After a roller coaster weekend, a second place finish in Monday’s rain delayed Snowball Derby at 5 Flags Speedway may have seemed like a moral victory for Travis Braden.
But after apparent winner Stephen Nasse failed post-race tech, it became a real victory for the Wheeling, West Virginia native, as he was declared winner of the 52nd annual Snowball Derby at the Pensacola, Florida paved half-mile.
The win comes the first start in the famed December classic for the 25-year-old.
“It was a great race,” Braden said afterwards. “I hope it was as great a race as it looked from my vantage point. It was a blast.”
Braden crashed in the final practice session on Friday. He then just barely edged into Sunday’s Super Late Model feature as the final car to get in on time in the 30th position.
“I am still very proud of the effort these guys showed from starting 30th, rebuilding the race car after final practice that got destroyed,” said Braden. “I don’t think there’s any question in anyone’s mind that watched the race that we still were deserving to win the race. But we’re probably going to come back and try to win this thing outright again. This one will always be special, because this has been quite a week, as you know.”
After the race was pushed to Monday due to rain, Braden worked his way forward, and was in the middle of a three-way battle for second in the closing laps, only to spin in turn two after contact from Cole Butcher.
Braden avoided a massive crash on the following Green/White/Checkered restart that took out many of the leaders. On the final restart, he battled with Jake Garcia to take second. With the checkered flag in the air, he followed Nasse across the finish line to pick up an apparent second place finish.
But at the Snowball Derby, the race is never really over until the winner passes post-race tech inspection. Just under three hours after celebrating in victory lane, Nasse’s car was disqualified.
That handed the Tom Dawson Trophy to Braden – after his car cleared tech inspection.
“We’re going to come back and try to do this again one time and cross the start-finish line first,” Braden said. “Very unfortunate circumstances to have a disqualification. I put myself in Stephen’s shoes and his team’s shoes and it’s tough.”
Nasse failed tech after titanium brake caps were found on his car.
“(The car) had titanium piston caps all the way around the whole entire car,” 5 Flags Speedway technical director Ricky Brooks told reporters afterwards. “It’s blatent in the rule book – no titanium allowed. They were fastened to an aluminum piston and an aluminum caliper. What that does is it keeps the heat from sinking into the caliber and the piston.”
In the Super Late Model rules set out on the track’s website, the use of titanium is listed as No. 10 on the regulations list.
“Titanium, Inconel or exotic metal are not allowed for use in any way on the race car,” it reads.
Brooks was asked if that was something that would have been checked during the inspection processes that take place during the week leading up to the Derby.
“That’s something inside the car that we can’t check during the week,” he said. “It’s just like an illegal motor.”
Brooks said he had seen this used in road racing, but it was the first time he had seen it in a stock car.
For Nasse, who had raced from 36th position, avoided the big crash in the closing moments and held off Braden and Garcia – all while racing some 280 laps without power steering – it was a disappointing way to lose the race.
“In our brake system there was a small titanium cap which does not enhance performance at all,” Nasse said as part of a statement on Twitter. “Last year the winning car was cleared with an illegal motor which was an advantage. This sport is nothing but playing favorites.
“I’ve been the classy guy and the nasty guy but at the end of the day I’m just a guy trying to be the best I can and to win the biggest race of my life and to have it taken away like this just sucks. I appreciate all the support.”
It marks the seventh time a race win in the Snowball Derby has been overturned. The last time a winner was disqualified was in 2015, when Chase Elliott inherited the win after Christopher Bell failed to pass post-race tech.
Fourteen-year-old Jake Garcia from Monroe, Georgia, was moved to second, as he becomes the youngest driver to score a podium finish in Snowball Derby history.
A series of crashes led up to the finish on Monday night. The first occurred with less than 20 laps to go, when contact between pole sitter Derek Thorn and Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard sent Pollard spinning in turn four, gathering up several others, including two-time Snowball winner Augie Grill, in the process.
Grill climbed out of his car uninjured, but the race went under the first of two red flags to allow for clean up.
The caution flew again with five laps to go when Boris Jurkovic and John DeAngelis, Jr. spun in turn two. That set up the first overtime restart, as Ty Majeski got the jump on Casey Roderick.
As Majeski began to pull away, Roderick found himself racing three wide with Jeff Choquette and Braden for second. Nasse moved into the picture, moving up to second just before Braden spun in turn two after contact from Butcher, bringing out another caution.
That set up a Green/White/Checkered restart. As the field came to the green flag, Majeski spun after contact with third place runner Roderick. That triggered a massive crash on the front stretch, gathering up Majeski, Roderick, Jeff Choquette, Hunter Robbins, Chandler Smith, Giovanni Bromonte, Thorn, Dalton Zehr and others.
Majeski said he was frustrated with race control.
“They were yelling at my restarts,” he said. “First I was going too slow, like a normal restart, firing out of the box. Then they wanted me to pick it up in three, so I did the time before that. Then they yelled at me because I was too high. Well, if I’m firing in three, I can’t keep in down off four. No matter what, I couldn’t seem to please them. It’s extremely frustrating.
“I don’t know why we can’t do NASCAR style starts, you fire in the box, as long as the leader is first to fire, anything goes after that. I don’t understand why they need a slow moving start with two to go at the Derby. It’s just completely ridiculous and the leader is absolutely a sitting duck. Just very frustrated. Obviously Casey (Roderick) jacked me up there. He’s trying to win the race. Just a product of the rules.”
“It just jumped sideways when he got into the gas and it looked like it just drifted up into the 51 (Nasse) and I was right there with them,” said Roderick, of Lawrenceville, Georgia. “I was looking to get to the inside of them if he slipped up any more. It looked like when he hit the 51 it just turned him sideways and I had nowhere to go really.
“We shouldn’t have been in that spot to begin with. We should have been the leader, where Majeski was, I feel like. Once my car got out front, it was pretty much spot on every lap. I had to have that clean air. It’s the first time I really felt like, behind someone here at Pensacola, it really mattered how you place your car. I was getting really tight right behind somebody, and I couldn’t turn up underneath them like I needed to finish them off. It’s just unfortunate.”
When the contact between Majeski and Roderick set off the final big crash, Nasse was able to get away from the trouble as the race went under the red flag to allow for clean up.
On the restart, Nasse was able to power away from the Braden and Garcia, and was flagged as the winner.
But fate – and technical inspection – handed the victory to Braden.
“Everything happens for a reason, I guess,” Braden said. “It’s pretty ironic timing. There’s a lot going on in my life, in my career and with my girlfriend Jess. Just some things that have been really positive before today and this is going to be a huge component for all that.”
Butcher finished in third, with Jesse Dutilly in fourth and Preston Peltier in fifth.
Jasper, Georgia’s Chandler Smith came home in sixth, with Roderick in seventh. Hunter Robbins, Dan Fredrickson and Jurkovic rounded out the top ten.
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Snowball Derby – December 9, 2019
1. 26b Travis Braden
2. 35 Jake Garcia
3. 53b Cole Butcher
4. 30 Jesse Dutilly
5. 48 Preston Peltier
6. 51s Chandler Smith
7. 22 Casey Roderick
8. 18 Hunter Robbins
9. 36 Dan Fredrickson
10. 53j Boris Jurkovic
11. 119 Dalton Zehr
12. 12G Derek Griffith
13. 91 Ty Majeski
14. 9C Jeff Choquette
15. 43 Derek Thorn
16. 81 Giovanni Bromante
17. 7d John DeAngelis
18. 2 Derek Kraus
19. 54c Matt Craig
20. 9m Brad May
21. 51a Michael Atwell
22. 20m Cole Moore
23. 75 Jeremy Doss
24. 16 Lucas Jones
25. 26p Bubba Pollard
26. 10 Kaden Honeycutt
27. 54g David Gilliland
28. 112 Augie Grill
29. 57 Josh Berry
30. 14c Connor Okrzesik
31. 7 Corey LaJoie
32. 21p Jeremy Pate
33. 11 David Rogers
34. 15 Rodrigo Rejon
35. 4 Kyle Plott
36. 78 Corey Heim
DQ: 51n Stephen Nasse
