Majeski Snags Second Career Snowball Derby Pole

Ty Majeski celebrates his pole for the 57th Snowball Derby Friday night at Five Flags Speedway. (Ted Malinowski/NASCAR photo)

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Recently-crowned NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski ended last year’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway on top, and he didn’t show any signs of slowing down this time either during time trials Friday night.

Majeski took his No. 91 iRacing.com Ford to the top of the scoreboard as the 39th of 44 qualifiers at the half-mile oval and held on from there, earning the Country Pleasin’ Sausage Pole Award ahead of the 57th running of the crown jewel super late model event.

The Seymour, Wis., driver’s time of 16.175 seconds (111.283 mph) was just .055 seconds off of his own track record – set in Derby qualifying nine years ago – and gave him his second career pole in 11 tries.

It didn’t come without drama, however, after Majeski’s car was damaged by a chunk of asphalt that came up in turns three and four during Thursday practice and needed hours of repair work just to turn laps Friday in advance of qualifying.

“We rallied from those issues,” Majeski said after earning the pole. “But honestly, this pole was a little unexpected. We’ve had good speed in the car all weekend, but I didn’t think we had the raw (single-lap) speed we needed in order to contend for the pole. But it is the Derby, and qualifying is always fun here.

It’s the fourth time Majeski will start from the front row at the Derby as he goes for his third win in the event.

“I feel like it’s a high-pressure moment to qualify in here, and as drivers, we always like thriving in these situations,” he added. “This is the most exciting late model qualifying session of the season, and when you can go out and find the grip to really cut a fast lap here … it doesn’t get much better than that.”

Ty Majeski in action Friday night during Snowball Derby qualifying at Five Flags Speedway. (Jason Reasin photo)

Had he needed it, Majeski could have used the defending winner’s provisional to start 37th on Sunday afternoon, but he was just as relieved that he didn’t put all that extra work in front of him.

“You want to start up front,” he noted. “But you always feel the pressure here. It’s in the atmosphere; just walking down pit road, you can feel how special this race and this place is. I actually felt a lot better about our race stuff than I did for qualifying, so hopefully that’s a good omen.”

Fellow Truck Series driver Kaden Honeycutt went out relatively early – 11th – in the qualifying order and topped the charts for most of the session, but was bumped from the top by Majeski and will start second at the Derby for the second time in his career. His best lap was 16.203 seconds (111.091 mph).

Driving for Jett Motorsports, Honeycutt hopes to better his event-best of fifth and capture his first Tom Dawson Trophy after 300 laps Sunday.

“I think (Majeski) just beat me,” Honeycutt said. “I don’t think there was a huge difference in the track all that session. Like, Matt (Craig) went out there and ran a (16).29 and he was like the second guy out. It might have been a little better to go out there later, but I don’t think I would have done anything differently, other than maybe hit the throttle off (turn) two a little harder.

“I didn’t expect the track to have that much grip, but he just beat me straight up. There was no dew setting in or anything like that. It was just really cold. If we were on the other tire (compound), we would have set a track record tonight for how cold it was … so hats off to Ty. He had a good lap, and hopefully we’ll be racing him on Sunday when it matters most.”

William Sawalich, who will race full time for Joe Gibbs Racing next year in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, posted the third-best time at 16.204 seconds (111.084 mph) in a No. 62 Toyota co-entered by Kevin Harvick Inc. and Rackley W.A.R.

Haeden Plybon and Connor Okzresik, who had a shock mount break in the final pre-qualifying practice session and thrashed to make repairs, filled out the top five starters.

Xfinity Series stars Sammy Smith (sixth) and Chandler Smith (10th) bookended the back half of the top 10, separated by late model aces Derek Thorn in seventh, Bubba Pollard in eighth, and Dawson Sutton in ninth.

Notables qualifying in the midfield included David Gilliland (12th), Treyten Lapcevich (13th), Jake Finch (14th), Jake Garcia (17th), Kole Raz (19th), Carson Kvapil (25th), Gio Ruggiero (26th), Cayden Lapcevich (27th), and Noah Gragson (28th).

Super late model star Stephen Nasse secured the final guaranteed starting spot on speed, landing 30th at 16.396 seconds and edging out Canadian Nicholas Naugle by a scant .005 seconds.

Naugle will start from the pole in Saturday’s 50-lap Last Chance Qualifier, hoping to race his way into the Derby alongside names like Brent Crews, Caden Kvapil, Derek Kraus, and Conner Jones.

Saturday’s Snowball Derby LCQ is slated for a 4:30 p.m. Central green flag, with every lap streaming live on FloRacing.