2013 Snowball Derby: Favorites for fast qualifier become clearer after practice day
Bubba Pollard already has a Snowball Derby pole, and showed that he is the favorite once again this year after Thursday’s practice session. Several competitors hope to give the Five Flags Speedway Super Late Model track record holder a run for his money.
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- If he was not already a clear cut favorite for the pole, Bubba Pollard paced practice after six hours on Thursday heading into Friday’s qualifying session for the 46th Annual Snowball Derby. Pollard qualified fastest for all four Southern Super Series races at Five Flags Speedway, including setting the Super Late Model track record back in May.
Some drivers hope to dethrone Pollard on Friday night. One of them is two-time Snowball Derby winner Augie Grill who was second fastest in practice.
“The Super Late Model is running super,” Grill told SB Nation on Thursday following practice. “I think we can give Bubba a run for the pole tomorrow.”
Pretty much all of the favorites in the garage shared the sentiments. 2013 Southern Super Series champion Daniel Hemric was third fastest and also turned in the fastest Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model time. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the fourth fastest Super Late Model driver, Texas driver Zak Hausler.
July Blizzard Series winner Kyle Benjamin rounded out the top five.
“I’m happy with the car. The track has a lot of grip. We really haven’t pushed the car yet. We’ll go out there tomorrow and see what we’ve got,” said Benjamin.
Snowball Derby cars go out for an hour practice session at 10a.m. CT with another hour at 1p.m. before qualifying begins at 6p.m., which will lock in the top thirty.
Continuing coverage of the Snowball Derby can be found on the Ranting and Raving short track blog. Visit our Facebook page for all the updates and links to our stories leading up to the Super Bowl of Short Track Racing.
A video showing the concluding minutes of practice and brief pit walk from Thursday as well as the entire final practice charts for Snowball Derby Super Late Models can be found below:
1 Bubba Pollard 16.552
2 Augie Grill
3 Daniel Hemric
4 Zak Hausler
5 Kyle Benjamin
6 Grant Enfinger
7 Anderson Bowen
8 Casey Smith
9 David Rogers
10 Spencer Davis
11 Derek Thorn
12 T.J. Reaid
13 Mason Mingus
14 Paul Shafer, Jr.
15 John Hunter Nemechek
16 Landon Cassill
17 Hunter Robbins
18 D.J. Vanderley
19 D.J. Shaw
20 Dakota Armstrong
21 Dennis Schoenfeld
22 Stephen Nasse
23 Erik Jones
24 Alex Labbe
25 Mason Massey
26 Chad Finley
27 Jeremy Pate
28 David Ragan
29 Clay Rogers
30 Jeff Fultz
31 Mark Kraus
32 Cale Gale
33 Preston Peltier
34 Austin Theriault
35 Kyle Bryant
36 Dwayne Buggay
37 Brady Boswell
38 Donnie Wilson
39 Junior Niedecken
40 Allen Karnes
41 Lonnie Sommerville
42 Cole Powell
43 Nathan Davis
44 Steve Dorer
45 Jerry Artuso
46 Logan Boyett
47 Dalton Grindle
48 Tim Martin
