Snowball Derby: Sutton fastest of 45 in close practice session
PENSACOLA, Fla. — A day after rain drenched Five Flags Speedway, practice for the Snowball Derby happened Friday with Dawson Sutton fastest.
Sutton was fastest of the 45 drivers whose fastest laps were within a half-a-second of each other in Snowball Derby practice Friday.
Sutton paced practice with a lap of 16.296 seconds on his 12th lap of practice, 0.040-of-a-second faster than Carson Brown who ran his fastest lap on lap 29.
Rounding out the top 10: Preston Peltier (16.374), Cole Butcher (16.400), Haeden Plybon (16.403), Kasey Kleyn (16.420), Spencer Davis (16.425), Ryan Preece (16.437), Jacob Gomes (16.442), Bubba Pollard (16.451).
Ty Majeski, who won the Snowball Derby in 2023, was 14th-fastest with a time of 16.478 seconds on his third lap of practice. He outpaced some other notables:
- Treyten Lapcevich (16.480, 15th)
- Ty Frederickson (16.499, 17th)
- David Gilliland and Derek Griffith (both ran 16.501 as their fastest lap in 18th and 19th)
- Tristan McKee (16.529, 21st)
- Casey Roderick (16.531, 22nd)
- Erik Jones (16.626, 33rd)
- Kaden Honeycutt (16.632, 34th)
- Stephen Nasse (35th, 16.641)
Toward the rear of the practice sheet were some other notables:
- Kyle Busch: 38th – 16.665
- Jake Garcia: 40th – 16.677
- Derek Thorn: 41st – 16.684
- Conner Jones: 43rd – 16.722
- Noah Gragson: 44th – 16.777
Qualifying is coming up for the Snowball Derby but inclement weather postponed it to Saturday. The top 30 fastest drivers will lock into the Snowball Derby through that and everyone else will go to Saturday’s 50-lap last chance race where the top-four finishers will lock in.
UPDATED SCHEDULE (all times Eastern):
6 p.m. – Snowball Qualifying
7:30 p.m. – Snowball LCQ
8 p.m. – Snowflake Qualifying
9:30 p.m. – Snowflake LCQ
10 p.m. – Snowflake 125
The field will be filled out with two provisionals, based on Southern Super Series standings and track standings, respectively, and a 37th starter if a previous winner didn’t make the field after everything.
The Pro Truck, Sportsman and Pure Stock events have been rescheduled to Monday evening while the Snowflake 125 and the Outlaw division remains on Saturday.
Categories
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com