.
For a 16-year-old that’s won in NASCAR, ARCA and Late Models, that was a hard pill to swallow. Now he’s back and led the opening round of practice for the 49th annual Super Bowl of Short Track Racing.
“I definitely want redemption at this place,” Gilliland said. “It’s been one of my first worst tracks but everyone is working hard at David Gilliland Racing and they’ve given me an amazing CSX Camry for this weekend. We’ve been testing a lot and feel like we’re in a much better position than we were last year.”
Gilliland was the fastest of the 52 Super Late Model drivers that tool place in the 10 a.m. session that opened track activity for the week. His 16.602 set the tone for the week but is far from the fastest times that will be set leading up to Friday qualifying.
Spencer Gallagher, Harrison Burton, Preston Peltier, Noah Gragson, Corey LaJoie, Stephen Nasse, William Byron, Ty Majeski and John Hunter Nemechek completed the top-10.
But Gilliland’s best time was special for another reason, even if it doesn’t matter in the big picture. Five Flags Speedway has challenged him like no other track in America, and this is a guy that’s proven to be a fast learner. Don’t forget that Gilliland won his first-ever starts in the CARS Tour, ARCA and both NASCAR K&N divisions.
“I think we’re getting there,” Gilliland said. “It takes awhile to learn this place. Look at the guys that are good here like Bubba Pollard, Augie Grill and John Hunter — they have a lot of track time here. They’ve learned how to be patient and fast. You just have to do a lot of little smart things with the tires to be fast here.
“There’s no track like this anywhere and so you can’t draw from anything you’ve done. That’s what makes this place so hard to learn.”
Gilliland says simply making the Snowball Derby would be alongside his ARCA and NASCAR wins as the biggest achievement of his career. Of course, winning would exceed them.
“It really blows my mind to think about it,” Gilliland said. “That’s our goal. We have some really good cars this week. I feel like I’ve gotten better here and the team is giving us everything we need. This would be really special.”
The complete results from first Snowball Derby practice can be found below.
1 Todd Gilliland 16.602
2 Spencer Gallagher 16.633
3 Harrison Burton 16.635
4 Preston Peltier 16.643
5 Noah Gragson 16.655
6 Corey LaJoie 16.671
7 Stephen Nasse 16.675
8 William Byron 16.677
9 Ty Majeski 16.686
10 John Hunter Nemechek 16.718
11 Donnie Wilson 16.727
12 Kyle Plott 16.734
13 Dalton Sargeant 16.744
14 Bubba Pollard 16.766
15 Chandler Smith 16.781
16 Cole Anderson 16.782
17 Zane Smith 16.789
18 Raphael Lessard 16.800
19 Brandon McReynolds 16.826
20 Grant Enfinger 16.826
21 Jeff Choquette 16.832
22 Christian Eckes 16.866
23 Kaz Grala 16.890
24 Derek Thorn 16.893
25 Chad Finley 16.898
26 Christopher Bell 16.919
27 Daniel Hemric 16.922
28 Casey Roderick 16.943
29 Kyle Bryant 16.944
30 Clay Jones 16.949
31 Cassius Clark 16.977
32 Jerry Artuso 17.006
33 Cole Moore 17.016
34 Michael Atwell 17.021
35 Connor Okrzesik 17.025
36 Casey Smith 17.049
37 Chris Davidson 17.050
38 Tyler Ankrum 17.068
39 Scotty Ellis 17.075
40 David Rogers 17.077
41 Logan Boyett 17.081
42 Jacob Gomes 17.088
43 Augie Grill 17.098
44 Boris Jurkovic 17.105
45 Garrett Jones 17.109
46 Derek Kraus 17.165
47 Bret Holmes 17.166
48 Dalton Armstrong 17.211
49 Steve Dorer 17.250
50 Cole Rouse 17.405
51 Logan Bearden 17.408
52 Tim Martin 17.418
