Chase Elliott wins Snowball Derby Pole

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Chase Elliott added to his Late Model trophy case on Friday night, winning the pole position for Sunday’s 46th Annual Snowball Derby.

With Elliott and Bubba Pollard scheduled to time trial near the end of the session on Friday night, there was a sense of inevitability that they would be the two most likely to score the fastest time.

Defending Southern Super Series champion Daniel Hemric was the first to qualify and held on to the provisional pole for a remarkable 48 cars until Pollard moved to the top of the charts. But Pollard’s glory was short-lived as Elliott -- with the coveted final qualifying spot -- broke the track record with a 16.133 and took his first-career pole position in the prestigious race.

Elliott won the 2011 Snowball Derby but his previous best qualifying effort was fifth last December.

“I didn’t think it would be that fast,” Elliott said. “I knew we could have a good lap, but I never thought it’d be that quick. I’m just proud of the guys for that lap and now we can just focus on Sunday. That’s the main thing. I’m exciting about the lap, but it’s just a starting spot.”

While most of the attention was rightfully placed on the first two rows -- Elliott, Pollard, John Hunter Nemechek and Hemric -- it’s worth noting that time trials only locked in 33 of the 58 entrants on Friday. The remaining four positions will be determined on Saturday afternoon in a last chance qualifier.

The 50-lap last chance race is arguably the most star-studded of its kind, featuring ARCA Series runner-up Mason Mingus, NASCAR drivers Cale Gale, Dakoda Armstrong and others.

“This may be the first time that I miss a race,” Gale said. “We just struggled with it all day. We tested here last week and thought we had speed but we’re going to have to race our way in now.”

The complete Snowball Derby qualifying results can be found below. Drivers listed in boldface are locked-in either on time or via a provisional.

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.