INSANE MINECRAFT MOVEMENT! MUST SEE!

White the number two of John ban John Bolan has Tony Yuri Senor and Tony Yuri Jr turning the wrenches on his two cars he’s going to attempt to start the snowflake 100 for Alan Turner tomorrow he made the Derby what a run in the last chance race you made it work

Got a little rough and tumble during the course of that event yeah uh BS and Tony junor put us a good car together everybody at Fury and all my guys uh we knew we had a good race car in RAC trim uh got a little rough there but uh just

Had to dig deep and uh get all she had and put us in the spot John Bolan in the two starting 31st inside row number 16 he is a farmer World Crown champion from Brighton Colorado the number 48 of Preston paler Preston had a really good qualifying effort on Friday that

Qualifying effort was taken away made his weekend a little bit tougher but he got a chance to go out there and race from 16th to the front he has won two last chance races in a row did it help today to get a little on track activity

Before anyone else well we’re going to find out uh yeah I would say so because you know you kind of know what the thing’s going to do when you start the race and uh man we got a good car we just need to keep

It under us and uh be there at the end Preston peler making his 10th snowball Derby start starting 30th outside Road Number 15 driver of the first Auto Group Toyota from seock Massachusetts the 2023 Southern Super Series champion for number 22 of Gio Rerro a strong competitor in the ASA Stars national tour with a couple of wins he won the southern Super Series championship as Robbie mentioned he also won the ASA CRA Super Series championship what a dream season in 2023 and you put an exclamation point on it today yeah it’d be awesome everybody

On our team just worked so hard all year so uh to P off with a win would be awesome Gio riro in the 22 starting 29th inside Road Number 15 driver of the Pache rental group Chevrolet from late Oso Oregon the 2022 summer Showdown Champion the number 63 of Cole

Raz Cole Raz won the wachi 200 the summer Showdown the mark Galloway 150 a lot of big races over on the west coast coming from Oregon to race with us for the first time and Cole Raz had an outstanding 2023 season you’re ready to do this snowball Derby thing I’m looking

Forward to I’ve been wanting to come down here for years and uh biggest thing was fun and I’m excited for the partners we have on board this weekend with the Pache Ral group Reeves Auto Complete Center everybody that’s uh put a lot of hard work back in a Washington at

Jefferson racing it’s been uh a journey this week that’s for sure but we’re coming from pretty deep and I’m looking forward to it this what it’s all about the snowball Derby great crowd looking forward to it we’ll see if we can a put on a show r with a backup car coming

From deep in today’s field starting 28th outside Road Number 14 driver of the Atlantic tilt Lo Toyota from hansport Nova Scotia Canada the 2023 Red Bud 400 Champion the number 28 of Cole butcher we are used to seeing Cole butcher start from the front of the

Field in the first couple of rows this year Co butcher will start just inside of the top 30 he was disappointed in qualifying but he says he’s got a good race car it’s been a good race car all season long second place in the ASA Stars national tour to race well today

Oh yeah for sure we have really good long run speed struggled a little bit in our short run as you can see we’re in the back but our Wilson Motorsports guys have a busting their butt all week so we look forward to getting this thing started Cole butcher watch for him today

In the 28 starting 27th inside Road Number 14 driver of the Morton Building Ford from Berlin Connecticut Nascar Cup Series driver and former NASCAR wheelen modified tour Champion the number 62 of ryane Ryan priest one of the favorites when it comes to NASCAR for folks that watch

Short track racing we get to see them at the World Series every year and Open Wheel Modified action Ryan third snowball Derby start today you finish fourth a couple of years ago what’s it going to take to get up there and contend again today fast car patience

And and uh really just keep your eyes open on the start uh starting back there is going to be challenge but certainly we have a really really fast uh Morton Buildings race choice.com Port City Super Late Model today and you know we got a great team so thank you Kevin and

Delena Harvick for for putting this program together and and really investing in short track racing and we’re going to go give them uh we’re going to move forward and try to try to give him a run today Ryan priest in the 62 starting 26 outside row number 13

Driver of the Sounder Toyota from Eden Prairie Minnesota the 2023 allamerican 400 Champion the number two of William s this is another young driver that’s turning a lot of heads as he has had an outstanding 223 season as well 17-year-old driver has Bon sus turning the wrenches Bon familiar with the

Snowball Derby and uh William you couldn’t make the trip here last year we’re coming off of a concussion from allamerican 400 weekend it’s good to be back isn’t it yeah for sure I mean I’m really excited to make my first start at the snowball Derby I feel like we’re

Going to have a really good long run car here for 300 laps and hopefully we’ll make the best of it William seich in the two starting 25th inside row number 13 driver of the Misha construction Chevrolet from beral Colorado $10,000 winner earlier this year in Colorado the 08 of Jaye

Hanson Jace Hansen a couple of years ago decided to make the long trip here to five flag Speedway for most of their races just to get some experience so he could maybe get into the snowball Derby it worked it paid off and today he starts his third snowball Derby

Got plenty of experience here now are you going to try to capitalize uh we’ll see um just happy we made the show happy we didn’t have to race that lcq and uh it’s just all about keeping your car on you and keeping it together for this

Deal and uh uh hopefully we race good we it feels good um we just couldn’t get any qualifying speed but uh we worked on a little bit more and uh we’ll just see what happens uh long race a lot of cars to pass if we want to get to the front

But being there at the end is the most important thing so Jay Hansen car 08 starting R 24th outside Road number 12 driver of the US tank and chirogenic Equipment Chevrolet from columia Tennesse former Nashville track Champion the number one Michael house Michael has a pair of championships in the Pro late model

Division at Nashville Fairground Speedway has had some bad luck here in the past at trying to qualify in he made it in last year he didn’t have the luck in the race that he needed to get to the finish today he’s going to try to put it all together you’ve qualified for a

Second year in a row now it’s time to capitalize in the race yeah we got a good car um come overcome some adversity and U in practice and uh got the motor changed thanks to all the crew and uh us tank for allowing us to be here thank for

Thank the like thank the fans coming out and hope for a good race Michael H in the silver number one starting 23rd inside row number 12 driver of the Phoenix construction Chevrolet from Lin Haven Florida former Outlaw Champion here at five flag Speedway the number 51 Jake

Finch Jake Finch one of the local favorites again with that Championship here in the past making his third snowball Derby start today extra special moment for Jake with the Mercer family as he crosses the stage very close with the Mercers his dad and he and Jake today a big race

Derby we’re going to do it again third time here yeah super excited for uh what we got today um I think it’s a decent starting starting spot um super glad to have Eddie and pretty much my family up here with me so hopefully we can uh have

A good day today and show what we got the 51 Jake Finch starting 22nd outside roow number 11 driver of the fire suppression Solutions Ford from Frederickburg Virginia the 2023 World Series of basketball pro league model Champion the number 44 of Conor Jones Conor Jones racing some short

Tracks stuff this year as well as the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series or Craftsman Truck Series this past year the Arca starts as well and and Connor back for your second snowball Derby good qualifying effort last year not quite as good qualifying wise but you looked to

Race better today than what the end result was a year ago what’s it going to take uh it’s just saving tires and long run speed honestly um if we have all that and a little bit of pati get back to the front uh I think we’ll have a

Good day Conor Jones in the 44 starting 21st inside row number 11 driver of the best racing products Toyota from Byron Michigan the two-time snowball Derby Champion the number four Eric Jones two time winner of the Southern 500 is Eric Jones two-time winner of the snowball Derby expected to be one of the favorites today but so many of them 36 starters capable of getting into Victory Lane and that’s what makes this race so special you take it back to what was a

Long time ago when you won the the snowball Derby the first time and now you come back to do it again it’s a special race yeah it is it’s uh man it grows every year for me and and the appreciation for it so look forward to it every year been fortunate to come

Back last three years now and uh yeah feel like we got a good car you never really know until they uh they drop the rag and you see how things are firing off so excited for the race and hope we uh work our way right up there Eric

Jones and car number four starting 20th outside Road Number 10 driver of the cook electrical Toyota from Wheeling West Virginia the 2019 snowball Derby Champion the number 21 Travis Braden Travis Braden winner back in 2019 Winchester 400 he’s been in Victory Lane for that Marquee event as well doesn’t

Get a chance to race a whole lot when it comes to short track racing anymore but when he does he’s going to try to make the most of it and that time is today yes I missed the first part of what you said but making the most of it is what’s

All about you know there’s a lot of good cars a lot of good drivers in this field I feel like jet Motorsports and my whole group of guys behind me has put together a good weekend so far so hopeful to get this thing started and start going towards the front Travis Bron starting

20th starting 19th inside row number 10 driver of the Keen parts Chevrolet from Myersville North Carolina the 2023 cars Pro Lake model Series champion the number 32 Kaden quo Kaden picked up a few wins this season three of them on the cars tour pro late model Championship as well in

That Series 17 years of age one of the young drivers starting in today’s event you’re out there with a lot of great Super Late Model Talent how’s it feel going into the Derby uh it’s definitely very nerve-wracking uh we were kind of struggling our mock on Thursday so going

Into qualifying I was super nervous but we’re able to put in uh top 20 so feel pretty good about it we have pretty good race run speed so hopefully you can settle in and be there at the end lap 300 Kaden qule young driver car 32 starting 18th outside Road Number Nine

Driver of the Cascade rain Gunners Toyota from Deer Park one Washington the 2023 Northwest super late mono Champion for number 55 of Hayden plyb when it came to the Northwest super late model Championship this year and nine wins didn’t give a chance for many other drivers to get into Victory Lane

And I said you know give some other people a chance well today he’s going to try to turn a lot of heads right here in Florida Hayden what a season it was for you this 55 car has been fast this week too yeah it’s uh definitely different

Back here but I hope we have a good piece and I guess we’ll find out here soon Ayden plybon car number 55 starting 17th inside the road number nine driver ofth pitb boxes.com Toyota from Pensacola Florida the 2022 Southern Super Series champion and farmer snowflake 100 Champion the number 18 Hunter Robbins Hunter Robbins at Ronnie Sanders racing number 18 The Familiar red and white car racing today as well as tomorrow in the snowflake 100 as he will try to qualify into that event making his 13th start you’ve been from the front row before starting a little further

Back in the field but in this race it doesn’t seem to matter yeah maybe the 13th TR is the lucky one um we’re used to kind of starting where we start and uh I think we’ll find our way to the front pretty soon we got a really good

Car and um we just got to take care of it get there hter Robbins car number 18 starting 16th outside Road Number Eight driver of the alliance rental Solutions Toyota from Upper Lake California the 2023 blizzard Series champion the number 44 Jeremy D Jeremy Doss turning out to be one of

The veterans when it comes to the snowball Derby just 27 years of age as Cody Glick turning the wrenches on this number 44 car and he has a pretty good I think when it comes to the race today you’ve had some good runs here you get

Up there in the top five in this strong field and battle it to the end yeah uh we worked on Race runs all week long knowing that we were locked in um just want to thank everyone for all the support here uh we got a good race car

Need a little bit of luck and uh we we’ll be at the front Jeremy Doss in the 44 starting 15th inside row number eight driver of the Sun Valley smoked meets Toyota from California the 2023 and three time srl Spears Southwest tour Champion the number 16 Jacob

Gos three hours of practice on Thursday Jacob Gomes was second quick in overall speeds he qualified 15th a solid run making his second snowball Derby start today the car was really good on Thursday can you match those types of speeds today oh yeah we have a good

Piece I uh messed up myself qualifying pyed myself out a little bit not having practice everybody was in the same boat just uh missed my marks and ended up in the middle but we got a really good piece Mike Keane dererk Thorne everybody who helps us out my dad Fury race cars I

Think we got a really good car Jacob Gomes in the 16 starting 14 outside RO number seven driver of the CNC boiler sales and services Chevrolet from Concord North Carolina the two-time cars super l b Champion the number 54 of Matt Craig Matt Craig making his fifth snowball Derby start today his best

Finish doesn’t really replicate the success he had had during the course of those races on track it’s about putting it all together today uh today and being there at the end you’ve had fast race cars here it’s being there at lap 300 to show how fast it is at the end yeah

We’ve had trouble uh getting to the end of these deals but hopefully this year we can use a little patience use a little bit of what we learned in the past and make it to the end Matt Craig in the 54 starting 13th inside roow number seven driver of the US radiator

Chevrolet from Concord North Carolina six time winner this season in the Nascar Cup Series the number 24 William Byron William wasn’t able to be here on Thursday to practice because he had the NASCAR banquet to attend after a great NASCAR season which included those six wins and a chance for a Nascar Cup

Series championship but William has come back to race again in the snowball Derby William best finish shows here sixth place a few years ago you want to win one of these Tom Dawson trophies yeah that’s certainly the goal uh just great to have all the fan fans out here and uh

It’s such a fun race to come down here and do and um I enjoy this track it’s been challenging uh I feel like this week been tough for us we haven’t gotten a ton of practice and um just trying to get get laps but feel good about our car

I think we’ve got something to to race with and uh you know just try to be there on that last set of tires when we put them on with you know 50 60 to go so um we’ll see what happens William Byron car number 24 starting 12 outside row

Number six driver of the tym Toyota from Hudson North Carolina two time World Series super late model champion the number 12 Derek Griffith Derek Griffith making his fifth snowball Derby start today we’re used to seeing him year after year here and he’s looking to put together a little bit better than a

Ninth Place finish that he had back in 2020 Derek wanted a fist bump and snowball probably couldn’t see your I don’t think he was I think he was looking up into the stands there uh Derek uh how’s the car you qualified just outside of the top 10 so I think

You got to be pretty satisfied with that yeah definitely I mean with the only time we come down here is for the Derby so I don’t really have any real laps here other than Derby weekend stuff and it’s my sixth Derby to to qualify into

So um we’re good I think we’re in really good shape it’s the best car I’ve ever had for here it’s uh super comfortable and uh my guys work so hard we unloaded on Monday on our testday and we were like almost a second off pace so we work

Really hard um I really got to thank them and TM tractors for coming on and um yeah man we’re uh we’re pumped it’s going to be a good day for us watch the 12 d Griffith starting 11th inside Road number six driver of the red Street records Ford from Franklin Tennessee

Former Nashville track Champion the number seven Jackson boom Jackson Boon making his first snowball Derby start today young driver who has had a great season racing in competition here at Five Flags racing at times with the ASA Stars national tour full nationville Fairground Speedway where Championship was on the line there

At the last race man you’ve had a great qualifying effort you said a little bit nervous going into your first snowball Derby little bits an understatement I can puke right now but um I’m excited man this I was gonna say uh I’m joking but uh seriously I mean uh I’m

Optimistic about today Glory goes to God uh I wouldn’t be here without him and my exceptional race team all my sponsors everyone that’s been behind me my family my mom my dad my sister brother watching at home um I’m excited man I’m optimistic uh and I can hopefully tell

You more here in 300 laps car number seven Jackson Boon starting 10th outside roow number five driver of the Leland Industries Toyota from Ontario Canada the 2023 NASCAR py Series champion the number 32 of Tron lovic this driver from Canada’s been fast this week practice was among our

Top five in most of the sessions his brother Kaden lavich the crew chief on this car a good racer in his own right and trayon uh making the Derby start today this car is really good and I think uh 300 laps you got a chance to

Prove it yeah I’m really excited uh I’m really proud of my team a little team out of Canada proud of my Canadian partners for helping us make this happen and uh yeah I think we got a good car and uh plan is just to be there at the

End of 300 laps Tron lapic car 32 starting nth inside Road number five driver of the Metro class Toyota from Grand Bay Alabama farmer speedfest Champion the number 14 Conor o CR Conor one of the local favorites he’s raced here quite a bit at a home track here

In Pensacola Florida some folks want to meet him first before he heads down this way Connor OIC putting together a great qualifying effort ninth in today’s field Mike Garvey turning the wrenches on this thing you almost snub the family there I’m ready to start the race I guess the

Mercer family is as you walk by there the the the car so good all week long but really good in qualifying what an effort for a a driver doesn’t get a chance to start very many races here Conor got to take advantage of it right oh yeah we’ll be starting a lot more

Races up in the upcoming season uh wanted a little bit more in qualifying but can’t complain too much about a Ninth Place uh but I mean we’re we’re race car drivers here we wanted to be on the poll so there you go Conor o kic car number 14 one of the locals starting

Eight outside rad number four driver of the Mitch Smith Auto Chevrolet from panel Park Florida two time Winchester 400 Champion the number 51 stepen nassie St nassie in the 51 been in Victory Lane before when was taken away but he’s been fast he’s competed for multiple victories here and

Usually pretty fast this year for the first time with Anthony campy racing going into the Derby and you qualified really well what’s it like starting toward the front it’s definitely weird you know we uh we don’t usually start up front hopefully we can keep the car up

There I’ll tell you HD that them guys over there they did a great job making this car look good this weekend and um Anthony campy and the guys have done a good job of making it fast it’s just my job here to uh to get it to the end so

We’ll see how it goes and hopefully put on a good show for all these fans Ste aie the 51 starting in the top 10 starting seventh inside Road Number Four driver of the Richie Waters Toyota from the Forest Wisconsin Farmer NASCAR Craftman Truck Series champion the number five Johnny

Solder what a career he’s had in racing whether it was the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series the ASA national tour back in the day where he was a champion as well and now he makes the trip to Pensacola as of Monday you didn’t know you were coming here right no but I

Usually don’t know what I’m doing from day to day so it was no surprise but uh no we ran really good last week at uh over there at doto and um so Richie called me and we put some guys from Wisconsin Ricky lemon and a couple guys

Put some money in and we said hey let’s go to the derby so I’ve never raced this race before so I’m looking forward to today Johnny solder in the five his first start in the Derby starting six outside row number three driver of the Mike Scott Plumbing Toyota from Hernando

Florida farmer World Series of B pro Lake model Champion the number 69 Michael H fourth in southern Super Series points this year former pro Late Model winner at speedfest at watermelon Capital Speedway that event coming up on the 19th and 20th in January this year for

Late models and pro lates uh Michael a great qualifying effort you kind of snuck up and surprise me did it surprise you oh yeah I think uh I surprised myself just as much as everybody else uh had decent speed in the car all week uh didn’t think we had right outside the

Top five speed but uh huge thank to everybody for the help and we’re able to have a really good qualifying spot Michael hind in the 69 starting fifth inside Road number three driver of the rley war Chevrolet from West Wisconsin the 2021 Slinger Nationals Champion the number 26 F Luke Fen

Housee he’s had some good racing seasons over the last couple of years the driver from Wisconsin Chad Kendrick turning the wrench’s third Derby start today trying to get up there and battle it out to the Finish what’s your main goal going into this race well I mean position is with

Everything obviously we haven’t qualified very well the last two years and um finally got a really good race car I think uh you know we have a decent shot at it obviously the ri guys have worked really hard all week long and uh just thankful to be with that group

Willie Allen and and Curtis and uh Chad everybody at that side of their group is really well so uh excited to run with them and as well as soda sense and done right X Series on board and hopefully have a good run today luk finen house driving car number 26 starting fourth

Outside Road number two driver of the race car engineering for from sonoya Georgia the five time blizzard Series champion and two time snowflake 100 Champion driver of the number 26 bu Par I really thought Bubba would have had a chance to shake everybody’s hands during the whole Robbie Harvey mention of Bubba but he didn’t quite get it across the stage in time Bubba Pard what a great what a great list of accolades over the years but the one you want to

Put at the top today is the snowball Derby victory yeah we’re excited we’re ready to go and uh man it’s great to see all these fans out and uh hopefully we put on a good show for them today and man it’s just another race we’re going

To go out there and uh see what we can do Bubba Pard coming from toward the front of the field today in the 26 starting third inside Road number two driver of the Jones demolition Ford from morisville North Carolina the 2018 snowball Derby Champion the number 30 Noah

Gron Noah ggon one of the fan favorites back in Action here at the Derby and today Noah from Las Vegas Nevada will be making his sixth snowball Derby start he came back to late model racing ran a few races this year struggled for Speed in some of them not struggling

Speed this weend was fast for two laps in qualifying yeah I think uh we we had a really good test down here with uh the Casey Jones race number 30 team it’s been a lot of fun so much fun coming back down to uh the snowball Derby this

Is probably my favorite race in the country um out of any series any cars this is this is it and it’s uh all thanks to you fans so thanks for coming out we’re going to try and put one heck of a show on for you guys and uh we’ll

See you at the end of this deal I think we got a good one GNA try to put on a show in the 30 and now your front row starting second driver of the tkc construction Ford from sore Wisconsin the 2021 snowball Derby Champion the 91 Ty

Meski Ty meski bringing a special guest on stage with him today and that car was fast he drew the number one in the qualifying draw on Wednesday night for the second year in a row he did not want to go out first well it turned out it

Didn’t really cost you much that car was fast regardless of where you qualified is it going to be fast in today’s race and tell us about our guest here yeah this is uh this is Nova she’s a service dog we had come on board um called uh

Forgotten Coast K9 uh they take um and and train service dogs and place them with uh veterans and former First Responders with PTSD um so it’s a great cause we have t-shirts for sale uh going towards a great cause um you guys could buy a t-shirt or donate uh anything

Helps so it’s a great cause but excited to go today uh have a really good race car uh you mentioned the qualifying thing uh always nerve-wrecking going first uh seem to play in our favor this season so uh we have a really good uh good good forward Fusion for today’s

Race we have a tkc construction on board Kevin’s here in the crowd so uh should be a great one tyes from the front row in the 91 and on the poll for the 56th annual snowball derby with a qualifying time of 1651 driver of the tool sha Toyota from

Bakersfield California he is the reigning the defending snowball Derby Champion the number seven Derek Thorne Derek Thorne most laps LED in snowball Derby history took over that number last year so dominant the last three years but he just picked up one of those three victories you would have liked to had

All of the last three that’s how good that car has been it’s pretty good this year too isn’t it it’s been good so far the weather is thr us for a loop we haven’t necessarily done all the runs we usually do but at the end of the day

It’s uh we kind of got what we got and I just can’t thank Paul Shay for Motorsports enough for everything they’ve done to come back here and run this race and just kind of looking forward to get it going Derek some special Awards here we’ll turn it back

Over to Bill Roth hold out your hand there Derek $1,500 he won this on Friday with country pleasing sausage poll award 16501 was Derek Thorn’s time as soon as they got with the pictures I’m going to ask him a question so what makes your car so darn

Fast and qualifying oh Mike Keane you know myself and Byron Campbell have been coming here for some years but you know this car was prepared by Mike Keane out west before it was brought out here and just shout out to him for for keeping it going but these guys have worked really

Hard to get this thing right and uh it’s been good to us the last four four or five years so I guess we’ll see how good it is today we got one more thing for you to do before you leave we’re going to get Ken Jernigan up here this is so

Cool you’re going to love this this is from last year you know like the Super Bowl but at the snowball Derby you get a Winner’s ring Ken Jernigan for last year Derek Thorne with a great big old platinum silver ring congratulations Derek our poll siter today that is the starting lineup for

The 56th running of the snowball Derby and now we’ll start the clear the front stretch and get set for our pre-race festivities our national anthem is coming up along with the presentation of colors what a day what a crowd so happy you are here with us at five flag Speedway in Pensacola

Florida it has been a dramatic week combined with random times lots of rain and a last chance race on Snowball Derby Sunday few more pictures being taken with the Mercer family on stage Eddie Mercer right there s center stage with his family Stevie Mercer longtime driver here also Eddie was the last

Driver to win the Derby from the pole he did that back in 2005 Derek Thorne who starts from the poll today his fourth career poll tied for most in history with guess who Eddie Mercer so Thorne looking to be the first driver since 2005 to win the snowball Derby since Eddie Mercer

Did last year’s snowball Derby was 2 hours and 33 minutes we only had two lead changes Derek Thorne Bubba PA Thor dominated the race he led the first 271 laps of this race then Bubba Pard and himself exchanged lead for a little bit only a few laps and then Thorne took the lead

On lap 278 and never looked back we did go into overtime last year 318 laps total 13 drivers finished on the lead lap so that gives you an idea of what we could possibly see here at the Derby it could be a dangerous precedent if Derek Thorne is able to clear Tai

Mesi now remember the last time those two were side by side at this RAC trck maesi got the better of Derek Thorne winning the snowall Derby back in 2021 Thorne got his revenge last year not only just winning the Derby but dominating the snowball Derby and now

The two Champions will start up front for this year’s race it is the first time in Derby history where the top three is occupied by former Champions Noah gron driving out of con North Carolina officially from Las Vegas Nevada winning the 2018 snowball Derby and then of course right next to him Bubba

Pard considered the greatest short track driver of all time there’s just one race he has yet to win it’s this one so Bubba Pard probably one of the better starting spots he has ever had at the snowball Derby here at five flag Speedway he did start on the poll back in

2011 his best finish third back in 2017 that was the year Kyle Bush was able to get around late in the race to capture another Derby title for himself on the track the best drivers in America plain and simple it is going to be a phenomenal phenomenal race I’m

Curious remember last year when Thorne in the past several years the dominance of Derek Thorne has come in a different race car Thor now with Paul schaer Motorsports up front again we’ll see how that vehicle handles with a long race we know how well it will handle in clean air but how

Will it do on LP 100 LP 150 we will find out so different team for thorm so far same result still time to go grab your official program for the 56 annual snowball Derby special thanks oface choice.com look at these shots on the big screens here at five flag

Speedway provided by racing America and safe locator co-title sponsor of the snowball Derby beautiful beautiful shots covering today’s event a soldout crowd for the snowball Derby one of the fastest sellouts we have had in history of this race also want a special thanks to Daytona Speedway NASCAR sending up

A the air Titan to help us try this this morning lots of rain yesterday several inches along with lots of moisture this morning so the air Titan coming up from Daytona and of course the jet dryer from Darlington Speedway being sent to help get this facility set for today’s 300 laap race

Well pre-race continues here at five flag Speedway as we get ready for the national anthem and the invocation and uh these are the moments these drivers live for absolutely are you can feel down on the race track all of the uh the intensity starting to build and there’s

The Steven nassie number 51 car Allen a sharp looking ride and you see won the best appearing car of 2023 step nassie by vote look at it up close you might think it’s just a black car if you’re looking at it from far but that is a very cool looking scheme for Steven

Nassie one of those cars where the closer you get to it the better it looks in multiple different colors cars but this one’s a gorgeous car so stepen nasty not only a fast race car but the Horvath design best appearing car this week which Steven nassie do you think

We’ll have today NY or classy he’s gonna try to be classy for the whole race if he can he always tries that’s that’s the key you know and and he’s got a fast race car we usually have to see him at this track racing from the back of the

Field today a little bit different totally different approach this time around when you don’t uh when you don’t have to pass 35 or 36 cars to win this thing it’s a whole different game plan and uh Steven nassie will start eighth today from the outside of row number

Four I would expect that he like most of the others the game plan for the early laps would be to find yourself a spot on the bottom trying to get try and get yourself down out of that high Groove early and then just see where you end up for a

While five former winners in the field nine rookies 35 of the 55 previous race winners have come for the top 10 starting spots here in the derby let’s go back down track side it’s now time for our pre-race festivities let’s send it track side to my tag team partner Bill raw thank you

Robbie along with Miss snowball Derby 2023 the lovely Berkeley harp welcome to day number three of 56th annual snowball Derby thank you all for being patient with us Mother Nature not a race fan this weekend but our hardworking staff and management and of course the Bryant family

We got it done tomorrow the Outlaws and the Allen Turner snowflake 100 along with qualifying for that race and a last chance race for the snowflake 100 once again thank you all so much for your patience we truly appreciate it this is going to be a great event made Greater

By all of your cooperation if you’re new to Pensacola we want to tell you that every time we we race we ask everybody to please rise and remove their hats first of all our indication and then our nation’s number one song The National Anthem let’s go to the Lord in prayer here’s chaplain

Joshua Holland from NAS Pensacola good afternoon race fans let’s go to our Lord in prayer Heavenly Father first we thank you for Freedom thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy in our great country thank you for the brave men and women past and present who have served

Our great nation and the finest Armed Forces on planet Earth thank you Lord for the freedom that we have to enjoy this 56 annual snowball Derby and we are fired up for 300 laps of exhilarating racing here at the legendary five flag Speedway in our beloved Pensacola Lord

We ask as we fire up these powerful engines and burn rubber around this track that your presence provide protection to all of our drivers the pit Crews the fans and the stands and that you Lord would bless this race and all who have made it possible for us to

Enjoy the thrill of racing amen and God bless America thank you Josh Now ladies and gentlemen to present the colors the Color Guard from the Pensacola Police Department presenting our nation’s color and Now ladies and gentlemen with our nation’s number one song from Pensacola record in artist in Nashville Carly Ryan

With the national Anthem Atwi strip and bright Star the parts We red the bombs in in through the night Flag the of the free the the Bra thank you everybody as you probably know we have grand Marshals every year for the snowball Derby this year more than one Grand Marshal as a matter of fact it’s a few of them it’s the Mercer family and the Grand Marshall connotation this year is in memory of a

Guy who everybody that’s been around here for quite a while knows sport mer merer sport Mercer was the track electrician he was Tom Dawson’s rightand man and passed away several years ago but the recognition for sport is going to go to this wonderful Mercer Family Sports Widow Carol the guy we all know

The former champion and many time winner Here Eddie Mercer another guy that’s won quite a bit here Stevie Mercer and Wanda and Tina the great Mercer family so before we get rolling here you know what Grand Marshals do I just want to ask Eddie Mercer what this tribute to his

Family means to him that it means so much to to my family to my brothers my sisters my my nieces my nephews my dad was an intrical part in our our whole lives inclining this racetrack we we didn’t go to football games we didn’t do anything but work on these lights Monday

Through Thursday and race on Friday out here and that’s that’s what we did and a lot of people know my dad and there’s a lot of people that that don’t know him anymore because he’s been gone so long but the dicky davises the Ronnie Sanders those people all come up with my dad

Doing these lights out here and I just rode a bicycle around while he climbed the poles with a set of spikes on boots you know and worked on them and he was he literally uh as they say light up our lives sport Mercer a great man this uh

Grand Marshall family deal is in memory of him all right you all you’ve been around racing so long I shouldn’t have to remind you what the most famous words in Motorsports are are you ready here we go start your well there they go Dave 36 of the

Best in the business coming to life down on the front straightaway uh I love the pp I love the pageantry but I love it when we get down to showtime and there’s nothing left to do but fire them up and turn them loose for us I think the sigh

Of relief is when the race takes the green or the cars are fired it becomes easy for us because all we have to do is talk about what these drivers are doing on track and uh they’re getting ready to put on a show for a packed grand stand

At five flag Speedway it’s going to be very interesting to see how the early laps of this one go based on what we’ve seen not just last year but really in the last two or three years Derek Thorne coming off the pole got a really good and a well-proven game planned in mind

Take the Take the Lead at the drop of the green and don’t give it up and he will do that with 70° outside very comfortable little bit muggy out there as I was down on the stage it feels warmer than it really is 6 M hour wind

Very little to speak of when I was outside moments ago and it is cloudy mostly cloud cover if we get some peaks of sunshine that could change the whole strategy too I don’t think this is going to be a sunscreen kind of day I I think we’ve got pretty much what we’re going

To get in terms some fairly heavy overcast but this is the kind of overcast we like it’s the kind of overcast that doesn’t have any rain left in it after the last couple of days take a look at this shot from our race choice.com drone cam the starting field

Of 36 line up along the front straightway and when we say front straightaway we’ve talked about it before we use that term loosely because there’s not very many straight spots on this racetrack no they’re not and uh you guys were speaking about Derek Thorne I

Don’t know if we’re do picks or not but he would be my pick but one thing I will point out we’ve talked a lot about Bubba paard in his 16th triy trying to get that first snowball derby win I think the fact that these guys have not practiced since Thursday they only

Qualified for what three Laps on Friday I think that could play into his hand I think a lot of times and he even said it whenever I talked to him on Wednesday that they have adjusted their themselves out of this race at times before this track knowledge could pay off for

Him today well we could pick a we could pick a favorite in this thing or we could work a little harder and maybe pick a dark horse pick an upset guy uh I think my upset guy would be um I’m going to say I’m going to say tra and Laps I was

Going to say traon lap okay so my upset guy would be Jackson Boon he’s very fast his seven car looks good making his first Derby start the guy that I think other than Derek Thorne that we need to watch that I think is going to be very

Good with that new team is the 51 of Steven nassie there’s the 22 of riro getting pushed away from the front stretch issues for Gio riro here at the beginning this is the last thing they want to see youngster out of seock Massachusetts has had a phenomenal 2023

Season up to now but this would be a really rough way to end it almost before this well certainly before this snowball Derby even begun and it does not look like that car’s leaping to life and you know Donnie Wilson Motorsports came in here with Gio roero Cole butcher William

So wallish and Sammy Smith and already the 222 Sammy Smith didn’t qualify and now Gio riro possibly will not be able to start see if they can get that car fired when it gets back to Pit Road the Home Alone scheme but he’ll be alone on

Pit Road in moments as the crew will go to work to see they can get that car are fired back up they will go under the hood hopefully just something minor but these are the things you lack when you don’t have practice these are the things that would have been fixed in that

Friday practice you’re also never sure with the amount of moisture that we’ve had in the last couple of days it it doesn’t take much but for a little water to get in the wrong place underneath that hood and short circuit something out although they’ve got the they’ve got

The hood batten down pretty quickly although they’ve also got a man climbing into the cockpit which is not a good sign continuing to work on that automobile as the field circuits behind the safety truck well our pit reporters are ready down track side just as we are

Before we go green let’s hear from our race choice.com pet reporter starting with Ryan McCulla guys it’s the first time in snowball Derby history that defending winners start first second and third dere Thor Ty Mesi Noah gon one of those guys could become a two-time winner but all eyes in

The field might be the guy sitting on the outside of row number two Bubba power considered by many to be the greatest to ever sit the super Lake model car has won everything there is to win except for the snowball Derby is very very likely that the front four

Positions could produce today’s winter but there’s also stories and drivers to watch throughout the entire field and for more on that my partner Eric heeld Ryan thank you very much yeah that distinguish front two rows but so many contenders throughout how about Johnny solder starting in seven with veteran

Crew chief Richie Waters in solder’s first start Tron lapic the young man from Canada has been fast all week long he could be the first Canadian to win the snowball Derby or how about going back to William Byron he loves this race he’s ran it before he’s fast he’s in the

Middle of the field and those four guys through the last chance race Preston passed everybody to win that thing can he pass him again and win the Derby there’s a whole lot to be decided today guys crowd is on its feet all the way around this racetrack the wave off lap

Underway Derek Thorne the defending race winner from a year ago will start on the inside of Row one different look different team different Graphics different number same race car that’s got to be a confidence builder for drik Thor impressive first row the second row strong as well with the 30 of Noah

Greggson and the 26 of Bubba Pard in row two and there’s a cool look of the top 10 making their way past those pack Grand stands at Five Flags there you see row number three Luke finh housee I would not be surprised to see him have a

Shot at this as we’ll take you on through the top 10 before we get the green here and there you see Johnny solder and Steven nassy coming to Green this next time by and rounding out the top 10 Conor Chic at Tron laps ofic here

It is Dave it’s time to go Pace vehicle ready to make that hard left turn on to Pit Road Derek Thorne and Ty maesi in row number one Noah gron and Bubba Pard Fen house hind solder nassie oesk and labovich here they come off turn four

Green flag is out the 56 snowball Derby is underway Derek Thorne leads the way into turn number one and he’ll come away with a lead ducking down into line oh we’ve got trouble already on the back straight away including Preston feler Last Chance race winner he’s caught up I can’t see

Who’s down there on the bottom but a couple of cars involved here I believe one of them could be the 63 of Co Raz he is and 28 Timothy Watson down in turn number two as well just a lap into two the snowball Derby problems toward the

Back of the field and well there’s the one issue of stting from the back a guy like Preston peler who had a fast race car expected to be there at the end and damage here early well you talk about the thrill of vict and the agony of defeat prestel Timothy Watson fighting

Their through the last qualif Watson’s going to drive away so that’s an encouraging signer will do the the 63 still stranded on the bottom of the race well this the same thing we saw in the first lap of the last chance race this time we might have made it to turn two

And look at the damage on P TI’s car that machine is torn up he’s probably got a busted radiator yeah you can see the steam rising out from underneath that hood they take the take a quick look underneath yeah too much fluid there that’s uh that’s a destroyed

Radiator and the race is over before a lap is complete for Preston peler I think this racetrack is still very green and we’re going to want to look towards the back half of the field Cole R in in that black 63 that just went out of the

Frame n seen behind the white car that’s Ryan priest to White 62 and just like what we saw in the last chance race the bottom line got uh bunched up stacked up and it ended up taking these guys out it was about three rows in front of Cole

Rise where it all began and accordion back to R and he did okay of getting slowed down for the most part but then peler had nowhere to go we watch again a few rows ahead of where Cole Rise in the 63 is right side of the screen now kind

Of right in the middle it’s up there around the uh four of Jones the 32 of quapo is kind of where it began and it wasn’t too bad there but it got worse as it went back toward the field I don’t know how Ryan priest drove out of that

Because his rear tires were both about a foot and a half off the ground at one juncture with the car turned about halfway around to the starboard but once he landed he got it pointed back in the right direction was able to continue on unfortunately the same cannot be said

For Preston beler race choice.com pit reporter Ryan Mccalla with more hey Motorsports entry of Gio back in here uh hood is up on the race car they have screwdrivers and and all sorts of tools working under the hood of this machine on the uh air intake and Donnie

Wilson up on top of the the Box pleading with his guys to go faster go faster we can’t afford to lose any more positions or any potential laps here hood is back down I don’t know if the crew got anything accomplished there there was a bunch of looking and asking and looking

And asking and now Roo’s down in the way the main thing is it fired the minute we saw the smoke come out of the header pipes they were way ahead of where they were a lap or two ago yeah and depending uh we’ll have to see if he

Lost any laps there is that free pass so you’ll be able to get laps back if you are eligible for that free pass so I have to see how that happens but you know this is again exactly what we saw in the last chance race the bottom line

Got stacked up and I don’t know if it’s a matter of of the racetrack being green I got to think that’s what it is I just it’s odd to see that happen and happen exactly the same a green Racetrack and aggressive driver is just firing it off

Down there into turn one on lap one if I’m on in that back 10 right now there’s a limited amount to be gained in the next lap or two under green I’m going to give a couple of car links of space to the guy in front of me just in case and

Preston did but unfortunately that closing rate was so quick going into turn one when the field stacked up and the uh the closing rate was just a little bit too much uh we go back down to Pit Road with again Ryan mcalla down he was patient zero in that in

Right there everything happening around Co but somehow ESC without all right field is back to The Columns of two six laps complete 294 remaining as we look to get back under the green flag you’ll notice the caution LPS are counting till we get down towards the end of the race and the

Race will finish under green I think last year it ended up being a total of 3177 318 laps something like that but we have to have a green flag Vish so this race could go over the advertised 300 laps but as of now right now the laps

Are counting this time around we’ll get the green flag you can see the drivers try to clean off those tires scrub a little heat into them as much as they possibly can here uh considering we’ve only run about a quarter of a lap under green flag conditions so far Pace truck

Set to command it’ll be Derrik Thorne and Tai majeski once again inside and out at row number one Noah greggson and Bubba Pard in row two Luke Fen housee down low in that blue and white number 26 Michael hind alongside in the 69 car here they come off turn number four

Green flag is out and again Derek Thorne jumps away quickly and Tai maesi will slide it down into the low line in second yeah the first couple of starts here for Derek Thorne have definitely be shown that the inside is better I also think Tai mes is a patient driver he’s

Not worried about getting down on the bottom but look at Bubba Pard working the outside from outside of row number two he’s trying to yeah go he’s trying to show how good the outside Lane can be and you know we saw Preston peler in the last chance race actually start to make

Some moves in the second Groove and that’s may be a little bit rare for this early in the day or this early in a race but Bubba Pard looks strong in the second lane no GRE rides in the number four position in that black number 30 car right behind him the multicolored

Number 69 that’s the the Michael hind machine on by Luke Fen housee as they make their way down into turn numbers three and four you know typically what we see with Bubba Pard here at least in the blizzard races are the competitors falling off around him he maintains a

Lot longer it seems like and as they start slipping and sliding around he’s able to get by him as we go farther into the field you saw there Jeremy Dawson the 44 on the outside of Jacob Gomes back for the 15th position position side by side for a couple of drivers from the

West coast and the the West Coast has fared pretty well in at least making the Derby this year good representation from that side Jacob Gomes in the 16 trying to make his way underneath Dawson he’s feeling a little heat from Hunter Robbins in that red and black number 18

Machine Robins taking the low exit off turn number four try to dial himself up some real estate as they make their way through one and two and he’ll get it as they race to the back straight away well Hunter Robbins another one of those drivers that ran all the blizzard series

Races he finished second in blizzard Series points he looks good now over on the left side of the screen Sten Nessie moving up he’ll take a spot away from Luke Ben yeah stepen nassie has moved up into the sixth position from his eighth starting spot nassie on his way to the

Front early usually Meer deep in the field at this point of the race this has got to be like found money for St nassie to look out of the windshield of that car and only see five or six cars instead of 25 or 26 cars he has in

Recent years he’s got a quick hot rod right now just picking him off when he gets the opportunity without overstressing that race Ken we were watching the lower right of the screen he has his handful back there with a few cars battling for a spot deep in the

Pack qule almost involved in one of the earlier yellows Eric Jones Caden qule some of the drivers running around mid pack as we look back toward the front of the field there’s the Tron labovich car number 32 the the NASCAR peny Series champion from north of B in Canada

Making his first ever snowball Derby appearance time trial solidly into the top 10 he’s got a pretty good race car here nearly going as well and a little bit further back that’s William Byron in the car number 24 he rides in 11th spot that’s a team car to the one of Steven

Nancy just a little bit in front of him and you heard Adam mentioned Jackson Boone in that car number seven before we went green he rides back in the 12th spot Jackson Boon started outside of the top 10 in 11 so settling in here early his first Derby start things heating up

For this position it’s the number 12 of Derek Griffith running 14th Jeremy do sideways is he going to save it up the track locks it down contact with the outside retaining wall for the californi Jeremy Doss something cut that left rear tire down Dave it was FL maybe going

Into turn number one that’s what caused him to have a problem and if I remember last year he had a problem in turn two was kind of similar to this very similar situation no doubt about it that’s got to be frustrating for him because he had

A good car and was was challenging to pick up another position when all of a sudden the rear end of that car just broke loose left rear tire gave up the ghost he’s done some damage to the right front corner as he made contact with the

Concrete on the outside of the turn for the other competitors he was able to get up out of the way and didn’t collect any of the rest of the field but he was definitely Sideways from middle of one and two all the way to the backstretch whatever the issue was with that left

Tire or whatever caused it to go down is absolutely what uh created the situation for him that’s got him stopped over in turn two and if they can’t get this car going I mean he’s just sitting here losing laps you can see the Derek Griffith machine a little bit sideways

Coming off turn four didn’t look like any contact was made between them and you can see that left rear is already down on the rim gives up The Ghost and around he goes was a good piece of driving by Hunter Robbins to keep from getting into him and making that a two

Or three car incident and I don’t see any scuff marks or anything on the left rear of the car so I wonder if he ran something over you can see it’s down already way back halfway to the start Finish Line that left rear tire was already going flat

And from there on he’s just trying to hang on and save himself a race car Hunter Robbins did a great job not to gather him up and make that that a big mess in turn two well Jeremy da too I mean yeah it was an accident but it was

A heck of a piece of driving because that should have been a lot worse didn’t tear up the car too badly but enough damage the front of the car that will definitely cost him a chance to compete for victory today as he waits for the hook to take him back to Pit

Road with that flat left rear Jeremy Doss driver from California races many different cars over on the west coast we see them in modifi and Outlaw looking cars and then of course the super late models here at the snowball Derby well he was the blizzard Series champion this year and

Uh that’s a pretty big deal for him no doubt about it keep up on the latest content and updates here at five flag Speedway especially with the weather situation and snowflake moving to tomorrow connect with racing America on social media follow racing America on X that’s the new Twitter Facebook

Instagram and YouTube for more coverage of the snowball Derby and all of your favorite racing part of the conversation I think there were probably some folks in this neck of the woods that were actually a little bit happy about the weather yesterday because it allowed them to focus completely on

College football and there’s a little bit of interest in this part of the country when Alabama and Georgia Square off as they did yesterday well the Alabama fans are really happy and the Georgia fans like Bubba Pard are not very happy because they didn’t make the college football playoff see I just sit

On the sideline and watch that I’m pretty from New England college football is not a major thing where I come from mainly because we’ve never had a team within five states that was any good so yeah the whole the whole Alabama Georgia Auburn thing I sit back and watch with

Great interest but I don’t have any Rootin interest well that’s probably safe it was last night yeah yeah where I was sitting having dinner there were a lot of people that were just let’s just say a little worked up over that Alabama Georgia game we are rolling under

Yellow 24 laps completed Derek Thorne in the four is the race leader Bubba paard showing that he has a strong race car early pulled off an outside lane pass on Tai Mesi following a recent restart no Gregson kind of just settling in there to the fourth spot and how about Michael

Hind young driver from Hernando Florida running in the fifth position and I asked him I said you know you surprise me with qualifying and being in the top 10 on Friday did you surprise yourself and he said yeah yeah he thought we had a good car but was a little better than

We expected and he’s racing well so far today as well on the 69 running in the nine the number five position right now couple of drivers have uh picked up a spot or two no major movers here in the early going uh one car that has lost a

Little bit of ground is the Conor oesc machine the 14 car started in the top 10 started in the number nine position he’s lost a handful of spots here in early going a couple of positions kind of watching William Byron as well he’s picked up a couple spots from 13th up to

The 11th position you know the thing that strikes me about the starting order this year is I think it was as top heavy as we’ve ever seen it with you know the first time three former winners have ever started in the top three spots and you

Know you just look at that top 10 and so many drivers have won championships and won big races it’s almost like well it’s not almost like it is it’s an Allstar field everybody in the starting lineup today has got a resume as long as your arm and

I’ll tell you what we sent some people home at the end of The Last Chance qualifier that have got some pretty good resumes themselves really good really good resumes and uh somebody at the end of the day today is going to be able to add a snowball Derby Victory to their

Resume and it’s one of these drivers f is taken formation there’s no choose rule here at the snowball Derby this week so positions two on back just have to fall into line as they would on an opening start we’re getting ready for a restart Field’s going to be coming back to the

Green we’ve yet to see a long green flag run today and see who’s going to be strong on some Long Lap runs lights are down on the Pace truck it will head for safety on Pit Road this time around it’ll be Derek Thorne down low in the

Seven Bubba par top side in the 26 let’s see if Bubba’s got anything for Derek thorn green flag is out he does not Derek Thorne quickly away with the lead as they hit turn one he started off better than Tom maesi has so far but that outside has just not been the way

To go now it opens up the inside for maesi going for second here out of turn four Hollard looking strong through turn four going to hold him off for a moment a little bit of a wiggle over in the fourth corn going to allow meski to take

The second spot look at Michael hind a little bit of contact with Bubba Pard for third trying to move him back up the bank Bubba Pard holding his ground in that second Groove at least for the moment Here Comes Michael Hind to the bottom Pard though with good pull off

The exit of turn four he’ll hang on to the two spot and I can promise you at least right now Bubba Pard is not going to force the issue only 30 laps into this race the battle right now back for eighth as Johnny soer tries to hold off

Actually that’s back for ninth as Willam Baron tries to get around him and up closer to the front here stepen nasty looking for a spot on Michael H yeah now see strong early racing with hind for the fourth position he start at eth he’s going for fourth his car rotating the

Bottom of the turns well keeping it right down along that yellow line and hind giving him a little too much room in turn four going to give up the four spot Noah Gregson right there in the ballpark as well in at black car number 30 Steven nassie slides through he’ll

Take the fourth spot hind has got some real estate he’ll slide back into that low line to hang on to fifth this Anthony campy team that St Nancy is racing with has been very strong here this year they won the ASA Stars opener here back in March with Casey rodri

Behind the wheel they had a race that William Byron won but was disqualified as we’ve got a problem and it’s Jackson Boone Jackson Boone started just outside of the top 10 said he was nervous before the start of the race and now those nerves turn to frustration damaged

Number seven car up in turns one and two with 34 laps down down pretty significant damage it would appear on the left front corner of that automobile piece of debris laying right next to the left rear window Nets are up safety Crews attending to the machine of Jackson

Boon Jackson Boon racing this week in both the Pro late model and super scheduled a run tomorrow afternoon in the Allen Turner snowflake 100 but his day may be coming to an early end on a Sunday for the Derby based on the amount of Speedy drive that’s going down front

Of his race car I think we’re going to talk again about busted radiators putting people out of this race and there’s just not a lot of give up front if uh if you’re going to do significant damage to the nose of these automobiles there’s not much crunch area left before

You get back to the radiator wh you mentioned not a lot of give uh there’s not been a lot of give and take today we saw that in the last chance race I don’t know if this is the the same issue we’ll see let’s see if we could see Jackson

Boom down at the bottom from the screen and Yep looks like Eric Jones got to the left rear and this is going to be a hard hard lick there going into that concrete wall well that’s a disappointing end of the day for Jackson Boone who had such

High hopes here this weekend of five flag Speedway Race For Real Estate bottom of the track Jones had stuck his nose inside and Jackson boom was racing back toward the bottom and just nowhere to go and the contact did it rocketing that thing shot into the wall and you

Can look add it a couple of ways if you’re a Jackson boom fan you say hey why didn’t uh you know the four give a little bit and if you’re Eric Jones he says I held my line and came down on that was a hard lick head on into

That outside Concrete in turns one and two and the assist the officials are to the assistants of Jackson Boone there may have gotten a little bit shaken up after a hard trip into the concrete let’s take this opportunity to take a break we’ll check the action down on Pit

Road when we come back hey there I’m Richard childr and you’re watching racing America five star bodies the most advanced bodies on the market aerodynamically engineered manufactured from the highest grade and lightest weight materials tested tough for Optimal Performance the highest quality and most durable products you’ll find

Anywhere products help Racers around the world reach Victory Lane winning never looked so good faster lighter stronger better five star Hooters and racing go together like killer wings and ice cold beer racing has been at the core of Hooters DNA from the beginning whether it’s backing the

Best drivers or serving up the best food on race day race fans know Hooters is the real deal big screens great food good times Hooters the official home of race fans it won’t ever happen to me that’s what we all think but it does one minute

You see them you look away then they’re gone it can happen that quick 2300 children get lost or go missing every single day to good parents go to saocom give yourself the peace of mind that if your child is ever lost or missing you can alert the entire crowd

With the push of a button take control don’t let it happen to you this is racing America the bigest Stars I enjoyed it I felt good out there I would love to come here and race in the inside info this is the the T Bar setup this

Clips into the bottom of the cam lock the only fast Channel powered by the Nascar Cup team owners who know about how am I even going to drive for three and a half hours without having a radio in the car the NASCAR team content anywhere climb on board the Circle Track Warehouse in

Moresville North Carolina specializes in new and used race Parts and Equipment from the top teams in NASCAR we carry top brands from MPI bass Hellraiser Butler and so much more hey everybody Josh Williams here NASCAR xinity series Drive the 11 car for colge racing always shopping here at

Circle Track warehouse this is where we park it when we come to get our parts hey I’m William Byron and you’re watching racing America back at five flag Speedway Pensacola Florida where the 2023 running of the snowball Derby is off to a bit of a halting start the caution flags have

Dominated here in the early going welcome back everybody I’m Dave Moody alongside Allan Deets and Adam Mackey Ryan McCulla and Eric hunfeld covering the action down on Pit Road and quite honestly that’s been where the action has been so far in this one it has there’s been uh quite a few accidents

Here to get started last year’s race only took two hours and 33 minutes this one off to a little bit of a sluggy start our pit reporter Ryan McCulla has some info on one of pit stops we saw right before break Ryan yeah guys flurry

Of acity on turnit road Pon came in as well as Michael house and Cole Raz but my attention was focused right here in this pit here with the 62 of Ryan priest crew went to work heavily on the right front a lot of cosmetic damage had the

Front right balance kicked in under the car they ped it back out put some tape in made a few adjustments to the bracing on the inside of the car but I think he’s going to be okay and also going back to our prev call Jeremy dos thought

He may had a tire situation he said he was driving down the straight away just fine went in the corner he had absolutely no grip upon further inspection he found the left rear tire no B stem in the car after they got it off the hook well you would think if that didn’t

Have any uh if the valve St was off there had to be contact somewhere we didn’t see it but in order for that to happen and uh you know one thing we haven’t seen the last couple of years and we talked a little bit about it

After the last chance race is and first off for you Jackson Boon fans he is out of the car and it took him a while to get out but uh We’ve not seen drivers differ much on pit strategy and not seen the comers and goers I do think today

That could be a possibility because you got guys that have come in that have made some adjustments that may allow them to stay out when the leaders p it’s tough to uh not take tires when everyone takes tires here because the drop off in the past has been quite a

Bit this tire compound may be a little bit different maybe will last a little bit longer but this abrasive surface at five flag Speedway at least in uh recent history and really history for years uh has shown that taking tire is so important on the pit stops that everyone

Else does as we continue to roll under yellow the cleanup continues down in turn number two uh it has been a sluggish Dave I mean this is kind of uh unlike what we’re used to seeing here at the Derby yeah not only have we had a uh

An early outbreak of yellow fever but it’s mostly come from the back of the pack as well from drivers uh and battles outside the top 15 to 18 positions a seven car up on the uh up on the record now ready to be Tak it back to the

Garage area you ever wanted to know like a what a front clip looks like just before it gets cut off and thrown in the dumpster unfortunately that’s the look of that one yeah that was a real hard hit and it happened so quickly Eric Jones had just looked to the inside and

It happened so fast that I’m not even sure that Jackson boom spotter would have had a chance to say hey car low it happened that quick and he wasn’t in very far and and and Eric Jones defense like you said before the break I held my

Line I went in I was underneath him it just happened so quickly it wasn’t intentional racing deal and it turned out in a bad way for Jackson Boon it was for the 10th position they’re h been a beneficiary to these cautions though and that’s Gio riro I know he’s picked up at

Least one free pass he might have picked up two free passes and I got a couple of those laps back that he lost early on when his car wouldn’t start one man’s meat is another man’s poison as they say and and Gio will take those stoppages for sure boy that’s just

A torn up race car right there that’s uh that’s unfortunate to see because he had a pretty decent run going you know sometimes your reputation will help people decide whether that was good hard racing or dirty dealing Eric Jones is about as far from a Rough Rider as

You’ll ever find he’s about as he’s about as clean as they come I would say that as you said a moment ago guys that was just a question of he had his nose in the door and the other guy didn’t know it and contact was made but you can

Accelerate your career in Motorsports with racer jobs the go-to website for all of the latest job openings and career opportunities in the racing world the jobs from the top teams in NASCAR and many others get your job search in gear with racer jobs.com sure to follow racer jobs on Facebook X and Linkedin

For the latest job alerts well we’ll let you know more about Jackson Boon when we hear from him again he did get out of the car on his own and what happened uh just now for the first time in the history of the snowball Derby a driver

Has led 1,000 laps this will be 1,1 when Derek Thorne comes across the line this time pretty unbelievable and he’s really led to bulk of those laps in the last three years an amazing track record for Derek Thorne in this event and he’s one of the Premier super late model pilots in all

The land no matter where they’re racing but here at five flag Speedway he and that race team in the last few years just have really been something special you can see a little bit of cleanup going on up there in turns one and two that’s about a five bagger oh trying to

Get this one cleaned up you know and you could say this about a lot of drivers in this field but Derek Thorne is a guy that absolutely could have been a cut racer he came out of Bakers field like Kevin Harvick very very smart guy very analytical thinker and you know when I

Talked to him on Thursday he said I could have moved East but I had a good business and I wanted to spend time with my family and my children and you know sometimes there are sacrifices that go along with with moving up into the cup series some sometimes that sacrifice is

Your family sometimes you sacrific a career to stay with your family ideally you’d like to think you can have both it’s it’s very it’s very very difficult to to live the lifestyle that you have to live to travel with that particular circus you know you you

Miss a lot of birthdays you miss a lot of baseball and football and softball soccer games you miss has a lot of concerts and uh and school plays family reunions people just after a while they just stop asking if you’re going to be there because they know you’re not

Anniversaries back in 2019 in my case oops Yeah well we’re going to take a break now here from 5 flag Speedway as cleanup wraps up and we’ll be back with the restart after this I’m Joe Gibbs and you’re watching racing man festar bodies the most advanced bodies on the market aerodynamically engineered

Manufactured from the highest grade andest we materials tested t for Optimum performance the highest quality and most durable products you anywhere Lane fter lighter strongar Hooters and racing go together like killer wings and ice cold beer racing has been at the core of Hooter’s DNA from the beginning whether it’s backing

The best drivers or serving up the best food on race day race fans know Hooters is the real deal big screens great food good time Hooters the official home of race fans it won’t ever happen to me that’s what we all think but it does one minute you

See them you look away then they’re gone it can happen that quick 2300 children get lost or go missing every single day to good parents go to safat give yourself the peace of mind that if your child is at the lost or missing you can alert the entire crowd

With the push of a button take control don’t let it to you field crosses over to The Columns of two one more lap around at least behind the pace vehicle before we get back to green flag racing racing America’s live coverage of the 56 snowball Derby it’ll be Derek

Thorne on the inside and once again it’ll be uh a reset of the original first row with Tai meski on on the outside Bubba Pard and now Steven nassie has come to play in the top four couple old buddies up there on road oh they love each other

Yeah one of those races that caused some of that drama took place here on a Saturday night during a snowflake yes it is probably way too early to be thinking about anything like that unless you’re us no I’m pretty sure they’re going to race each other pretty clean here

Because I think they both know they have race cars that can get there to the end they don’t want to take any chances to to tear those cars up and uh be there today for a victory Derek M Thorne Ty Mesi Bubba Pard St Nancy Michael hind

The top five Noah Gregson six luk fin house in seventh Tron Lovich in eighth and then it is William Byron and Conor o Chris rounding out the top 10 Pace vehicle set to duck on to Pit Road and we’ll get the green flag back out again

We’ll see if we can find some Rhythm here and get a few laps in without another stoppage here they come off turn number four green flag in the air and this time Maes is right with him as they hit turns one and two Thorn on the inside maesi on the outside Tai’s got

Room to duck in on the bottom if he wants to but not yet at least as they hit turn three had the opening he was able to get to the bottom Pard will follow nass is going to drop down into fourth and now will majeski set up a

Challenge for the race lead it’s hard to believe but we have not seen that in a long time that somebody actually passed Derk Thorne on the racetrack so far he’s a would a hold off time maesi we go a little bit further back here the 26 of

Luke vhouse riding in seventh there he’s got some pressure from Tron labovich in the 32 William Byron in the 24 and a couple of carlings back to the orange number five of Johnny solder he’s got some company now from Matthew Craig in the 54 so that 16 machine of Jacob goes had

A great finish here last year right now back in 13th oh he had Cole butcher all over him Derek Griffith knocks butcher out of the way I think it was Casey rodri in the or the hunter Robbins in the 18 that got into the back of the 28

Car of Cole butcher sent him up the banking but this is crazy back in the field they’re two by two all the way from mid pack to the back of the field butcher made a race save right there or a race car save right there because he

Was headed for the fence at one juncture got it back under control pulls it back down the into line but you’re right they are racing awfully heavy back there around the 15th to 25th Place spots I had a little flashback from a few years ago when Casey Roder used to drive the

18 car that’s been a while oh yes it is there you see John bowlan how about that out of the last chance race John Bolan has worked his two-car up into the top 20 right now looking down the inside of the 08 of Jon hon actually just

Outside the top 20 right now in 22nd but he’s working his way up yeah John Bolan having a good run right now in the two Hansen dropping into line William sawalich also started deep in the field qualified 26th and he’s trying to work forward as well what a season it was for

Seall and his Donnie Wilson Motorsports teammates but swall has only picked up three spots so far there’s the front of the pack Derek Thorne by less than a Carling I maesi rides second bu aald in the third spot then a good Gap back to Steven nassie which surprises me a

Little bit alen I thought nassy was going to be all over that top three here what a top three right there arguably the three best super late model drivers in the country over the last decade or decade and a half California’s Derek Thorne Wisconsin’s Tom magesy and

George’s bu aollo so what we see right here is those three look to be pretty strong nassie was up there in fourth but he’s kind of giving up some ground now is he saving anything right now he usually doesn’t but I think here yeah I think he’s very happy where he is right

Now I don’t think he’s going to burn it up for no reason but I also have never known Steven nassie to give you 90% when there was 95 available Bubba po just shoots underneath Tai maesi I wonder if that’s a case of maesi knowing that the

Guy behind him’s got a better race car just saying all right you go on see if you can cause beler some problems he might learn a little something right here where he needs a little more car where he needs a little more speed as he follows the 26 of Pard which looks

Extremely strong in the early going the bald fans have to be thrilled to see veteran back up front competing for a snowball Derby Victory well this could be a great chess match on Wheels today as we see these drivers right now start to close in on the tail of the field

They’ve still got a little bit before they catch them as we go a little bit further back there’s the 62 Ryan priest working his way back up after that pit stop during the last caution period course that race car owned by Kevin Harvick running uh the the family number

62 if you will 62 number run for many many years for by Kevin Harvick’s father-in-law the late John lindol very familiar number for fans of a certain age going back to the old NASCAR Bush series days right now he’s got his hands full he’s going to give up a spot Gio

Riro making the move as he gets around the 62 of Ryan PRI riro is on the lead lap as are most of the competitors on track we haven’t had many long green flag runs this in fact looking like it will be our longest so far there’s res

Who was in the first caution period of the afternoon which came out in turn two on the first lap he’s trying to work his way back up jet Nolan in that 50 car all these cars right now towards the back of the field and they’ve got to remain

Cognizant to stay on the lead lap they’ve still got about a straightway advantage over the leader Derek Thorne Co R is showing five laps down because of that accident earlier but the car seems to be back up to speed leaders making their way down the front into

Turn one as Allan mentioned about a about a half a straightway or so behind those back markers that are fighting to stay on the tail end of the lead lap there’s the leader right now Eric Thorne in the number seven and indeed he has begun to feel a little bit of heat

On the back bumper from Bubba as Alan well knows we haven’t seen over the last three to five years anyone even get up to challenge the seven of D Thor all of a sudden Bubba looks just as quick if not a little bit quicker right now and

Again I go back to what I said at the beginning of the race I think that that you know starting about five or six years ago the questions were coming from buba Pard and I think it was getting in his head a little bit I think you know

They were changing chassis makers coming into the race and uh you know just getting the car way out of whack from what it was during the regular season and again I believe this lack of caution periods could be why or excuse me these lack of practices this week could be playing into Bubba’s

Hands well it doesn’t seem to have bothered him any that’s for sure and now the lap cars will Begin to Fall one by one off the lead circuit to the inside jet Nolan will go a lap down in the 50 car as Eric Thorne continues to set a

Pace loosened her up a little bit that time off turn two J Nolan showing in the 31st now a lap down to the leaders the winner last week did you see that Adam look like Derek Thorne got really sideways there in turn four trying to turn down underneath ayen plybon like it

To rotate well on the inside that almost rotated a little too well as he turned to the bottom and plybon moving over for the lead laap cars plybon running in that 55 and 30th well this is the hardest we’ve seen anybody raise Derek Thorn this far into

A run in the last oh I don’t know two years or so it’s the first time that we’ve seen Derek Thorne look like he had anything but an absolutely perfect race car as well a little further back in the pack right hand side of your screen Johnny solders just lost a handful of

Positions he has falling back now into the clutches of Derek Griffith in the 12g that very distinctive color scheme on the Derek Griffith car black car red nose red tail I asked him about that a while ago and he said you know when I first got started I had a deal from one

Of the body manufacturers and what they had was a black body a red nose and a red tail based on the fact that they were free he put them on yeah and that’s a look now that he has become identified with up in the northeast corner of the United States and quite

Honestly he thinks it’s lucky for him although right now it’s going to cost him a spot as he gets shuffled up to that outside Lane so he’s for a while this year he went to the all black Livery but he’s back to the red nose and tail looking to get his luck

Back sometimes you got to change it up a little bit Eric Jones was just able to get around Johnny solder for position that’ll move him up a spot now Hunter Robbins in that 18 trying to get up there I say that you see Derek Griffith he got a little contact and what we’re

Seeing now is this longer green flag run and what cars may not handle well on these runs it’s a five of solder is one of those the 12 of Griffith looks like it’s another they need some work on Pit Road hutter Robinson the 18 a veteran

Driver won a lot of races doesn’t need my advice but I’m going to give him some don’t move Johnny solder over that there is not a good a good win percentage based on moving Johnny solder out of the way and his hood is about to come up we

Saw the 18 and that might have been from that contact we saw a little earlier we don’t see it fluttering right now but it wants to come up on the left side the left front of the 18 car Hunter Robins well we’re about as far in right now is

Is you know about 50 green flag laps in although we’re 76 laps in overall and don’t forget just like in the last chance race Derek krauss’s car when it dropped off it dropped like a rock and that might be what we’re seeing right now with some of these cars the leaders

On the left side pared all over Derek Kow or Derek Thor down to the inside comes Bubba took advantage of that loose condition and he is going to drive by Derek Thorne making note of it on this date at this time at five flag Speedway Derek Thorne has been passed for the

Lead that has to feel really weird for Derek Thorne to get passed by another competitor and look at Bubba stretch the lead over the seven car and you’re right he was free and I think got a little help too in the same case as Bubba Pard

Was all over that rear bumper yeah but Derek Thorne was really loose and you know parul’s trying to to time that you know I mentioned it earlier you see par getting sideways a lot of times here at Five Flags you’ll see Bubba Pard run second third fourth or fifth and then everybody

Just kind of comes back to him and he’s able to turn that car off the bottom of the corner on exit while they slip up and that’s exactly what he did they time look who snuck back into the picture he was riding there in the fourth spot and

All of a sudden Stephen nassie has closed on first second and third he’s closed within a car length of Tai maesi I don’t think this is a case of Steven massie’s car Steven nass’s car getting better I think his car is getting worse more slowly than the people in front of

Him they are backing up as the tire takes effect Steven nassie just keeps plugging along and he’s closing in very quickly now on time Mesi when they make these pit stops besides fresh tires you’re going to see a lot of air pressure adjustments a lot of chassis adjustments these may see some spring

Rubbers going in and out on some of these cars you’re going to see some wholesale changes and I think it could be throughout the field they haven’t been on track but for two laps on Friday since Thursday for any type of long run so now they’re learning these early laps

Is nass makes the on Maes and nassie is up to third second time today it’s looked like Tai meski has just moved over and said go on ahead I don’t have the kind of race car I want right now I can’t drive up there and battle for the

Lead you go on and see what you can do and remember on Thursday typically we don’t see it we don’t see teams make long green flag runs they’re making qualifying runs we did see some teams make some long green runs past Thursday but not many think St nassie may have

The second best car on the racra right now he’s about to show it to dere Thorne in the seven he’s cling that Gap quickly and Thorne it seems very odd to see him in anything less than a perfect race car here at Five Flags but it is less than

Perfect right now you can see the rear end of that car kind of freelancing at the exit of the corners stepping out on him a little bit preventing him from getting back to the throttle as quickly as he wants to and as as a result he’s falling back into the clutches of Steven

Nassie and others behind him that was a late turn down by the 63 of Cole R to the inside of Ryan Moore and I’m glad that Ryan Moore was able to to see that not come down on him it was right in front of the leaders and the leaders

Have got all sorts of lap traffic in front of them right now as they go into turn one another thing I noticed I said what if we’ get some sunshine today we thought that it was going to be cloudy for most of the race there’s quite a bit

Of sunshine beating down on this it’s not extremely hot we haven’t seen it in a few days uh but it has changed a little bit as Bubba tries to put the 63 of R down another lap and then it’ll work up on some other cars which will be

On the lead lap you know another thing I think that could benefit Bubba Po and Steve nassie is the warmer temperatures it was very cold here Wednesday and Thursday relatively speaking for Florida and you know both of those drivers are used to racing here from March through

SE setember so they really see all facets of of what the weather can do to this RAC track Bubba po continuing to make some hay now bypassing some of these lap machines to put them a lap down Derek Thorne again a little bit sideways on exit of turn number four and

He’s got company at the back door now Steven nassie in the 51 right there on the back bumper of thorn who again gets a little wiggle in it coming off turn two yeah that that saving car is really is is what I like to call it right now

Whenever he Powers up and and you know tries to make a move down to the inside of somebody it really gets sideways he’s fighting that car right now a lot of these drivers are fighting these cars these are the best cars in their po them Ken qule going down a lap making his

First start in the derby and now Thorne continues to skate off of turn four and it’s probably one of the illst handling race cars he’s had for a while here and at the same time is still running in second at the Derby so I’d say if they

Can make a slight adjustment he’s going to be pretty good it’s nice to be the worst you’ve been in three years and be able to run second right not many had that luxury here’s Bubba Pard now continuing to set a blistering Pace at the front of the pack he bited his time

Early ran him the top five but boy he’s got the best race car on the track by a long shot right now seven snowball Derby that bubble Pard has led he led handful of laps last year whenever Derek Thorne pitted and there you see Derek Thorne in

That seven car you know when I spoke to him on Thursday he said you you never know when it’s going to end every year you think hey this could probably be the year that that that we’re not going to have the car that we want we have no

Clue if it’s this year or not we don’t have any clue right now if it is or not see Michael hind in the 69 having a good run today up in the top five running in the fifth spot is Michael hind battling through some traffic there

Got the 74 Ryan Moore who is going down to the leader so is the 28 of Timothy Watson the champion in The Outlaw division there’s Michael how in the one car if you remember pre-race there was some question about problems under the hood of that machine before they ever

Fired the engines but Michael house making the most of it right now as he makes the pass down the back straightway into turn three here’s that battle for sick as Ste in the 51 had a peak down on the inside of Derek Thorne Thorne trying to work

Around Cole resz in that car number 63 and I’m think just as soon as nassy can safely mount a challenge here on Thorne he’s going to do it give Raz some credit here he’s giving Derek Thorne some daylight on the bottom of the racetrack giving up that bottom Groove to let the

Lead laap cars make their way through opportunity here for Steven nassy to try and but the bite on Derek Thorn as they hit turn three has a pretty fast race be able to hang on to the outside Lane as long as he has with Thorn and nassie running low

But has found themed a few laps down because of the early accident time jesi kind of just finding his time now as well and there goes nassie maybe the time is now to make the move yep I thought uh that it would come after he got around Co it does probably going to

Open up the inside Lane here for Tai maesi just to note as they battle bubble power the leader L 100 he gets $1,000 from the folks at wheelie so a wholesale change of position in the top five Derek Thorne goes from a second spot back to Fourth

Steven nassie pass him in the 51 91 of Tai maesi takes over the third spot Derek Thorne just trying to hang on to that race car he would love to see a caution right now to get on Pit Road you know it took a while to get this thing

Going and get up to speed but this green flag run is going by in a hurry we’re past the one third Mark of this race already and here comes the 26 Luke fin housee new colors number this week makes the Move On Noah gron and you can move

Luke fin house up into the six spot he’s been just following in the tire tracks of Matt Craig in the 54 Matt has very quietly made his way forward for what 14th or 15th at the start of this race or yeah 14th at the start of this race

Very quietly but very methodically just picking his way toward that top five just such an impressive group of driver you know Matt Craig dominated Carolina’s in the 20s in pass and in cars Luke benh housee former Slinger Nationals winner uh just so Ben second AR East points Noah Gregson perennial

You know Championship Contender when he raced in the xinity series Noah driver I think looking for the yellow for a pit stop he’s not way off the pace but they’re just enough off the pace where he’s dropped from third back to just inside of the top 10 you see

Bubba so strong in the early laps todaying at lap 107 he’s got a huge lead too I mean that’s about uh visually a full straightaway over second place St nasty to make short work of the John Bolan machine Bolan who made his way in out of the last chance qualifier looked like he

Might be able to move forward and have a good run this afternoon he has just lost a lap now to the leader dropped off the pace quite quickly here over the last few laps look at this mess of cars right now trying to make their way around the track Tron

Lovich in the 32 Jace Hansen in the 08 that’s 12th 13th 14th is Jacob Gomes they’re working past the 62 of Ryan PRI who has found himself off the lead lap PRI a lap down right now but still has a halfway decent race car lap covich makes

His way by now that the rest of that pack will all line up to the left elbow a right priest as they make their way off turn four he threw an elbow right there J Hansen he would yep he got into the back of La there just a little bit out of turn

Four and Hanson’s looking down the inside of labovich this time into turn three laich not wanting to give up that inside Lane because they’re stacked up behind Hansen they’re going to make the move lapic about to give up three four maybe five spots on the RAC trck yeah

Now he’s in trouble he’s going to get the bums rushing that outside line no what he going to cut him any room here comes Hunter Robbins down to the inside Jake Finch in the 51 down to the inside lapic is going to have to take his

Beating here and just wait for a little daylight on the inside yeah from 12th back to about 16th is probably where he’s going to end up and if they keep lining up behind him could be even worse Tron lavich the Canadian driver youngster teenage star from Canada

Making his first derv start having a good weekend so far but might need a little help in the pits now yeah I think I think the list of drivers that would be very happy for a pit opportunity right now the whole list it might number everybody but Bubba par Bubba’s okay

He’s pretty happy with things the way they’re going and I think he’s all alone on that list how about Gio Rogero in this 22 car remember couldn’t get it started at the command of start engines lost a couple of laps fought his way back onto the lead lap he’s up to 16th

And right now trying to take 15th away from Jake VCH caught himself a couple of Lucky breaks when we had early caution flags as Johnny now goes a lap down did not expect that out of Johnny solder and the Richie wat team I thought they were going to be contenders Conor right in

Front of them now in the 14 car in danger of going a lap down two drivers right there that started inside our top 10 and now they’re going a lap down at lap 115 some of that is not being able to have long runs maybe during practice losing the Friday practice losing a

Saturday practice not a chance to go out and test your stuff under race runs and even though Cole re this 63 lost a lap lost several laps uh think about it it seems like it was a long time ago when Derek Thorne passed him in the seven car

Whenever the leaders were going around he’s not losing ground to Derek Thorne I think that’s showing that Thorne’s car struggling as Michael hind makes a move here Michael hind down to the bottom of the racetrack that’s a pass in the top five hind will move under Derek Thorn

And you’re right he’ll take the lap machine of Cole Raz with him and now here comes Matthew Craig he’ll up the back bumper now the Derk Thorne machine as they race off turn two really impressed with the 69 of Michael hind not only did it in qualifying on Friday

But now inside of the top five up to Fourth passing Derek Thorne Matt Craig now trying to get five a seven Matt Craig you mentioned his run a little while ago he is uh putting together a pretty solid effort from a little further back in the field where he

Started 14 Yep this the battle for fifth right now D Thor has B Matt Craig in the 54 trying to mount a challenge and if it stays as it looks right now I think it’s just a matter of time Matt Craig drove it in a little bit

High going into turn number one tried to turn it early and come off on the bottom didn’t quite get it done that time but I don’t think there’s any question he’s got the quicker car of those two between himself and Derek Thorne just 30 laps from the halfway

Mark some bonus money on the line today an extra $1,500 for the leader at lap 100 150 and 200 top of that $35,000 to win top prize biggest win amount for a snowball Derby and 2500 to start as we talked about earlier right now Bubba Pard looking for his first derby win and

He said it’s been one of the best cars he’s had in a while this might be one of the best he’s had period it’s strong early on well the year that he goes back to is and thinks he let one get away from him was 2017 and if you remember in

That race Adam he and Jeff shet had worked out to a big lead over Kyle Bush and they started racing each other hard as it looks like the cautions out here on the racetrack now caution flag flies with 177 laps to go don’t see any cars going in the wrong

Direction so I’m guessing it’s a debris caution it’s going to be one of those competition because we ran so many laps of green we all of a sudden after very short runs early on got to the point of needing a competition yellow and there’s a lot of competition out on that

Racetrack that’s very welcoming to that yellow flag it’s been a race of extremes so far there’s no question about that first 15 laps we had what three caution Flags in very close proximity most of the problems coming from the tail end of the field after that we’ve run a long

Long time without a stop stoage and that really has highlighted a lot of handling issues on I would say more than half of this field right now very happy to see this caution after 75 green flag laps we get a competition yellow that will be the case throughout the course of the race

Today yeah I’m trying to see who’s going to get the free pass it might be Johnny solder we’ll let you know that for sure as the lead lab cars pulling up here up on the outside behind bu a and they’re going to get this field align before they bring them into the

Pits and let them get these new tires and make some major adjustments I would say and as is sometimes the case some of the Front Runners catching the eye are of race control right now because they’ve taken the liberty of pulling up right behind the leader above and

Bypassing some of the lap cars that Bubba had put between himself and them that of course is a no no and they are being informed of that and very brusk terms at the moment all right the leader starts down Pit Road now Bubba and the

Rest of the field let’s go to our race choice.com pet reporter Ryan McCulla with more Bubba po has been the dominant car of this last little bit of run but it is not all sunshine and Rainbows in this pit box Pard on that last run reporting an electrical issue with a very

Significant Miss in the engine he was going to led by Mike Butner going or Mark Butner going to go ahead and hit this car up on jack stand and see if they can diagnose this electrical issue that Pard says he has more cars coming in on this in Pit Road including Conor

O’ cresic and also the Conor Jones machine and we’ll go visit down at the Chris py Le Crew of Derek Thorne here in just a moment but we’ll stay right here with Bubba po as the crew gets it up and gets it ready to go as they get ready to

Try to diagnose some sort of electrical issue on the Bubba machine and down to the other endend of Pit Road down towards turns one and two the rest of our leaders is Eric held yeah here we are Ryan and focusing on time of jesue just talked to his crew chief Toby

Noodleman they said the 91 is a little bit free so they’re working to fix that a little bit and of course he is a kind of guy that loves these distance races and can settle in a lot of time to work on that they got the car of Steven

Nassie up next to the 91 working on that car we get updates and see if they can make that better guys I’ve been watching Michael hin crew down here 69 car every time he’s made a move they’re high fiving they’re foot loose and fancy free I’m liking watching that 69 car right

Now nothing like having a good day at the snowball Derby to get the boys on Pit Road excited I will say this guys if uh if Bubba’s engine is missing right now the rest of the field better hope they don’t get it fixed well maybe it’s missing just perfectly because

Apparently it’s missing very well very well indeed I think it’s missing going into the corners but it’s just fine coming off there number four car of Eric Jones he had worked his way up into 11th before this competition yellow came out now I think is when the race really

Begins because you got 125 laps in here you know these teams have got a set amount of time that they can be in the pits and then after that you do give up track position so right now as long as they get their work done and get them

Back out they’ll line up exactly the way they were prior to that caution unless they can’t uh beat that time limit I think we’re going to find out very quickly a who can communicate what their car is doing best to their crew and B what pit crew can do the most about it

And get their these cars back where they need to be because a lot of drivers were wrestling race cars there were a lot of guys turning right to go left in the last 25 or 30 laps I think if you’re one of the 17 that remained on the lead lap

During that 75 lap run you put yourself in a great position if you’re one of the the drivers from 18 on back you’ve got some work to do you hope to be in position for a lucky dog and some guys that went laps down right before the

Yellow included guys that started in our top 10 like Johnny solder we saw he go a lap down uh we saw Conor o’ kesic go a lap down they definitely needed to get to the pits the yellow might have come out just in time for Johnny solder we’ll

See if he’s got the there let’s take a look at the lineup as they get set to come off Pit Road and get set for the restart Bubba Pard shows the way Steven nassie second time AES third Michael hind having a solid run in fourth Derek Thorne the early leader has dropped back

To the number five spot sixth is Matt Craig Luke FH housee is seventh eighth to Noah Gregson Cole butcher is ninth and 10th is William Byron Eric Jones just one spot out of the top 10 running 11th Jace Hansen running 12th it’s Jacob Gomes Hunter Robbins Jake Finch rounding

Out the top 15 J riro he’s rallying through the field I think he’s got a really good race car the 22 run 16 lap Travis Bren 18th and Johnny solder and John Bolan completing the top 20 21st right now is Derek Griffith William soall 22nd 23rd to Conor oesk Conor

Jones is 24th Michael house 25th 26 to Kaden quaffle Timothy Watson 27th 28th Billy Van Meter Ryan priest 29th and Hayden plybon is 30th drivers with issues and down multiple laps include Ryan Moore running 31 uh three laps off the Pace Cole Raz six laps off the pace

In 32nd jet Nolan 33rd Jackson Boon out of the race with that hard crash Jeremy Doss out as well as Preston peler not sure what the issue was but Jacob goes and 16 still in the pits and I just overheard the scorers say he lost a lap

There under caution it goes right back to what I was say you had a few laps there a couple of laps behind the pace car that did not count long as you got back out within that set number of laps you maintain your position and not only

Did Jacob go lose his position he staying there so long he lost the LA that’s a tough break for that young campaigner he he had a pretty decent race so far had kept himself in within shouting distance uh of the leaders not certainly not challenging for the lead by any stretch of the

Imagination here’s where it gets interesting everybody’s had a chance to play with some tire pressures put a wrench in the rear view mirror or in the rear window I should say and make some handling adjustments on these machines it’ll be interesting to see who’s done the job best and it does look like

Johnny solder is going to get the free pass he’s the first car back behind the uh pace car so he should get the free pass we’re happy to provide you this sneak peek into some of the events here at five flag Speedway during snowball Derby weekend this weekend’s Main Events

Available on a pay-per-view basis at racing america.tv we appreciate you joining us here today today and of course uh hope you spread the word and let your friends and family know that you can watch it right here on racing America Bubba Pard stepen nassie and Tai

Mesi will be the top three can’t say enough for Michael hind having a very methodical somewhat if you can run quietly in the top five I think that’s probably what he’s done he’s just been very very solid so far and running ahead of dererk Thorne who runs out the top

Five Michael Hines never really picked up a huge super late model win he picked up a big Pro late model win at speedfest at watermelon Capital Speedway a couple years ago turn some heads there but he has been impressive all day long let’s go downstairs to Eric yeah guys uh just

In the Anthony campy pit areas with Stephen nass’s crew he’s looking real good he might contend for the win very very minor changes on that 51 let’s see what he does in this second third of the race let’s go down Pit Road to Ryan McCulla D the was our early race leader

But we saw him fall back and fall back and fall back on that previous run talked to crew Chris C said it was nothing more than a c too free for ding made an adjust tighten back up he says we’ll see what happens next you know I

Think that’s one of the benefits that Derek Thorne has uh you know they have been so good here over the last few years and gotten so many laps in practice even though we didn’t get a lot this year you would think that they know exactly what they need to do to get that

Car where Derek Thorne wants it to get back up and contend for a win he’s running terrible right now he’s in F yeah and if anybody if anybody is celebrating because Derek Thorne is out to lunch today and is not going to win the snowball Derby we got a long way to

Go 170 laps and all itth all it’ll take is the proper turn of the wrench in that back window and dererk Thorne will be right back on form I feel like all is right in the super late model world when it comes to the Derby today because I it

Could be argued that the top three super late model stars are in the top three spots well and I and and no disrespect to Michael hind because he’s a young guy but you know Derek Thorne you put Derek Thorne in there so you got four of the

Top five who uh very well could be the best super late model drivers in the country I’m going to make a prediction here that in the next 25 laps we’re going to see somebody that we haven’t talked about very much at all so far come up and be right in that top five

And fighting for contention somebody that hasn’t been too far off but hasn’t been quite right until they were able to make an adjustment could that person be luke Fen house in the 26 could well be luke Fen house there’s a number of others I think on that list as well

It’ll be interesting to see who’s made the right call and the right adjustments here lights go out on the safety truck next time by we’ll be back to green flag racing and I wouldn’t be shocked uh that Cole butcher William Byron couldn’t get up there either Cole butcher has been absolutely horrible

This week at Five Flags he really is a good race car driver he’s been good all over the country he’s good here at five flag struggled in practice and qualifying but he’s worked his way now up into eight Pace vehicle is in bub aard on the inside Steven nassie on the outside off

Turn four green flag in the air and they’re away once again and they are side by side through turns one and two Pard down low kicks it Loose he’s lead by half a car length oh they bang a turn number three here we go boys St Nancy and Bub aoll rubbing fenders into

Snowball Derby and Steven nassie goes to the lead here with 168 laps to go and then some contact they’re going to stack him up a little bit down in one and two everybody able to exit turn two okay could have been a scary moment right there down to the first and second turn

But Bubba par taking nassie up the track of the backstretch they nearly ran out of room in fact maybe slight contact with the wall for nassie as well as 26 yeah it got tight there on the back straight away and I’d say that probably got uh got Bubba po a little bit heated

Well nassi was up against the wall in the back stretch and then when that happened I think he went down and kind of retaliated and squeeze down to the bottom of the RAC at three and four look who’s back it’s Derek Thorne on the comeback Trail he dies to the bottom

Takes the third spot away from TY maesi Derek Thorne has made some adjustments and it looks like they made some good ones yeah not a big surprise which he was pretty good on the short run earlier it was the long run so we’ll see how the

Seven continues to go if we stay green for a good while today Michael hind running in fifth and here comes Noah greggson wasn’t that strong in the early stages of the race over the first 130 but maybe now they’ve made the right adjustments try to get the former

Snowball Derby winner Noah gron back up front he’s got a good run right now got a nose down on the inside of hind just about got it clipped there as they come out of turn number two this time at least for now hind able to hold off

Greggson back to turn three it’s Michael hind in the 69 Noah Gregson in the 30 behind them the 54 of Matthew Craig Craig’s got some trouble at the back door as well he’s going to lose a spot as he gets moved up the racetrack yep

Weam iren able to get by him and you know Craig I think’s the exact opposite of what Derek Thorne was at least during that first then his car seemed to get better as the Run went along and that may be the case here uhoh well Bubba par showing his strength

Again and if you’re Steven nassie here do you just say you know what like Tai maesi did a few times in that first run just move over let him go save your car for later that’s that’s what he’s going to say you think I’m just saying do you

Do that might not be a w bad decision right here is the top two battle it out for the lead Steven nassie and Bubba par is it just me am I the only one that when these two get anywhere near Striking Distance of each other I sit up

A little straighter in my chair oh yeah I think you’re going to get real straight here here in a minute this is only the second time Sten nassie has ever led to snowball Derby he’s got bub aoll all over him right now nassie and Pard at the front of the

Field both very fast race cars but look at how the 26 of Pard closes the Gap middle of the turn and that car rotates so well here that’s going to help him on these long runs today8 laps to go just eight laps from the halfway mark for

Those that may be new to super late model racing out is it is it fair to say that Steven nassie and Bub aoll are not exactly the best of buddies oh no they don’t like each other at all and and I don’t even say that with any reservation

They’ll tell you they don’t like each other and tell each other they don’t like one another but I do think Adam they have a lot of respect for each other’s driving talents and more times than not we have seen them race together and not make contact correct I was kind

Of surprised on the backstretch that and I don’t think Bubba knew that he’ run him up as high as he did on the backstretch and then Steven probably got a little frustrated kind of ran him back down the track in three and four so far racing clean here and you know nassie

Didn’t give up the spot to Pard and now he starts to pull away a little bit got a couple of carlings in hand as Noah greggson has finally opened the door on the inside of the Michael hind machine hind crosses him over center of the

Corner tries to come back at him on the back straightaway but can’t do it Noah Gregson up a spot it took him a while but he was able to fight his way past the 69 and Michael hind it looks like the strongest at the 30 car has been

Today he faded from his third starting spot but he was just able to kind of settle in and hang on to the position before the crew was able to make some adjustments I’m not sure Stephen nassie has has shown his whole hand just yet though I think we kind of know what

Bubba Po’s car might have I feel like we know what Derek Thorn’s car might have whenever it’s going well I’m not sure on Sten nassy just yet this is the batt for eth n9th 10th and 11th that’s Matt Craig in the 54 getting all kinds of heat from

Cole butcher right now Luke Fen housee sending a car length back just watching it all unfold saying I’ll get ready to drive through any hole somebody knocks over and Matt Craig was really good on that long run he moved up from 14th up into the top five right now on the short

Run to get started after pit stops and tires were taken got a pack of Challengers right behind trying to shuffle him right back out of the top 10 old butcher to the bottom of the racetrack he’ll slide under Matt Craig Fen house now in the blue and white 26

Trying to keep the door open as the battle heats up at the front of the pack once again the 91 now have Tai maesi feeling some heat he was able to make the move on the seven of thorn as they’ve gone back and forth for that

Position and ies’s 91 car looks to be a little stronger he faded there they said he was just a little free and if anybody knows how to make adjustments get him back up there I’d say Toby’s the guy Sten nany the leader here The Race Choice halfway mark he gets the $1,500

Bonus from Harvester Credit Union as we see these cars in the back half of the top 10 sorted out Jake Finch still running well there in the 51 car he was able to move up but now look at Matt Craig boy he is in trouble now especially after that contact from

Hunter Robin tried to shut the door on Hunter going into turn three and it did not work we talked about drivers who were going to be able to make their cars better with a proper adjustment on that pit stop looks like the Matt Craig 54

Car has gone the other way yeah he’s uh running 15th now the furthest back he’s been in this race and TR laich is right there behind him dere Griffith not far behind as well pretty good run there for the white 51 of Jake Finch this is the highest

He’s been in the running order today 13th his best finish was around mid pack in his very few snowball Derby starts I don’t know about you guys but I the race has been pretty good so far today we’ve seen some lead changes seen a lot of passing back in the pack Sten nassy

Right now joining Bubba Pard and Derek Thorne as drivers who have led today and now he’s going to have the challenge and lap traffic as we see this battle here back for the seventh spot Cole butcher he’ll make quick work of Michael hind Cole butcher beginning to Surge here as

We get into the second half of this race he makes his way past the Michael hind machine immediately begins to pull away Cole butcher winner of the Oxford 250 in each of the last two seasons he’s got something going all of a sudden here at Five Flags he’s had a great season

Second place just about won the championship in the ASA Stars national tour today started 28 deep in the field but he’s rallied well he’s up inside of the top 10 getting a report from our race choice.com P reporters that the temperature is going down that’s going

To affect the setup on these cars as well today you know to go back to coold butcher I don’t think anybody realized it till at least in the United States till two or three years ago but he is a very aggressive driver maybe a little more aggressive than he should be

Sometimes and he’ll tell you that but uh sometimes it works out for him and right now he’s working his way closer to the top five you know what’s working right now that 51 car of Steven nassie he is pulled away from Bubba Pard by about a half a straightway and he’s lapping some

Fast race cars Johnny solder free pass recently he’s going to need another one here pretty soon because Steven nassie is about to move around the number five yeah his run back on the lead lap has not lasted for all that long there’s Bubba in the red and white 26 got Tai

Maesi closing in on him now as he moves to the inside on the black car of Ryan Moore and again you got some smart guys working on these cars you know Toby noleman on the 91 uh don’t be surprised if some of these crew chiefs didn’t factor that the

Weather was going to change today they look at the forecast they look at the barometric pressure and as these temperatures go go down you may see a shift in who’s good and who’s bad we’re seeing how good cold butcher running right now as well well we saw the sun go

Away we saw Sunshine for a lot of that first 100 some contact there Billy Van Meter and Johnny solder racing not on the lead lap but probably four position just one lap down and they’re right in front of BU Pard and time Mesi Pard will

Go to the bottom Van Meter kind of lit up Johnny solder trying to be trying to hang on to that tail end of the lead lap status he does so at least for now but Bud is coming fast and he’s got company on the back bumper here comes time Mesi

Right behind him as they continue to try and put lap cars in the rearview mirror and if they can reel in the leader Steven nassi well there’s a battle back between William Byron and Cole butcher Butcher moves around up into six let’s go to Eric heeld for an update yeah

Interesting update down here guys Conor o’ who started n came out of the race here a little bit ago I asked Chief Mike Garvey what happened and they were looking around and well the radio got dislodged and would not get to the ears so to speak of oing he didn’t have a

Spotter got inside someone got into the wall knocked the toe out what a wild chain of events and that’s the end of the day for conro I can tell you I would not want to be out there with a radio yeah a definite uh issue for Connor oesk

Who started inside the top 10 a promising day comes to an early end but he told you he’s going to be racing some more in 2024 and that’s a good thing he stepped away the last couple of years and going to be good to see him back

Here on racing America as we continue to watch this battle between a couple of fast forwards for second bu aoll and time Mesi 24th Place Conor Jones moving over for the leaders again there as he has had a rough day in 2023 trouble now for Ryan PR who’s off the

Off the pace on the back straight away looked like he had a little damage on the right front corner that may have been from from earlier in the day it has not been the kind of weekend that Ryan priest and at Kevin Harvick own team at

Hope for here this weekend at five fls all tires up pulls into the stall you can see the right rear has been up against something maybe another competitor all of the tires seem to be up and it looks like the crew’s not going in any sort of

Hurry to not a big hurry at all are they you know another driver who’s been making his way up to the front SP Eric Jones he’s moved from 21st up in tonight so you know kind of like Cole butcher like I said some of these teams after

That first Pit Stop little bit of change out there with the temperature they made some changes on those cars and it’s worked and you may see some guys like you said Dave prior to the green get up there and challenge these top five sports all said and done

Day over for Ryan priest won goes down on the number 62 car he’ll be climbing out far short of what they had hoped for here this weekend at the front of the pack right now though it’s good as gold for Steven nassie he has got a huge lead

Right now over this battle between Bubba Pard in the 26 and the 91 of Tai majes his only real challenge was there for a couple of laps when Pard was on the rear bumper and I made mention maybe move over well he probably knew his car was

Going to come around to him CU now he’s pulled away to a sizable advantage over Pard Cole Raz off the lead Laing the 63 moving over for Pard and there’s nassie just ahead trying to work by the 16 of G and nassie though has lost some of that

Lead in this lap traffic now no traffic between St nassie and Bubba Pard in first and second and see if Pard can close up here as Jacob GES tries not to go another layup down there’s something to be said for having the leader in the crosshairs a l easier to chase him down

If you can see them you can’t catch what you can’t see and quite honestly Sten nassie is having a little more trouble with Jacob Gomes than I thought he was going to Jacob GES has had a fast race car this week on Thursday was the second

Quickest car in practice and I think we see why Jacob Gomes is struggling he’s free on exit that thing was a handful yep I mean he was just as fast as Sten nany until he made that slip out of turn two now nany gets by gets some clean air

On the notse we’ll have to see how long it’ll take Bubba par to work around go here when you’ve got that four-wheel drift thing going on like Gomes did a lap ago that means that none of those tires are getting full contact and adhesion with the racetrack that’s not

The fast way to get around let’s see what buba Pard can do with him with Tai meski right on his back good part of the race right here uh Dave to talk to your crew tell them what they’re doing this is two long green flag runs in a row

We’ve had as we watched the battle for Matt Craig in the 54 he’s still in but he’s holding up laich Michael hind has dropped back his car struggling now a little bit after a great run in the first half of this race Derek Griffith making a move in the 12 to the inside

Well that’s got to be heartbreaking for Michael hind who would run as high as fourth on the grid here in the first half of this event now is going to be hard pressed just to hang on to the top 20 and Derek Griffith took that car into

Turn three did you see how it SPID all the way to the middle of three and four Allen there’s the race for second tomes run right in the tire tracks of Bubba that you know like I was telling you guys when Stephen nany was trying to get

Around Jacob G they’ve not made up a ton of ground on Jacob Gomes I mean he’s got a fast race car Gomes has got the best lap down car in America right now I don’t think there’s any question about that he’s running very cleanly when they

Get to him he gives them the room to bypass him and and go on about their business but catching him hasn’t been very easy meanwhile stepen nasty’s kind of extended that lead a little bit over Pard and here goes majeski for second Tai majeski makes the move to the inside

Of Pard remember in the first big run he moved over let par go by to the inside this time it’s the other way around to the inside maesi in the 91 he’ll take the spot away Bubba tried to cross him over at the exit of turn two there was

There tyes now takes over that spot and Allan Tai mesy in that long 75 lap run he was moving over letting cars go by they made some adjustments now we’re deep into this run and his car seems to be losing less than some of the other competition and you know it’s like

Another little guy that drove forwards Mark Martin he was the same way early in races what’s the point in putting up a battle then they’d work on the car the drivers would remember the courtesy he showed them it works the same way here at the snowball Derby Bubba fer didn’t

Put up a big challenge you know while all that was going on step nassie was able to open it up a little bit as he wored through some that lap traffic now we go a little bit further back here’s the two-car Williams of wallich he rides

In 20th yeah it shows in timing and scoring that zalich is not on the lead lap not sure when that took place if it took place under green or not but he has a fast race car right now John Bolan and the white two behind him as they follow

Michael hind Michael hein’s day was really good early not quite as good right now he’s in 16 yeah he needs a caution he’s still on the lead lap but uh he’s a littleit a straightway from going lap down just in front of him now battle for 14th Matt Craig rides in 14th

St laps of and dere gri in 15th and six uh 14th and 15th excuse me yeah you were talking about Mark Martin a moment ago I got to know Mark pretty well in the final years of his nastar career and he said to me many times he said I I never

Saw the point of trying to win the southern 200 or the Martinville 100 they don’t pay any money for that they don’t pay points for that I wanted to win the southern 500 and the Martinville 400 and and there’s something I mean it’s overly simple to say the least but you’re right

Burning up your race car with 113 laps to go it feels good but it doesn’t get you anything Mark Martin almost made that move over let the guy go famous I mean he really did and and it’s very smart I watched him do that so many

Times why fight the guy on lap 100 of a 500 lap race when you can go in and adjust your car and that’s exactly what time adjust is done now he runs second his car is in one piece he’s in good shape and he didn’t tear anything up in

The early stages when it wasn’t quite to their liking and I’m sure when you interviewed David Pearson Dave I know when I’ve interviewed him he said a lot of folks thought I was a stroker and held back and did all these things and I remember a story Buddy Baker talking

About they just blow by him and then with about 50 laps to go David be smoking a cigarette just wave at him and leave them and end up winning the race if Buddy Baker had been able to give anything less than 110% from lap one of

A race to the Finish he’d have probably won 500 because he was that good and he was that fast the problem was particularly back in the 1970s and 80s they just couldn’t put up they couldn’t put together a race car that would stand up to buddy Baker’s right foot

Yeah well there you see Bubba paard still trying to get around Jacob GES and as he does that that’s allowing Noah GGG in that 30 car to CL l in and make this a battle for third here momentarily comes again fastest lap car in the land

Right now he’s allowed TI M time Mesi to get away but Bubba per just has not been able to get up there and put any pressure on him when he does I expect that Gomes will let him go just as he appears to be doing right now that’s the

Time when he’s given up some spots at least to lead lap cars is when he gets free on exit of turn four and that’s exactly what happened there you know it makes you wonder if if if buba Pard has got a Miss if he does have an electrical

Issue you’ve seen this many times da slowly very slowly it’ll just drain away and the car will lose a little more power a little more power till eventually it just won’t go and if you’ve got a horsepower deficit the place it will show is from the center of

The corner off where you’re mashing the gas but there’s just not as much there is the guy in front of you and the guy behind you right now Bubba Pard has got a trunk full of no AGG in that black number 30 car BD running third greggson

Running in the fourth spot and this run continues to tick off laps very quickly we’re going to be closing in on a potential other competition yellow to give Cruz a chance to work as we’re closing on the two3 mark of this race 196 on the board apoll loosened her up a

Little bit coming off the corner that time there’s Steven nassie and all of a sudden the gap between nassie and Tai maesi is not nearly what it used to be and Tai maesi made up a lot of ground in a quick time once he was able to get

Around bu aoll and in the lap car Jacob go he set sail and now the leader stepen nassy in a lot of traffic looking to the inside of Johnny solder here down the backst trying to put the lead lap car Travis braen a lap down time Mesi just

Continues to to close in try to squeeze his way underneath the Johnny solder machine Johnny’s got a handful of race car right now giving it everything he’s got just to get around this racetrack we’ll see now if Tai Maes is able to CL in on that 51 car St n Travis bradden

Getting up on the wheel he’s last car on the lead lap there running with William swall got around the two of swall because Steven nassie is there ready to put the 21 lap down Travis bradden shown in our timing and scoring in 16th position lap 200 lap leader looks like

It’s going to be St nassie he’s going to get another bonus here from Wheeling $1,000 for leading this L as he crosses to St back to turn number one one 100 laps to go here in the snowball Derby and you know Steven nassie well enough to know he doesn’t mind the sound of

That cash register ringing at all oh no oh no but it’s the 30 grand he’s going after that’s right is that 30 grand 35 35 Grand now Steven nassie the Gap has now been closed down to about four car lengths the 91 of maesi is closing quickly in

The adjustments that that crew led by Toby noleman made under that last Pit Stop about 70 laps ago or so big because his car is fast on this long run it’s been good since the beginning when we went back to the green this has been like two completely different races

First 35 40 laps caution ridden couldn’t get any rhythm nobody really could get much of an idea of what their cars were doing once we did finally get going though establish that Rhythm it’s been long green flag runs the only caution since the Earth very early going has

Been one of those competition stoppages where after a predescribed number of laps they throw the out and let everybody get to Pit Road you’re right we’re closing in on another one another one of them here in the next few minutes oh boy and Travis really wants it to

Take place right now he’s going to try to get around the 44 he should be able to do that Conor Jones moving over to the high side he’s a couple laps off the pace but Steven nassie closing the Gap and for nassie he wants to lap as many

Cars as possible Les you have to battle with at the end yeah and I don’t think this is going to be an easy pass Travis Bray’s a smart guy a lot of these drivers are they know when these competition cautions are going to come out he’s another guy that’s not going to

Go out there and burn up his stuff just to burn it up now in this instance right now he’s got to go as hard as he can to stay on the lead left but as we close in on this next competition caution as I said I don’t think this is going to be

An easy pass here for Steven nassy oh Travis Bren former snowball Derby Champion still clinging to the tail end of the lead lap with 206 laps completed so he’s not that far off the pace Sten n is going to have to have everything in order if he’s going to bypass Travis

Brady fast race car too he’s not closed the Gap very quickly on the 21 and you know he’s up on the wheel Travis brayon trying to stay on the lead lap at the very least be the first car one lap down but that’s a dangerous game to play St nassie leading over B

Aard Fallen to third now time ad jusy right behind nass’s 51 and there is the yellow competition caution number two we have done two straight green flag runs of 75 laps and that sound you just heard was a giant exhale coming from the Travis braen machine and it wasn’t

Travis it was Jess down in the pits well we all know how that works right know she’s shaking down there wow so Steven nasty’s car is fast time M jesy’s car got faster question I think is Bubba Paul yes you’re right bub the question here is is that electrical issue for bub aard

Going to keep him from getting back up there and challenging for the win here in the final 100 laps those are the top three Noah greggson fourth Derek Thorne fifth Cole butcher William Byron Luke fous Gio Rogero and Eric Jones the top 10 and I think that’s where your winnner

Is going to come from I I I may be being generous saying the top 10 but I I wouldn’t be shocked if one of these guys from six on back especially Cole butcher might not get up there and get in this free just a little bit show of hands

Anybody at all surprised that Derk Thorne wasn’t able to paddle his way back up to the front and challenge for the lead again well you know it’s kind of like it’s it’s kind of like what Derek said I mean at some point the the domination never goes on forever I mean no offense

And I don’t know if you watch the NFL or not but look at the New England Patriots at some point it I’m from New England I’m from Vermont yeah I’ve watched the New England patri not lately though I can’t do it it’s just painful and I moved to Carolina where the Panthers

Play so now I can get my pick great two worst teams in the NFL Derek Thorne made mention in pre-race interview that they didn’t get to do all the runs they would have liked to done because of the practice they had lost as the cars head

To the pits yet again and you know we saw it in the cup series whenever they had to start eliminating practices from co uh it told changed things for a guy like Kyle Bush he had and he ad missed it he had to have those practices and he

Just never felt comfortable not being able to get out there and get the car the way that he wanted it to before the race ever started the drivers almost to a man would take 500 laps of practice for a 300 lap race the owners love the fact that they’re not putting that bill

In back down to Pit Road here’s Eric well Dave the leaders are pitted right next to each other Sten nasty and that 51 man he’s looked good about 100 they’re going to tweak on that to make it a little bit better if you can believe that talking to the time of Jesy

Crew same thing he’s been on the move but they’re going to make some small little handling adjustments to try and make him again just a little quicker and try and make him a two time snowball Derby Champion let’s go down Pit Road to Ryan McCulla the bub par pit area is a flurry

Of activity but it’s routine activity for the 2016 of the time we mentioned earlier that they had some sort of electri issue well if it’s a major thing they’re not really concerned with it right now they’re just putting on some fresh hooer tires cleaning the windshield Bubba got a good cold drink

While he was sitting here waiting and we’ll see if they do go under the hood to try to dissect some sort of electrical issue and we’ll check in uh with the crew here in just a moment also want to make mention right behind Bubba is Eric Jones who has driven Sly up

Inside the top 10 very quiet very steady day for the Nascar Cup Series competitor we’ll see if he has something as the laps get lean here in the snowball Dy and if you’ll notice I like when I was watching Sten nassy there that crew was very particular that they put every buug

Nut on very slowly just make sure everyone’s there get them as tight as possible be interesting what kind of feedback the par crew gives to Ryan Molla they were a little bit off if it wasn’t the electrical issue that they were having earlier then what can they

Do put that car up there with the 51 of nassie and the 91 of AES because he was clearly off just a little bit as far as that Steven nassie Pit Stop is concerned when you’re when you’re running non-competitive pit stops you can’t gain spots and you can’t lose spots within

Reason on Pit Road there’s absolutely no reason to hustle your way through those lug nuts place them on one by one very methodically very cautiously and make sure they’re 100% tight before you let them go control everything you can control and uh that’s what these teams

Are trying to do right now roughly 90 laps to go so this is the length of a normal normal blizzard feature which to me plays in the hands of Sten Nancy and Bubba paer the guys that race every one of those races they’ve got a really good

Idea what these tires are going to do in 100 laps and they know when you can push it and when you can’t the question is going to be do we go to lap 300 or do we end up going to 310 or 330 or whatever it is for caution late in the race

This doesn’t have the feeling of a caution plagued finish type of race but as you all know the the standards of conduct change a little bit the closer we get to the side of that checker flag it feels like we got a lot of those cautions out of the way over the first

40 laps today and now we’ve done two long green flag runs of 75 laps each with the probability of another winner the possibility at least of another 75 lap run William Byron’s 24 out of his pit St William Byron shown up in the top 10 you get

Another 75 lap run you’re at lap 285 so you’re going to be looking at possibly a caution with less than 15 laps to go but isn’t it usually the way just about the time we think we’ve got it all figured out how it’s going to go the

Rest of the way oh yeah we get to about 50 to go and we get yellow fever and people start turning each other around so long way to go in this one that’s for sure and a lot to be seen although uh the drivers at the front of the pack

Have had their say this afternoon particularly Steven nassie who has made to say the least a very strong bid here at five flag Speedway up to now well we mentioned our buddy Jess don’t forget to join me and Jess Ballard on The Bu ring when it returns after the New Year

Wednesdays at 700 PM Eastern Time on our Facebook and Twitter pages we’ll talk to all the top news makers at NASCAR and short track racing including the snowball Derby winner We join them to kickoff 2024 that’s the ball ring available on Facebook xracing america.tv and on select connected devices let’s go

Back down now to Eric heeld yeah here we are and Noah greggson we’ve been talking about him charging through the field trying to become a two-time snowball Derby Champion just jumped up on a pit box and talked to Mark Rett he said a little bit of an air

Pressure change give him a little bit more drive off and he said Noah is very happy with his car and that might be bad news for the guys ahead of him and you can speak to this uh Dave Noah was a great guy good kid uh got involved in a

Little controversy this Summer that caused him to ride at Legacy went through NASCAR’s process to get reinstated good chance he’ll be back in the Cup Series in 2024 and he’s done everything he could do to stay behind the wheel of a race car no matter where

Or what it was no question about that through for for all indications and reports blew through NASCAR’s uh Diversity Program uh with ease has said basically uh I I was a bit of a knucklehead I had to learn that there there are certain things that that you

Need to that you need to be smart about and and you can’t always just say the first thing that pops into your brain I love Noah Gregson he’s a little goofy that’s that’s the thing I kind of like about him most he’s he’s just he’s a

Wonderful guy and he can drive the heck out of a race car too so those are those are two good things to like about it back down to Ryan guys the bubble poar situation continues to unfold and evolve mark bner his crew chief just said it may not be electrical

Because the only place that he’s experiencing any issues in power or lack of power is just like you said earlier Dave from Center off they might think it’s a a now they may they think it may be some type of carburetor stumble because Buckner said if it was an

Electrical issue they would be down on power all the way around the racetrack he also that Bubba never mentioned one issue about the carburetor or the stumble or the lack of power in the last run so it made you be something they got to deal with and dissect later when they

Get back to the shop they’ve got what they’ve got at this point and they’re going to have to live with it make the most of it one way or another if uh if there’s a guy out there that I I have confidence in making something out of

Nothing it’s BB Pard he’ll find a way he’s been very good and we’re talking about issues he may be having but he’s still in third just didn’t show the strength in that long run that he did earlier just out of the screen there is the 28 of Cole butcher he is

Methodically working his way toward the top five and if he can get up there by the end of this race might be there for the victory you know it’s been a few years since the fors been the Victory Lane here in the derby I think uh back when

Uh Tai maesi won it back in 2020 was the last time the last few years it’s being kind of dominated by Toyota blue oval got a lot of good guys right there all three of those cars just moments away from doubling this field back up for a restart 214

Laps make it 215 at the line completed Steven nassi it took him a couple Laps on that last run for the car to not be a little sluggish Pard was all over him and then he set sail then maesi closed the Gap and Tai maesi make a run at

Steven nassie in the late going field did not get the one to go that time by so at best we will go back to green with 83 laps remaining keep that 75 number in your mind yeah that that would get us to eight to go before the next competition

Caution would fly which obviously would make things pretty interesting stepen nassie continues to show the way he has been strong from the GetGo second half of this race he came to to the Forefront and has uh been at the front ever since and the comp yellow

Can come out all the way up until lap 289 lab 289 so once you get to lab 290 you won’t have any more chances for a competi and we and we can’t have one now so we it’s it’s official that we will not have another competition yellow so

That was close yeah and you know it I like that better I honestly do too and I’ll tell you why you know you think about 2020 and 2021 as much as Derek Thorne dominated he could have won three straight deries and he got punted out of the way by Tom Mesi

In 20 and the same thing by Chandler Smith in 21 and it were they were races that he was out front maybe not as dominant as last year but had those late cautions not come out that were not brought out by a problem on the racetrack the guys behind him were not

Going to catch him and let’s be clear we can’t have another caution we can have another five cautions but it’s going to have to be the oldfashioned kind of caution where somebody gets into somebody and there’s trouble on the RAC track and there’s still nothing that

Says that you know you go 50 laps from now and you’re going to have some teams that are going to have to weigh out whether or not they want to make a pit stop or off for track position let’s go back to Ryan quickly yeah just a quick update on

Conditions out here in down on Pit Road we started this race under somewhat bright conditions it was a little overcast then it got noticeably cooler around the 200 lap Mark or so and now the lights have just come on we’re going to Crown a snowball Derby winner under

The lights and it’s going to get even cooler maybe even a little bit more grip out there you look really comfy out there Ryan it’s big boy weather guys yeah that’s what I was thinking hey I’m right there with you I wouldn’t have said that but now that he

Did being one of them oh yeah we we’re right there with you uh well the field is doubled up so we are moments away from a start yellow light still on Pace truck light still on we have Steven nassie leading the way Tai meski Bubba Pard Noah greggson and

The report from the greggson pit sounded pretty positive for that driver from Las Vegas Nevada can he win his second Derby today little bit longer than than they had hoped I think getting back to the green here they’ve got a couple of cars out of place back around the Midway

Portion of the field so they the scoring team is running through that mid line up here they’ll get them get everybody situated where they belong and then hopefully we’ll be able to get back to the green flag here as quickly as possible here’s the current weather Dave

Down to 67 degrees I believe we were at 70 earlier with that Sun going away wind is very light the flag is actually laying limp now on the infield we saw it blowing about halfway through this race but not anymore the wind just died down is that where the dividing line is

Between Big Boy weather and just normal weather difference between 70 and 67 I think so it’s sun is gone I think a big part of it the humidity and barometric pressure WR that down lights remain on on the pace vehicle as they continue to work through

The uh the running order here and and again I don’t believe it’s anything at the front of the pack I think it’s toward the tail end of the field right now they’ll get a straighted out as straightened out as quickly as we can and then we’ll be back under the green

Flat we got some other big super late model races just around the corner the month of January with the protect your melon buckle up speed Fest at watermelon capital way that weekend a little bit earlier than normal by about a week January 19th and 20th featuring The

Southern Super Series it is a points race this year then uh speed week the World Series at new Suna featuring the first ever time that the ASA Stars national tour has visited there that will be the season opener for 2024 for the ASA Stars national tour on a Tuesday

Night during the World Series at new samna that should have a heck of a field of cars and then the series returns to five flag Speedway Ara East opener on Saturday night March 23rd and then race number two for the ASA Stars national tour here at five flag Speedway a double

Header weekend Saturday and Sunday March 23rd and 24th the Sunday Race For The Stars tour will be an afternoon event not a lot of time off is there not a lot of time to put it all back together get everything shined up for the 2024 season

It’s going to be busy just like always lights are out on the pace vehicle next time by we’ll look for the green flag it’ll be Steven nassie on the inside Tai Mesi on the outside then Bubba Pard and Cole butcher Bubba po to Noah greggson rather inside and out in row two Derek

Thorne and butcher side by side in row number three well we saw some excitement on the last restart we’ll see this timeon it looks like nasty bobbled just a little bit down there on the bottom I’m sure the officials are going to look at that because maesi I think he’s going

To be able to clear it around the outside off turn number two Tai maesi back to the lead with 78 laps to go Steven nassie drop kicked into that number two position he’s feeling heat now from Noah Gregson who rides in third Bubba Pard now trying to fend off

The advances of Cole Bucher in the butcher in the high Lane and he’s running well in the second groove right now locked it up about a lap ago in the outside Lane had some Tire smoke but he’s making some progress in Groove number two as Pard and gron go at it

It’s a seven of thorn following closely Paul got a little bit sideways down there on the bottom butcher was able to pass Thorn on the outside and look at Pard again Cole butcher in that 28’s a very aggressive race car driver letting it ride in that outside Lane is Cole

Butcher trying to take the hard way around can’t get it done now he’ll fall back in line on the back bumper above a Pard who now’s got some ideas about going after Noah Gregson Pard looks strong after this restart picks up the spot moves to the inside of greggson

Give Bubba Pard third and now the top two majeski and nassie have built up about a seven car length advantage on Pard we’ll see what the 26 has for him and that’s why I think Bubba Pard raced so hard with Cole butcher there is I

Think he he knew that the car felt the way that he wanted it to and that that he wanted to not have to pass Gregson and butcher so he got around Butcher and then was able to get up there get around Noah gon fairly quickly

Meski at the front of the pack has been able to open it up a bit here he’s got a couple of car links maybe three in hand over the second place machine of Steven nassie there’s some hard racing back in the pat Kon labovich in the 32 getting a

Little work out on the back bumper as well as he gets hung out in that outside Lane lavich running 11th at the line Jiro taking it away on the inside there goes Hunter Robbins in the 18 he’s been just outside of the top 10 for most of

The day Hunter Robbins has a pretty good race car just trying to get up there to challenge Hunter Robins is another one of those guys in that car number 18 that ran the entire blizzard series he finished second blizzard Series points so he’s used to these 100 lap runs he’ll

Get a run now down the inside of Gio roero and that’ll move him up into 11 Jake Finch having a nice run in the 51 he’s been just outside of the top 10 for most of the day right now finds himself in the 10th spot Jake Finch reportedly a special guest on tomorrow’s

Broadcast for the snowflake 100 he’s going to be Dave replacement he’s got big shoes to fill no just big feet not big shoes he’ll do just fine I’m not worried about him he’s working on uh Eric Jones right now I’m a little bit surprised that we haven’t talked more

About Eric here this afternoon he’s been good but not great literally from the drop of the green flag he been somewhere between 10th and maybe 17th for most of the day and right now he’s probably the highest he’s been all day up in ninth place but I’ll tell you what Jake thinks

Looks good in that car number 51 he’s got that throwback to when Jeff pervis won here at the snowball Derby back of the 1990s and uh he’s putting a lot of pressure on Eric Jones right now would mean a lot I’m sure for Jake Finch to be

Able to get up there in the top 10 top five his best previous finish at his two starts in the snowball Derby was 18th and he’s racing with a couple of good ones right there Eric Jones in the four the 18 of Hunter Robins think Papa James

Might hoist a victory cocktail if Jake Finch go to or 12 or 22 yeah I think he’ll have a good time well he has a good time no matter what yeah if Jake Finch wins this race it’ll be a heck of a party if he doesn’t it’ll be a heck of a

Party well here’s the battle for the lead back to turn number one you see St nassy right back in there behind Tai maesi and again I just I can’t get over the big names rising to the to the top of the Heap here this year at snowball Derby we’ve talked all day

About majes nassy par Derek Thorne and right now nassy trying to get up there and wrestle a lead away from tomeski here with 64 to go don’t don’t sleep on bubba Pard either he’s a grand total of about four car lengths further back yeah he’s closed that gap on the top two now

How much is time maesi giving right now is he giving it his all he knows there’s 63 to go this could be a green flag run all the way to the finish the way they’ve run the last two times we’ve gone green well I talked about it earlier about the ultimate chess match

On and these three right here probably will play it better than anybody else who knows who’s got what right now other than these drivers behind the wheel of these race cars I like the way this is shaping up for the final 50 laps or so three of the

Best in the business and I don’t think Sten nassie is going to wait for another 50 here he comes shoehorns his way to the bottom of the racetrack off turn four Steven nassie to the bottom with 61 remaining nassie back to the point majeski making a little contact back

With nassie down in one and two that opens the door though for Bubba Pard so it may end up being a mistake on maesi just making that contact kind of stacked him up a little bit and allowed par back to the inside now maesi Returns the

Contact back to the low side of one I maesi to the inside Pard now dirt tracking his way off turn number two side by side down the back straight away maesi goes back to the two spot well PD’s not used to somebody coming back whenever he makes that move to take

Fought from somebody very rarely do you see him pass somebody and then them pass him right back so Tom Mesi right now knows how important it is to to try and stay up here with Stephen nassie yeah and stepen nassie is smiling when he sees them going at it for second and

Third that gave him a few more car links Co butcher fighting a little bit of a free car in turn number four there trying to close on Noah gron that is fourth and fifth in the run down and I don’t think there is a question I mean

At this point Derek Thorne obviously has not got what he has had over the last three years I mean he’s back in six he’s still running well and he could still win this race under the right circumstances but I don’t think he’s going to win it on sheer speed this year

Going back to that pass for the lead nassie had got the opening to the inside of Tai mes Maes left some room on the bottom and that’s when St was able to put hisse down there he took advantage of it well Sten nassy was you know I think they’ve they’ve got t-shirts and

Stuff that have gotten 2019 snowball Derby winner written in in ink pen they have never gotten over the fact that they got disqualified from that race back in 2019 and Steven nassie wants to win bad I think we learned how bad he wanted to win it whenever he and Anthony

Cy got together back around September he’s with a great team but all of a sudden now look at this tomes I think starting to close in on him again yeah it’s not over yet that’s to say the least Tai maesi beginning to reel back in the back bumper of that 51 car Steven

Nassie Bubba Pard is not out of this thing yet 54 laps to go 53 as they come off turn four to the line This Time D nassie holding a five car length advantage on Tai Mesi running third Bubba par Noah gron Cole butcher fourth and fifth he might not have anything for

Those top three that top three’s been say the three of the day Derek Thorn for today like was going be 50 laps ago I thought Co butcher was going to be right there at the front of the field challenging and he may yet but he’s kind of stalled back stalled out

Back there in that battle with Noah GRE for fourth and F position GRE in number 30 butcher right behind him in the red 28 you know that top three we talked about what St ny’s on the line for him and what’s a motivator for him to win

This race obviously we know the story about B in third he’s never finished better than third but again going back to some of your NASCAR coverage Dave I think Tom Mesi was super disappointed with the Truck Series this year yeah he got a win but he did get into the the

Final round of the playoffs and I think that this is something that that he could hang his head on the PE at end his season this it was 50 laps to go the last time they crossed the line nassie with 49 to go he has time maesi closing

The Gap and heavy traffic ahead you wonder if maesi now is just logging the laps and waiting for the right time to go is 50 laps the time to mash the button and get get moving is it 40 is it 30 30 or 35 lap traffic right now is

Going to give him an opportunity to make that decision I’ll tell you stepen nany is not a dirty driver he’s an aggressive driver but he’s not a dirty driver but with everything that’s on the line in this race if I’m Tai mes if I’m going to make that move I’m going

To be sure I can clear him and get away from him before I get down into the next corner with $35,000 and a snowball Derby trophy on the line is there anybody out there that couldn’t be a dirty driver right about now no I think all of them I think at

The end of the day all of them could be just it’s a matter of of how you do it and how you pull it off Sten nassie has put a few car links back on Mesi so is it a little bit of a cat and mouse game

At the front of the field and and how they catch traffic’s going to make a big difference as well it’s going to make a huge difference and you know look at this right in front of the leaders to 44 there Conor Jones to two John Bolan beaten in banging and then there was

Only one car separating them from leader and nasty did not pick the right way there with Johnny solder thought he was going to have to go to the outside solder then was getting out of his way that slowed him up a bit now we’ll see if majeski can get get to Steven nassie

For the lead maesi just two car lengths back now on Steven nassie another three at most back to Bubba Pard all of them making their way underneath the lap car of Johnny solder in the orange number five machine it’ll be 43 laps to go as

They come to the line this time and this one is not over yet maesi made up every bit of that Gap in lap traffic and step nassie you know you choose the wrong way now J’s right up on your back bumper and you can’t afford to leave the bottom you

Just got to move the guys over if they won’t get out of your way you move them over or just stay in behind them and and fourth Mesi to move you over Steven nassie is in the no mistake zone now if he runs a perfect race he’s a pretty

Good bet to try and win the snowball Derby one mistake and Tai Mesi will be on him there’s no question about that and a couple of mistakes in those two start battling them both PA is going to be right there I think Steven nass’s car is still better at this point of the

Race than Tai maesi maesi closed within a car length or two and now nassie has pulled away to about four or five car length at 51 is Michael H going a lap down after running as high as fourth in the early going Hines car just kind of

Came out from under him at about the 150 lap Mark and it’s been a struggle ever since and you know there was a time here prior to Derek Thorn’s run from 2020 on where for about 5 years there Tai maesi was clearly the best car here at Five

Flags in the last couple of years they’ve been good they’ve been top 10 good but they’ve not been race winning good he’s race winning good today he’s running in the second spot and he’s been up there they were a little off on that first long run they fixed that issue but

Did they fix it enough to get around the 51 of nassy you think we’re seeing everything out of that 91 car that there is to see right now I think we are I really do now can the 51 fade back quicker toward the end of this race than maybe the 91 we’ll find

Out this fact for Fifth and six Derek Thorns caught Cole butcher now and whatever they did to Cole butcher’s car there in that last Pit Stop they went the wrong way for sure butcher in the red 28 Derek Thorne in the white number seven machine couple of cars back

William Byron and the black number 24 those are all cars Racing for position right now and you can see bercher he had to turn left about three different times coming off turn four to make that car do what he wanted it to do I said he’s come

From 28th to fifth Cole butcher trying to get at least a top five he’s had a pair of third place finishes in the snowball Derby you know William Byron’s been in the exactly the same boat as Eric Jones we barely talked about William Byron today but he’s been in the top 10 entire

Race one of those good but not great days and uh when you got Steven nassie Tai mesy and Bubba per doing what they’re doing up front good is just not going to get you there and remember this they didn’t get any practice here Thursday he nor Sammy Smith because they

Were at the NASCAR banquet in Nashville they only got their qualifying Laps on Friday and I think that killed those two drivers as far as maybe having a shot to go up and get the win definitely made their job a little more difficult no doubt about that less than 35 laps to go

Now and it continues to be Ste Ty maesi bub aoll just holding serve right now in those top three positions of stabilized at about a seven car length lead was up to over half a second last time by the line for Steven nassie this time a little bit more at

610 looks like that 51 staying strong maesi losing a little ground to the race leader yeah Bubba Pard has lost touch he is a good Gap back now uh better part of half a straightaway back in that number three position Steven nassie has done exactly what he needs to do he’s got it

Down to where it’s a two-car race at best right now unless something changes saw the 23 of Billy Van Meter move over for the leaders there’s the 26 of Luke Fen house the four of Eric Jones Luke fouse in the 26 wasn’t able to make a run toward the front after the

Last restart he restarted six he’s running currently in the eighth position and this we’re within the final 30 laps you get a caution now even though the caution laps do count you are going to have some cars that go in and take new tires I I think everybody’s going to

Well see that’s what I wonder if you got cars if you got enough cars that stay out there and try to maintain track position or do they all come in and in this situation it won’t be a competition caution so you can lose spots in the

Pits with 30 to go I think everybody PS contr with 30 to go I think everybody PS with 12 to go I think you got a whole different story because they’re still coming if you’re a guy that’s been back there in 10th or 15th Place you’ve got

Nothing to lose by staying out and trying to make a run for the Border they’re going to be a Sitting Duck though oh there’s no doubt about it they’re all coming but you take your shot maybe yeah for a 15th Place guy sure I think you take your chance you

Might finish fifth instead of 15 well here’s the St if you’re Sten Nancy you don’t want to hear 21 times a driver led to most laps has not one and he’s that man he’s that man but he was fortunate he doesn’t have to worry about that competition yellow 75

Laps the unfortunate thing for nassie is Tai maesi looks like he’s found another gear and that’s where you’re now in these final 25 laps I think everything’s out there now I don’t think you whoa we got a problem in turn four Luke vhouse going around and that is going to change

Everything play here with 25 laps to go wow y that changes it all it looked like we were getting ready to see a battle for the lead as Tai maesi had closed in on the back bumper Steven nassie now they’re going to restart side by side

And okay with 25 laps to go I think Adam you’re probably right I don’t see anybody staying out on Old Tires with 25 still to go yeah they’re coming to the pits I was just going to look up some of the times they were turning from the

Beginning of that green flag run to what they’re turning now I’m sure they’ve dropped off and here’s the reason on our replay Fen housee running just a little bit off the bottom of the racetrack not enough for that though yeah and you know that’s one of those deals where maybe if

You’re Eric Jones Luke fin house didn’t pick up the throttle I mean when you’re that close uh you probably need to account for that but obviously Luke fin didn’t pick up the throttle as quickly as Eric Jones did Eric Jones never been known and we talked about this a little

Earlier didn’t we never been known as a turn yearound kind of guy a lot of lot of things that from our vantage point we don’t know that the guys behind the wheel absolutely do you see little bit of little bit of a divot in the right

Front of the hood on the Eric Jones machine that’s where the contact was made with Luke Fen Steven nassie at lap 223 lap 224 lap 225 after they went back to green was turning 174s down into the 173s right before that yellow came out 18 fours they lose a second it’s a lot

So they’d be a second off the pace they chose not to take tires that’s a lot yeah I think you’re right at this juncture with this many laps to go I don’t think that’s a play if we caught a caution with five or six or eight maybe

To go and again if you’re back there in 10th or 12th Place you’re not going to win this race anyway you take your shot but here they come everybody everybody but the pace car hit it for Pit Road see if anybody at all stays out I would say

No no let’s go down to our uh pit reporter Eric hea failed yeah I tell you it’s going to be busy and of course right here the leaders are pitted right next to each other in turn one Steven nassie 51 Tai maesi a 91 I talked to the

Majeski crew of course they’re going to throw tires on we know that everybody’s doing that they’re going to adjust on that car they think they got a little bit more on the table yet with that 91 we saw him catching on screen you see Stephen nassie who’s been the guy who’s

Led the most laps I talked to the crew right up until they hit Pit Road they weren’t sure if they were going to adjust yet on it or not but they’re putting some of those do field Goods on some rubber a lot of activity on this

End of Pit Road where the top two teams are right next to each other ran mallin you got anything down Pit Road oh yeah we’re right here in the Bubba par Pit and the same song different verse it looks like it may be an electrical issue as Bubba Pard pit

Crew has the battery charger connected inside the left rear tire trying to get a charge or some sort of electrical issue maybe the battery charge back up so he can have one final run other than that it’s four tires in fuel for po but yeah the electrical problem obviously

Still a factor on this 26 back up to the boots and remember what we said guys if it was an electrical issue it would slowly drain down and the car very slightly would lose power and if you think about it through about 275 laps that car has just dropped off little by

Little by little bit more the fact that they put a battery charger on it I think is uh pretty add of what they think might be the problem obviously your standard backyard garage trickle charger is not going to do them a heck of a lot of good right now but every little bit

Helps better give a big boost right now because they don’t have much time just a couple of laps as the pace car circles the track under this yellow 277 laps completed there’s the Eric Jones number four who working on the left side Jones was scored in eighth when they came to the

Fence I think the other thing that’s clear at this point you’re running qualifying labs you know I I don’t think you’re worried about you know how much the car is going to drop off in in 20 laps or so I mean you’re gonna go out there and go every you

Got oh there just uh just got handed an interesting note and I guess this depends on your point of view yeah the leader with 10 laps to go has won 10 of the last 21 snowball deres that means he’s lost the way I read it is the

Leader would tend to go is lost 11 out of the last 21 snowball der yeah exactly going to be very interesting and I think it was shaping up to be a very interesting finish before the caution because the leaders had gotten really close together um Tai Mesi had run him

Down yeah and Bubba aaer does not lost this one but if he does lose this one this will be just another one of those freak things that never happened yeah just add it to the list he’s had a really good race car all day it looked

Like the one to beat in that first long green flag run and had the biggest slee anybody’s had all day but since then it’s still been pretty dog on good it’s just that Stephen nassie and time J that much better let just let’s just say that that electrical issue has cost him eight

Or 10% how much better would he be with that eight or 10% I think that’s what we saw early in the race now he’s he’s trying to play from behind and that’s tough to do when you’re racing guys like step nassie and Tai Mesi but again I’ve talked about the

Chess match now I think you’re into a wrestling match yeah I think you’re right you know I I think now it’s the the gloves are off not yeah and and you know if you’re Stephen nassy or tomama jesi you want to get away from that

Other car just as quickly as you can and Bubba Pard may be in the catbird seat here we may be uh running and racing a little more like they did in the last chance earlier today let’s be honest well there’s been times that we’ve seen

It in this race too there were a few noses bloodied in the lcq there’s no question about that what a beautiful shot lights are on here at five flag Speedway Darkness beginning to settle in big big crowd on hand it’ll be interesting to see I I’ll bet the vast

Majority of them are back here tomorrow for the Pro late model snow say there will be a good amount on hand I think many of them probably scheduled a day off tomorrow that the Derby could run on Monday turns out it’s going to be the flake running on Monday

Afternoon be a serious out flake outbreak of snowflake flu here in the uh in the Panhandle area of Florida and it looks like they’re trying to figure out whether it’s John bolet or Michael hind that’s going to get the free pass that’ll put one of those drivers back on the lead

Lap so at the front of the field it’s going to be Steven nassie and and Ty meski Bubba Pard I think will not mind his cat bird seat position because if those two guys in front of him get a little too frisky for themselves they’ll open up a door and

He’ll be through it and you don’t think K meski is a super aggressive driver but I think there’s some folks up in W Wisconsin that might disagree I mean if if he needs to get down he can do it and we know Steve and Nancy

Can buba po no Greg cold busher I mean these are hey Noah gron could be in the right spot here you get the top three that seem to be on about the same speed level especially right after a restart they could go out there and battle it

Out and Noah GRE might be at the perfect spot and if you remember when t uh Travis b w here back in 2019 what happened it was similar situation to this late race restart maesi split the tires a little bit Casey rodri gets into him pushes him around takes out about 10

Cars and Travis bradden’s able to weave through now they have put the leaders back to the front of the Field St nassie and Ty meski to restart first and second bub aoll Noah Gregson will be inside and out in row two Cole butcher Derek Thorne William Byron in the 24 and

The 51 of Jake Finch I was going to say Alan when they were pitting and we heard from our pit reporters I said that was not a bad yellow I don’t think for Steven nassie Tai Mesi had just closed the Gap I think he was starting to the

Car was starting to give up just a little bit compared to time mesis I think that yellow might help the 51 out and and it does appear that the 51’s better on a short run he’s been good on short runs all day long and pretty good

On long runs but but maybe a little better on the short ones as long as he can avoid contact and any problems that may happen on the uh on the restart boy is that a big if huh a huge avoid contact on a late race restart with less

Than 20 to go in the snowball dirt what he really wants to do is go into turn one and kind of you know take the turn a little bit deeper in and you know get the 91 carday back but he can’t afford to because PA’s going to fill that

Inside Lane if he does yeah well I don’t think we’ve seen our last caution safety vehicle set to come in all the marbles on the line it’ll be 18 to go as they take the green flag here they come off turn four oh no no and greggson gets turned and they’re

Wading him up on the front straightway Derek Thorne is in it Jake Finch is in it William Byron is in it it’s a parking lot on the front straightaway Travis Braden got a piece of the action as well as Noah gragson got turned head on into the outside wall at the start Finish

Line well the officials are I’m going to be a just to see this because there were some games going on on that restart at the front row well there there’s no doubt that Tai maesi got the got the better jump of the two on that oh there’s the Eric Jones machine but then

You can you could see maesi drop back a little bit because he knew that they were going to say he jump to start so then the and the 51 kept slowing down to make it look like he was going to jump to start wow that is uh that is parallel

Parking the hard way my friends when your rear wheels are on the hood of the car behind you there’s Eric Jones climbing out wasn’t a great afternoon for Eric but he was in it for a top 10 finish that’s not going to happen now lot of heav turn up race cars boy

Noah’s car took a huge huge hit well again I think some of that started when maesi got back out of the gas gregson’s up on the outside right behind him and I think as he kind of bobbled those guys back behind him started going and then one of them

Turned him and you know the rest is what we see here well what happens in the first row usually multiplies Itself by the time it gets back to the fifth row and somebody’s in trouble Noah Gregson oh Michael hind torn up I think there’s going to be a long list of automobiles

With damage as a result of this and again I’m you know I’m not making a prediction but I the officials are going to look at this restar not that that’s going to do any good for Tron lapic or Hunter Robins or Eric Jones William swch exactly like 19

I think he avoided it he did stopped right behind Noah greggson and waited until the officials cleared him to go because red was out and this is exactly I mean a few more laps left to go but this is exactly like what happened in 2019 well not not the way you wanted to

See this one finish but then again you’re not altogether surprised either no no well I’m not surprised at all I just said when before we came to Green it was going to be the last caution it was so clean the last three green flag

Runs as we take a look at the replay all right watch the 91 here started early all right and the 51’s holding back so now the 91’s going to get out the gas here I don’t even know if to 91 got out of gas or not seven was up underneath

The 30 of gron whether it just didn’t get up to speed but we’ll watch the 30 ofon now watch the 54 of Matt Craig thread needles to get let’s go Co yeah guys caught up with Jake F Jake all Carnage broke loose on the front straightway what you see from your

Vantage Point yeah I mean obviously it sucks but uh I mean when you get into these crown jewels you kind of don’t expect much of anything else but um I mean obviously we’re frustrated um I just super proud of everybody at Phoenix Racing um Eddie Mercer Johnny Allen U my

Dad James Finch just super excited for what we had going there um I felt like we did a great job all day to kind of put oursel in position and and manage our race car um I feel like I did a did a solid job today and and I don’t know

Um I was kind of upset obviously uh heartbroken more more than anything but um it’s just part of it I guess I don’t I don’t know exactly what happened I didn’t see the uh um the replay or anything but uh it’s just part of it and

Uh you get up there with the cup guys and just happens but it’s part of it uh thank youall all for watching that home and all the people com out um awesome race here at the snowball Derby and we’ll see what we got next year Jake f

Is out early in this one and Eric heeld has called up with somebody else that was involved yeah we’re down here with Noah Gregson Noah hard hit first thing are you okay and what happened in that whole mess I just messed up didn’t get any gear

Um that’s on me I feel really bad for all the teams that got involved that um I take full blame obviously I I didn’t get any gear didn’t go um like we had good restarts all day made for Progress um proud of our team but that’s on me I messed up didn’t get

In gear dejected Noah Gregson he might have been a guy to watch here he had made the climb through the field but uh it was his slip up guys that caused this massive parking lot you’re on the front stretch well you respect the honesty at the very least and we’re going to see

This replay we got plenty of picking up to do we’re going to see this replay a number of times and when we do I think uh the Harry Houdini escape artist of the night award goes to Travis Braden and if not Travis Braden it goes to Matthew Craig who were right in the

Middle of that melee and as far as I can tell came out with so much of not without so much of a scratch Derek Thorne got got a little bit of contact in it too in the seven car but I don’t think enough to really you know make a

Difference he’s on Pit Road and I think it made a difference he got a big old chunk missing out out of the right front Okay I’m afraid you can say the see the Jake Finch car boy what a tough break for Jake he had a solid top 10 day going

End up all in pieces best he’s ever ran here in the derby for sure big old fashioned elephants graveyard on the front straightaway a lot of drivers that may not have been contending for the win here tonight but we’re certainly in it for a top five or top 10 yeah my

Main now let’s watch it again as they come down keep an eye on the right side of your screen you’ll see the 54 of Matt Craig and the white number 20 of Travis Braden coming into the picture there’s brayen in the 20 on the outside Craig right in front of him and

It all happens right in front of them Matt Craig on the binders Travis Braden on the binders and watch watch how close Travis Braden comes to collecting this pile up on the front straightway not feet inches as Matt Craig just kind of slides through on the outside few of

Those other guys back there Billy Van Meter a good job Hayden plybon there and there’s yeah a lot of cars back there drivers able to get woed down they had a little bit of Gap there just enough to get slowed down you know and now that Noah Gregson explains us to explains it

To us it looks very clear as to what happened it’s obvious as to what happened but before that you just weren’t sure well yes but I still think the restart was the 91 is the second place car and he was uh half a car big time I mean it it

Went even closer he was trying to guess when when nassie was going to start nassie has a choice to start somewhere in that zone but nassy also doesn’t go to make that more exaggerated yeah I I think there’s a little there’s a little bit of finger point to go on both sides

Of that one guy went a little bit too early and the other guy reacted to him going too early by not going at all toan McCulla yeah guys caught up with Eric Jones Eric huge contact on the firstway first are you okay and second what you

See yeah I’m fine uh you know we got put to the back there and and then uh then got caught in that wreck so uh yeah it’s unfortunate you know I didn’t think our car was a winning car but it was probably a top five car so you obviously

Want to finish there but I don’t know I I saw a bit of the replay looked like someone missed a shift up front and uh and it stacked us up so uh I don’t know I didn’t get to good look at the car knocked the radiator out so was kind of

The end of our day but it’s unfortunate so come down here and work hard all week and you know you want to finish things off strong but uh thanks Vass for the sport they came on made it a good week for us and you know was hoping to get a good finish for

Him so we’ll come back and uh rebuild here this winter and we’ll try it again injected Eric Jones is done and now down to Eric keld with a report I yeah on Michael Hind and just generally watching this Boneyard race car is getting towed back in Hunter Robins car

Just came in a big oo came up from the crowd or Noah gregson’s car came in on the roll back they are thrashing on Michael hein’s car there are multiple Crews down here under the front of that car the hood is up but that’s because they’re replacing about everything along

We’re talking fenders we’re talking stuff under the nose they’re beating on him with a big hammer doing everything they can to get young mik out there who’s had such a solid day here the snowball Derby whom like so many other drivers have seen it come to a pretty quick and abrupt

End tough break for Michael hin had uh had some early visions of maybe a top five finish or a run for a checkered flag faded a bit in the uh in the second half of this race but and he was still going to get a decent yeah I was going

To say deserved a whole lot better than what they’re going to end up yeah I mean look at we bar lot of really good race cars turned into the dumpster material all right as they continue the cleanup red flag is out 18 laps to go we’ll be back here at the snowball

Derby I’m Tes and you’re watching racing America HMS Motorsport is the leader in Motorsport safety providing the most advanced driver safety products to NASCAR Indie Car sprint cars and sports drivers from Grassroots to professional Racers HMS Motorsport has over 25 years experience outfitting drivers with the best gear on the market equipped with

Firsthand product knowledge our experts are ready to help you select the best harness belt seats head restraints helmets and racing attire for your type of racing HMS is even the exclusive importer for schro belts shirt helmets and Valero Bas layers visit one of our stores in moresville North Carolina or

Danvers Massachusetts or check Us online at HMS Motorsport where you can learn the details of our products and order online safety starts here from local short tracks to NASCAR Race Choice is trusted by the biggest names in racing over 100,000 products from the most popular brands in the

Industry race choice.com has you covered as always free shipping on purchases over $99 and race choice.com has you covered with great holidays shopping deals for your favorite racer race choice.com and performance me no matter the terrain Hooters and racing go together like killer wings and ice cold beer

Racing has been at the core of Hooters DNA from the beginning whether it’s backing the best drivers or serving up the best food on race day race fans know Hooters is the real deal big streams great food good times Hooters the official home of race fans it won’t ever happen to me that’s

What we all think but it does one minute you see them you look away then they’re gone it can happen that quick 2300 children get lost or go missing every single day to good parents go to safe locator.com give yourself the peace of mind that if your child is ever lost or

Missing you alert the entire crowd with the push of a button take control don’t let it happen to you I’m Gordon racer back at the elephant graveyard AKA five flag Speedway Pensacola Florida where the remnants of the 24 car of William Byron the 32 car of trayton

Labovich the four car of Eric Jones just three of many that will go home in far less condition than they arrived a couple of days ago yeah not only a lot of cars involved but a lot of cars involved badly it looks like a wreck at Daytona or

Talladega that’s what happens when they all Stack Up nowhere to go coming to the green hey if they’re still watching want to give a hello to scoot and Clint in play at North Carolina they said hello to us right now we ain’t got anything else to

Say Scoot and Quint are all we got leftow M and Jeff could be a long ride back home to Ontario for the Tron lovic team they had I I would think up until the last 10 minutes they have had about as good a week here at five flaged Speedway as you

Could have hoped to have in your first trip down to take of yeah I agree and there you see Eric Jones C when he said they knocked the r out like he literally knocked it outow and they weren’t even up to full speed yet they were close but coming for

A restart they destroyed them they have to take some time to get the track all back together 282 laps in 18 from the finish in the 56th running of the snowball Derby so what this does now for a lot of guys that quite honestly we haven’t done a whole lot of

Talking about this evening it turns a whole lot of guys that were running 18th 19th 20th and turns them into potential top 10 finishers here tonight that it does we’re going to see some chances for some guys who maybe thought they were on their way to a 15th or Worse be up there

Battling for a potential top five well Derek Thorne’s not going to repeat as a snowball Derby winner apparently dere uh he’s down with Ryan Maka Derek Thorne dejectedly got out of the car and changed his clothes Derek a year ago you’re in Victory Lane and this sport can humble you sometimes what you

See in this latest incident knocked you out of the rest uh we just got going off of four and looks like Noah just missed a shift then I got into him once I got into him it was game over after that and unfortunately there’s a lot of R cars

Including ours and just can’t than schaer enough Paul schaer Chris pie Paulie schaer all of our sponsors up in the party deck um these guys what make it all possible and fun obviously this isn’t the way we wanted to end but this is racing you started this race uh on

The pole led a bunch of the first a little bit got a little loose on you in that first run and kind of got you back in the pack yeah the tires we had today just weren’t cooperating as well as having the past and um it’s one of those

Things we adjusted for it but for whatever reason it wasn’t responding like it normally does and threw some stuff at it I thought we had a good chance there right at the end our short run speed was always pretty strong but just never got a chance to try it out

You were in this race for a long time you’re one of the fastest guys out here of the guys that are up front up front still who do you think has the best race car that you’ve seen from your driver seat uh par all those guys you know in a

Short run like this all it takes is one bumper to move a guy and lose three or four car lengths and you can’t get a back so it’s going to beond to whoever puts a bumper to somebody at the end like it normally is and uh May the best

Band win Derek Thorne the defending snowball Derby winner out early here in 2023 he knows all about that bumper thing that was a little he was leading late in a race after as you mentioned earlier Allan he dominated an event and uh the only thing that helped was a yellow flag that put

Chandler Smith on his rear bumper going into three and if Chandler Smith didn’t make that contact going into turn three when he had that opportunity two laps later Derek Thorne would have been pulling away from the rest of the field same thing happened in 20 with with

Derek Thorne and Tom mesy and I don’t think Derek Thorn’s car was as much better in 20 as it was in 21 and but um I don’t think this the last time we’re going to see the bumper that was uh you know this this inance was for a

Different situation but I mean right off the bat there too if you if you remember on that restart Bubba Pard looked down to the inside of nassy and I think he was going to try to get under nassy going into turn one you can hear the break from Noah

Gregson knowing that he had a good race car I said right before they went back to the restart he might be in the perfect position because those top three are all going to go out there and battle it out and it’s going to get rough and

Fenders are going to fly and he might be sitting right where he needs to be and just Carr didn’t get into gear in turn four and then they Stack Up nowhere to go at no point today did I look at Noah Gregson and say there’s a potential

Winner of the snowball Derby but he did exactly what you have to do as a driver he made the most of what he had and with 20 laps to go he was in the top four and who know like you said who knows what would have happened down the stretch

Well we’re glad you’re joining us here on racing America and there’s so much more to see start 2024 off on the right foot join us January 5th through the 7th to watch the New Year’s batch from Dylan Motor Speedway and kick off the new year with exciting short track racing log on

To racing america.com to get your ticket to the race right on your TV and I know Dave that’s some race I think every time I’m there I look down in the green Sands and you’re sitting there watching absolutely yeah where else would you want to be uh it’s it’s one of the great

Know short track events in the region if not in the country you I’ve been very blessed to see a lot of them over the years you know I’ve done about 100 Mil BS done a few Ox 250s and now done a couple of snowball deres I still you

Know one of these days when I get tired of working for a living and and hit the lottery I’m just going to go on the road and see and I’m going to follow late models late model stocks all over the country see the events one you and Steve post maybe get a

RV oh he is way ahead of me that man that man lives on popcorn and and Diet Pepsi he is always at the race yeah he loves it has do a lot of these fans here and uh you folks watching at home we’re glad that you could join us here on

Racing America again want to thank our friends at Hooters and safe locator for being a part of this year’s snowball Derby and being a part of our coverage and there’s a lot left to go I think 18 laps but there’s going to be a lot packed into these final 18 laps think we

Might have another caution before it’s over I think so yeah I would say that’s a safe that safe that and I again the officials have been talking about that restart and and they’re going to be watching this next one very very closely and I think that they they have made

Very clear to the leaders that they need to be nose to nose coming out of turn four sometimes a little unofficial word to the wise in a situation like this can do wonders you go to you go to the outside guy and you say you went a

Little too early and we saw you you go to the inside guy and you say we we you waited a little too long and we saw you yeah let’s do a better job this time because you don’t want us making the decision of who wins the snowball Derby

Yeah and it may be neither one of you right one of the places that does have a distinct Team Construction restart Zone down there place that with the opening line and maesi started just a little bit before that opening line of the restart box nassie saw it and knew if he went

There’s a chance that mes is going to lead down into turn one and didn’t want that to happen so he didn’t go until the last moment be interesting how that shakes out over the final 18 Laps on this next restart yeah as we said before nothing egregious on the part either

Driver just one went a little too early and one went a little too late and the two combined together looked like a big difference but you know what I am very thankful for because I speculated earlier that it might have been because of the games that the leaders were

Playing this a it had absolutely nothing to do with anything that Sten nany or Tai meski was doing it was a a m mistake a mechanical issue for whatever it was that D Gregson couldn’t get that uh 30 car into gear uh ultimately caused this

Huge crash that has taken out uh many of the contenders here for the snowball Derby a look from on high from the race choice.com drone cam some great shots throughout the afternoon and the evening here at five flag Speedway big big crowd and as you can well expect nobody’s

Going home at this point right no way we’ve waited off waited out an awfully wet weekend to pack it up and go home with 18 to go that’s for us we’re not even packing it up after theight Dave we’re going to hang around for tomorrow afternoon Allan and I to uh check out

The Allan Turner snowflake you’re rubbing it in now 100 yeah we’re going to see Outlaw Competition as well we saw Derek Griffin one of the locals now from Indiana originally and uh he carried the Tom Dawson Trophy up here into the tower after pre-race ceremonies I said kind of

Miss seeing your race this week he said are you sticking around for tomorrow and I said yeah he says well I’m all being an outlaw so we’ll see a good competition in that Outlaw class Timothy Watson The Outlaw champion here this year at the track the 28 car made his

First derby here today we want to take a look run down through the lineup since they’ve uh they’ve gone through scoring a couple of times they have things well they haven’t recycled because they’re still not rolling uh laps are not counting but when we looked at the rund

Down before we went to Red Ty M Jesy Steven nassie Bubba Pard were good for those three Cole butcher has moved into fourth William Byron’s out Gio riro will be I believe in fifth lapic he went back he’s done so Jake Finch is done we’re

Down to about 11 is done wow let’s check in now with Eric heeld he’s with William Barron yeah and another subject of this million doll accident on a front stretch William what at from your perspective yeah it looked like uh the 30 missed the

Shift and um by the time I was there I was ramping over the top of them so uh we were probably going to run about six or seven so not a great not a great run there but um I mean it would have been all right we worked on it the whole time

And U just sucks to not finish William Byron among several contenders knocked out here on this late race caution so it’s an 18 laap dash for cash and I um I I agree with you two gentlemen I I think the odds of doing 18 consecutive green flag laps are not all

That good yeah I I think that could be the case I think we’re going to be better as far as the restart goes I don’t think that will be an issue I think going in through turns one and two could be an issue yeah we might make it

A little further down the track well you got fewer cars out there now and you know again Derek Thorne said last year when we had these late race restarts and and when Samy Smith threw it three wide going down into the corners he knew that

He tried to take a wide Arc in there and his goal was to be far enough ahead of whoever was on the outside going into turn three that they couldn’t get to his bumper now he had to do it three or four times with restarts but every time he

Was able to clear that guy and that’s what I think we need to watch here uh is is who’s out in front and how far they out in front when they get to turn three so it’s nassie and maesi inside and out in row one Bubba Pard and Cole butcher now who

Is inherit of the number four spot chief Gio Rogero who was what two laps down before the race hardly even took the green flag he is fifth now alongside the 54 of Matt Craig on the outside of row number three yep and Travis Bren right there in seventh both

Of those drivers got through that last crash all right let’s see what the leaders do much better restart this time now Matt Craig has a problem as the green is out Nessie heads down into turn one side by side with maesi Maes is right there with him he’s got a wheel up

On the outside Lane Tai maesi trying to do it the hard way slams The Door in the face of nassie or does he Steven nassie into the left rear on maesi and they’re back at it on the front straight away what a run from maesi on the restart closes the door in

Turn one nassie drops in line in second Pard in line in third Cole butcher running the outside Lane trying to pick up a spot or two here comes nany back down on the inside this time maesi has to give him room meski gets a good run out of turn number four meanwhile Cole

Butcher trying to take third from Pard Ty Mesi shuts the door on nassie nassie kicks it open again side by side to the back straight away Steven nassie on the inside Tai maesi on the outside Bubba to the inside on Cole busher it’s anybody’s ball game it’ll be 15 to go this time

Wasn’t really room for maesi to drop in line in seconds so keep it in the second lane he’s strong in the outside Groove pulling back forward nassie up the track majeski up against the wall Pard looking for an opening beaten and banging out of turn number two now majeski with a fight

Back at whoa he breaks loose that time out of turn four he and nasty again make contact into turn one time Mesi topside in the 91 trying to squeeze nassie down low enough to keep him from getting back to the throttle they ran the whole length of the back straight away

Touching door to door it’s anybody’s game they are nose to nose again at the start Finish Line meski out way he’s making this second group work amazing Run for the 91 nasty and he rubbing fenders rubbing doors side by side the lead battle continues every lap out of

Turn two nassy has tried to squeeze meski a little bit get it as tight as he can out of turn number two they go back door handle to door handle back into turns one and two watch Bubba Pard here he’s ready to make a move like a vulture

On a low Branch he just wants a little peak of daylight to the inside of Steven nassie and he’ll make it fre wide again they bump each other out of four and this time majeski has the lead by a nose nasty got down on the flat of turn four

Caused the car to Bobble a little bit went up the banking they continue on maesi the slight Advantage par just wants that little bit of an opening at the bottom to make it three wide it hasn’t been big enough yet nassie keeping it against the bottom who will

Lead this lap at the line nassie more contct there back by uh beyond the start Finish Line that allows nassie to clear maesi now bub aard going to look down to his inside as one of the most epic battle in snowball Derby history continues Paul goes to Second they went

Eight laps side by side door to door elbow to Elbow nassie now trying to get away but he’s got a new Challenger at the back door here’s Bubba Pard on the back bumper going down the back straight away eight laps to go if you’re Bubba Pard this might be your chance to win

Your first ever snowball Derby he’s going to give it 110% nassie leads with eight to go he’s never been this close that’s for sure as he and nasty race out of turn number two Pard got a good run that time he takes the peak to the end

Side will use the bumper in turn three he can’t get there nasty continues to lead but Pard right on him loosens him up at the exit of turn number four here’s the shot for Bubba Pard he’s got the bottom nassie chops him off around goes Steven nassie around goes Bubba

Pard they’re both up and into the fence nassie and Pard Clash again with seven laps to go in the snowball here at five flag Speedway check this out wow po has got his window net down quickly nassy’s left side tires are not even on the ground right

Now and another defeat for Bubba po at the snowball Derby well you could see it coming you you knew that Steven nassie was going to try and shut the door you knew that Bubba Pard was going to keep his foot in the door and what happened from then on was ultimately predictable

That race between nassie and maesi how much of their cars did they use up as Here Comes Pard out having words with Steven nassie upon exit of his car as you I think would expect considering the personalities involved in the past history I don’t know guys I mean I I

Have a hard time putting any blame on anybody there that is just that’s what you do with six laps to go in the snowball Derby well now Bubba Paul’s gotten back in his car and stepen nassy I mean he was at least motioning to the

To the SA safety crew down there that I think he didn’t want to get hooked up to the recer I’m not so sure if they get nasty’s car off here that Pard may be able to drive away just got to lift the 51 off the front and it doesn’t look

Like it has too severe of damage three of the greatest drivers to ever race here at five flag Speedway Steven nany Bubba Pard and Tom Mesi that that was that’s a dream I don’t know that you’re ever going to see eight better Laps on a short track than

You saw right there no it is so hard to run the outside Lane like that and for majeski to do it for so long might have used up a lot of his equipment in the process but now he’s in the lead it might not matter was it matter and I’m

Going to tell you something you know you got Gio rero up there Travis Breeden is is still in this thing and and it’s looking so much like 2019 I hate to keep going back there it is it looks so much like it let’s take a look on this replay

At what happened as they went down into turn one it was really hard to to get an idea of exactly how they made contact going into turn one here’s some contact out of four Pard loosened him up coming off four there’s no question about that he got to the

Inside ever so slightly maybe a foot going down into turn one no question about that here’s where Steven nassie says you’re not far enough in I’m coming to the left that’s where Bubba Says I Am far enough in I’m not backing out and the rest as they say is history well

Steven nassie came down one time and I think that was okay but that second time when he came down I mean par didn’t have anywhere to go because the wall was on his inside watch here nany’s going to come down and then he’s going to come down again here into turn one

Right oh gosh right there right there yeah and at this point he’s just along for the ride there’s no intent on either man’s fault there right front is down on the bub aard car and Ste nass’s in full spin mode so neither one of them responsible for anything from there on

I’ll tell you guy I’ll say it again that to me is just hard-nosed racing in the final 10 laps of the snowball Derby well he’s driven his car back I thought nassy wanted to try and drive it back to the pit I’m trying to look and see if bub aaer drove his car

Back I know our pit reporters are going to try to effort what’s going on down there right now there a hectic situation for sure best case scenario for Steven nassie and Bubba Pard is they come back out onto the racetrack probably what 20th 21st on the actually on the

Racetrack and and I don’t know I’m going to have a hard time watching the lead if those two are in the back right now mainly maybe just a right front flat on the Bubba Pard car lot of damage on the nose though I don’t think he popped the radiator but

There’s a lot of damage there if you’re Bubba Pard you’ve just got to be looking Skyward saying what’s it going to take Lord what what’s going to take for me to win just one of these things after all these years well th maybe this was as

Close as he as he’s ever been and we’ve seen him get close but but this might have been the closest and I think as hard as nany and maesi had ran whether or not Pard was losing power or not as he’s out of his car right now uh he may

Have been in the catbird seat and he had to go when he went I mean it’s not a matter of him waiting and listen I’m not piling on stepen Nessie because I would probably have done exactly what Nancy did especially when you got moved in

Turn four so he’s looking at it as Bubba just move me over I’m going to try to squeeze him down and turn one and it just didn’t work out well I wouldn’t want to be Ryan or uh Eric right now because I’ve tried to interview Bubba after a situation like this before and

He uh very clearly used some profane adjectives and told me exactly where he stood think he just wants to be alone for yep he he did well I I guarantee you of course as it always does social media is exploding with the Bubba fans saying dirty things about Steven nassie and the

Nassy fans saying uncomplimentary things about Bubba but I’ll say it again and I’m I’m one man with one opinion that’s no better than anybody else’s that to me was just hard-nosed racing it was and I you know you wish it could have went on for about six more laps as stepen nassy

Takes his car back out and uh I’m not so sure we’re not going to see just as good a racing now because I’m kind of like Q Adam I I’m not sure that majeski H and burned his stuff up there he used it up a lot eight laps being on

The outside Lane as hard as he was racing and with some pretty good rubs against Steven nassie and rubs trying to squeeze between nassie in the wall in the backstretch nassie gave him 1 cmet extra I think to get down the backstretch about four laps in a row and

Here’s the Amazing Story second place driver right now is Gio rero who lest we forget on lap three of this race was two laps down yeah he didn’t even take the green flag got them all back got them both back courtesy of a couple of uh

Very early caution flags and look at him now up to the number two position has he got car enough to deal with Tai maesi I would have said no up until the point where maesi put nine brutal Laps on that thing trying to run the outside of

Steven nassie for the lead and then there’s old Travis Braden sitting there in the third spot just just waiting for an opening and slowly but surely putting himself as you mentioned just a few years ago in position like he was he’s read this book and he knows How It Ends

Seen it before right yeah and Bubba Paul is just trying to get away from everybody for a minute the media down there it looked like they kind of dispersed and you just sort of understand sometimes that you need to give somebody some space he could taste it it was that

Close and he was better over those three or four laps following Steven nassie and after he had run his car so hard against Tai meski I know in racing you don’t get what you deserve you get what you earn but if anybody ever deserve to win in

The snowball Derby one of these years it’s going to have to be bubble Pard and but listen I’d put stepen nany right there too oh absolutely I mean he’s driven his guts out at this racetrack to viory Lane yeah and been in Victory Lane and felt it and climbed out and held

That Trophy and then had it taken away which I don’t think there’s anything that could feel worse than that has anybody checked on our girl Jess has anybody taking her pulse down there check their heart rate what’s going on I was going to tell the our pit reporters

They might want to get a camera down there cuz get the paddles out we might need them she may be giving Kim Burton a run for her money right now I’d say those little feet are just uh just going on top of that pit box and she told me

This morning she said think about how screwed this screwed up this is I’m calculating fuel mileage today said up there on the pit box with the crew chief Gary s aont and Travis kind of coached her through how to do it and was like don’t you miss a

Lap Gary s man’s had some fast cars he’s been turning wrenches on lately yes he has he’s uh he’s about one of my favorite people in the super late model Community I agree I I love coming down here every year because I know I’m going

To get a 15 minute s sit down with Gary S amont I know I’m going to get a 15minute sit down with Scott Hansen I know I’m going to get a 15minute sit down with Gary Belo right I mean there just there aren’t a lot of people like

That around that you get to just sit and chew the fat with I just you know I just got to reflect again on what we saw there and that’s that’s probably the most amazing eight or 10 LP Fel just because of who it was you know and we’re

Greedy we wanted it to go right to the finish and it could have had the wreck not happened down in turn one I came that close to asking rhetorically can this last for another eight laps I said don’t you dare I said to myself don’t you dare say it because it won’t and

It’ll be you know it’ll be my fault I couldn’t believe it lasted as long as it did it doesn’t get much better yeah and you know when we were calling All American 400 last year with the S wallic Butcher and Matt Craig it was the same

Thing you just you just wanted it to go to the end but it’s just when you’re driving that close to the edge it’s just super hard to maintain it had a uh they had a three-man cars tour late model stock finish like that last weekend and

It was just it’s just thrilling to watch because it reminds you just how good these guys are that they they you know they’re it’s not just reasonably good drivers in good race cars these guys are the best super late model pilots in the country and we’re a lap away well I

Don’t know are we or are we not a lap away from seeing who’s going to win this thing well we’re six laps away from seeing who’s going to win it we’re a lap away from what could determine who ends up winning this race and time Mesi from

The pole does he have some left in the tank after that spirited battle with Steven nassie look who’s outside of road three Steven nassie he’s ahead of the layup down cars just keep that in mind wow all right here they come Tai maesi Gio roero Travis brayen Cole busher

Green flag is up they’re side by side heading down into turn number one Gio rero hanging with him now maesi gets away with the lead maesi out front riro drops in line in second nassie making work in the second groove back there the car’s in good shape look at riro Clos

The gap on the leader maesi Gio riro already with a major win this year he won the Winchester 400 also in the top five you got Cole butcher back and forth who won his second Oxford 250 Tom mesy he’s looking for his second derby win coming back for four to go this time

Four to go this time nassie trying to make it work cup high but I just don’t think it’s there for him he’s got too much ground to cover at the front of the pack it continues to be Tai maesi and he’s putting daylight between himself and Gio rero nassie dropping back in the

Outer Lane Here Comes Fen house to the low side Gomes in the 16 the two of SW wallich all lining up and back in the upper left of the screen Tai Mesi pulling away looking for his second derby win three to go you’re just looking at a group of

Cars there back behind Tai mesy that just hit hit not been in that top five group of cars that could go up and compete for the win and I think you’re seeing it now here with two laps to go Ty maesi all by himself now has put

The field at arms length as he works down the back straight away into a turn number three he’ll look for the White Flag this time he hopes the White Flag waves this time and the next flag he sees is the checkered if that’s the case

He’s in good shape as he takes it into one and two with the race lead looking for his second win in four years here’s the race choice.com final lap Dave bring them home Ty Mesi survived the battle raced the tail off that race car and at

The end he’ll win it with room to spare Tai maesi wins the snowball Derby for 2023 what a race half a winning is surviving time jesi did that he survived one of the most heated battles down the stretch in snowball Derby history tonight with Steven nassie and ab bet

Looks back on an now saying I’m glad I didn’t do anything crazy right there other than race really hard for eight laps last couple of laps considering everything we’ve been through to get there were kind of anticlimactic he did exactly what he needed to do just drove

Off into the sunset and uh and won it with a good healthy margin to spare that restart was six to go he didn’t have the greatest restart down in turn four I think he might have even spun the tires a little bit but he was able to recover

Quickly and and that car just far far above the others that were close by as he will celebrate with the Polish Victory lap the best thing that ever happened to him was that contact with nassy going into turn one that allowed par to get by him and then those two

Take each other out and Maes is able to come home with the win guarantee at the time he didn’t think it was a good thing oh I guarantee you looking back on it now yes and I I wouldn’t be so sure that it might get interesting in the pits after this race

Either so we’ll have to see hopefully not I don’t know that does anybody have anything to be upset with maesi about today not him I don’t think so it won’t be those it won’t be him yeah yeah for sure Simon Jess’s been deserving of probably three or

Four snowball der’s tonight he got one yeah got one a couple years ago he was really good you mentioned it though there were a couple years there where he was like a Seventh Place car he’s kind of back to uh fast car an AS a Stars National Tour Championship this year and

Now another snowball derby win and and it all kind of evens itself out because you’re right you know from 2015 to 2020 or 2019 there were probably a couple of deres there that that got away from him because of a late race caution or whatever happened and uh and he got one

Back here tonight for sure no who’s your tire marks on those inside tires that’s for sure there were periods of this race where where finesse was called for there were periods of this race where bare knuckle brutality was the name of the game but again that that eight eight

Laap run in the final 20 was as good as you will ever see at this RAC track or any other and Tai maesi takes advantage he is in Victory Lane and he has won the snowball Derby he gets congratulations there from Gio Rogero he’s about to

Climb out Eric heeld is down there and he will get a word with our snowball Derby winner yeah we’re down here with a guy who is now a multi-time winner of the snowball Derby and it ain’t an easy thing to do and you saw it proved out over the last

10 laps of the race he’ll take the Tom Dawson trophy back to the state of Wisconsin here today he is your winner of the snowball Derby how about it for Ty Mes wow man he’s getting the high fives there’s Ted manstead there’s the crew Toby doodan the crow Chief just paced for 300 laps in three hours he’s taking a seat on the wall gets a big hug from Ty maesi and uh oh man what a team

Effort it was here all day long Ty M jesi your snowball Derby winner ladies and gentlemen man I tell you you know not many people have won this thing more than once and I think we found out why here in this race so many twists and turns oh and congratulations by the way

It’s hard to do you can’t ever be fast enough to win this race um felt like we actually had the best long run car today uh we were really strong at the end of the runs thought we had nasty there right before that caution came out with

About 20 to go and uh came down to a short run we made some adjustments to the car we made it better I still don’t know if uh we could have won on that short run um but anything can happen in the snowball you just have to be in the

Game right you got to be in the top five uh when it’s go time and anything can happen uh just uh it was a hell of a race between nassy and and I um you fans must have love that one that’s a hell of a race race between uh a lot of great

Race cars and drivers so uh just so happy to be here huge thank you to Kevin from tkc construction and grindstone developments um everybody from forgotten Coast K9 uh they’re here supporting us this weekend um but all my sponsors throughout the whole season iracing.com has been a big supporter of mine I just

Got done running a big race here on I racing uh the Fall Brawl a few weeks ago so had a ton of laps coming into Pensacola to prepare for this one so uh thank you to Todd Nagel uh my team owner uh Brad Manon and Nancy Manon who owned

This car this is uh last time this car was here at one so we’re going to have to keep bringing it back now yeah no doubt about that you know uh you get this win here today and you’ve been coming here for what probably 10 years

Or so and kind of grew up coming here and the climb to get to this point and to to win this thing two years in a row I mean it’s just got to be an incredible feeling for you for Toby for this whole darn group yeah it’s so special um you

Know we this is our actually our 10th year coming down here uh you know this crew behind me we have our you know our original crew right back here with us these guys really made my career and that’s what’s special about this team is um they’re everything and the reason why

I’m able to live my dream making a living driving race cars and um just such a blessing to be able to still come with them and and win races together as a family um just want to shout out to to Ally and Leo back at home um it’s uh

It’s been a tough week so um just I’ll be be happy to get home and uh go see them they got the band back together and they made sweet music for the second time Ty Mesi the winner of the snowball Derby what a run for Ty mauski claiming

Victory you could say he knew the fans had a great time today getting to see that action between he and Stephen nassy and he said it best he said you get to watch a race between some of the best short track drivers in the world and

They saw it today couldn’t have said it any better that eight laugh interlude between he and Steven nassie was as good as you’re going to see anywhere anytime well there’s the snowball Derby trophy the Tom Dawson Trophy and we knew that was a big moment that race with those guys and