Christensen Excels With Podium In Snowflake 100 Debut

Seth Christensen (right) celebrates with his team after a third-place finish in Saturday night's Snowflake 100. (Fr8 Racing photo)

PENSACOLA, Fla. – When the dust settled at the end of Saturday night’s Allen Turner Hyundai Snowflake 100, an unheralded race rookie found himself on the podium alongside a pair of late model superstars.

Seventeen-year-old Seth Christensen posted the surprise run of the night at Five Flags Speedway, putting together a clean race with the savvy of a veteran far beyond his years in driving from eighth on the grid to third by the checkered flag.

For all of the Pendergrass, Ga., native’s relative inexperience compared to race winner Stephen Nasse and runner-up Matt Craig – who boast a combined eight national late model championships between them – Christensen was right in the mix for much of the second half.

Though he eventually faded to 2.982 seconds back of Nasse at the checkered flag, the teenager still turned plenty of heads in his Snowflake 100 debut and was all smiles after climbing from his car.

“Man, this was so much fun,” said Christensen on the frontstretch. “The two guys that finished in front of me have won more races than I’ve even been in, so to do what we did … with one of the oldest cars in the field, it’s something special, I think. (Crew chief) Ricky Turner does a great job with this thing, and it means so much to be standing where we are in one of the biggest races in our sport.

“It was a dream just to be part of this field, so to finish third in my first attempt is pretty great.”

Seth Christensen in action at Five Flags Speedway Saturday. (Fr8 Racing photo)

Christensen never ran lower than ninth all race long, and once he took the third spot following the final restart with 31 to go, held serve to the checkered flag while pulling away from both Spencer Davis and Cole Williams.

Along the way, the young rookie was guided by both Turner – a multi-time Snowball Derby-winning crew chief and car owner – as well as NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Jake Garcia, Christensen’s super late model teammate and longtime friend who was aiding as a second spotter late in the race.

It was a menagerie of experience that combined to give Christensen a strong foundation to lean on throughout the week.

“I have no clue how I survived that, to be honest, without those guys in my ear,” he noted. “A lot of guys got super aggressive super early … and I was just trying to be as consistent as possible.

“Qualifying wasn’t what we expected but we came through on race pace and were pretty good on older tires toward the end. A hundred laps here is pretty tough … but they’ve all helped me get acclimated to these longer races and I think we were able to show some of that progress.”

Christensen is a product of Legend car and Bandolero racing in the Atlanta market, the same area which catapulted Chase Elliott and Joey Logano from youthful beginnings to eventual NASCAR Cup Series championships.

His full-bodied stock car experience has been limited over the past two years, but he’s made select CARS Tour and CRA pro late model appearances, highlighted by a win in the 2023 Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway and a top five in October’s World Crown 300 at Cordele (Ga.) Motor Speedway prior to Saturday night.

The Snowflake 100 was arguably Christensen’s full-fledged arrival into the national spotlight, something that wasn’t lost on him as he soaked in the moment.

“It’s a big deal and we’re really happy right now,” Christensen smiled.