Erik Jones picked up his second Snowball Derby victory Sunday night after Chase Elliott’s car failed post-race inspection. Photo by Matt Weaver
The monarch has been sacked.
It what was a virtual coronation Sunday of Chase Elliott’s growing kingdom of trophies in victory lane at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL rose another power in the tech shed.
A few short hours after Elliott had hoisted the Tom Dawson trophy for his second career Snowball Derby victory, he was stripped of the crown under technical inspection.
Instead, Erik Jones went from settling for second to successfully defending his historic 2012 Snowball Derby win by capturing a second consecutive crown.
Not surprisingly, Elliott had no comment to share about his feelings following the official ruling of “unapproved weight” to his No. 9 Super Late Model.
“It was all a fair process,” Five Flags general manager Tim Bryant said. “There were no arguments from the Elliotts on that.”
The disqualification meant Elliott’s apparent weekend sweep of the 46th annual Snowball and Saturday night’s Snowflake 100 for Pro Late Models went poof.
More importantly, it meant once-bridesmaid Jones was now back-to-back champion Erik Jones.
Last year the Byron, MI, native outdueled NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch for the most coveted prize in short-track racing to become the 300 lapper’s youngest winner.
This December, the 17-year-old drove the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 into short-track lore by becoming part of an exclusive group that has won consecutive Snowballs.
Rich Bickle did it twice (1990-91, 1998-98), amazingly, and Augie Grill won the country’s most prestigious race in 2007-08.
Ironic that the back half of Grill’s two also came when Brian Icklar’s 2008 win was tossed out in tech.
“It’s pretty special to join that list,” Jones said. “It puts my name on a list with some awesome racecar drivers. That’s something pretty special to me.”
Before he walked through another milestone, Jones’ second-place finish was an impressive showing in a champion’s role.
Not many drivers could say they’ve done that.
“It’s hard to lose to Chase,” Jones said moments afterward the race’s conclusion, as he had to watch Elliott pose for photos and get doused with water from his joyous team.
“He’s my biggest competition. I like beating him more than running second.”
Chase Elliott and members of his Bill Elliott Motorsports team push their car to the starting grid prior to the start of the Snowball Derby. Elliott would lead the most laps in the race, 230, only to lose in post-race tech. Photo by Matt Weaver
Elliott, a Mozart of late models, dominated the 300 laps, a night after dominating the Snowflake 100.
He said in prerace introductions he expected to be the man to beat. He showed quickly that he wouldn’t be intimidated by the field of hunters by mixing it up with lapped cars on lap 26.
At one point he had lap the entire 37-car field, safe for 11 drivers.
“It means the world to me,” the Dawsonville, GA, native said. “I don’t know what to say.”
Instead, an authority on jaw-dropping performances offer his invaluable two cents.
“A weekend performance like this comes once in a lifetime.”
Those were the immortal words of Bill Elliott, Chase’s father who just so happens to have the nickname “Million Dollar” for his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series exploits in one dominant 1985 season.
Chase Elliott crossed the finish line, left index finger hanging outside the window net as the checkered flag waved wildly.
His legion of fans screamed for his attention as he ascended from the car with an emphatic and elated “Yes!”
The race had eight cautions for 71 laps, but two yellows were competition cautions as the race twice stayed green for 75 laps. Rules state the yellow must wave with that much green-flag racing.
Johann Long couldn’t channel the magic of her 2010 title run, finishing a disappointing 17th and never was a factor.
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Augie Grill (37th) and Bubba Pollard (31st), both perennial favorites for any late model event their names are entered in, had nightmarish days.
Grill’s day was done before the opening green, doomed under pace laps.
“I was just spinning the tires with one to go and it just broke,” said the two-time Snowball winner (2007, 2008). “It’s heartbreaking. In the last two Snowballs, I haven’t made it to the first pit stop.”
Pollard, right in the thick of the top three for most of the race, couldn’t make it out of the pits during a caution on lap 221 due to a broken axle.
“It just broke before I could get out of the pits,” he said. “With all that racing, the parts take a lot of abuse. It’s disappointing … we had a lot left for Chase.”
Who knows? Maybe he did.
46th Annual Snowball Derby
5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola, FL
Race Results – Dec. 8, 2013
1. 51J Erik Jones
2. 90 Grant Enfinger
3. 29T Austin Theriault
4. 18 Hunter Robbins
5. 8 John Hunter Nemechek
6. 11 David Rogers
7. 71 Kyle Benjamin
8. 25 Ross Kenseth
9. 12 Derek Thorn
10. 2W Donnie Wilson
11. 29C Landon Cassill
12. 96 Ben Kennedy
13. 42 Chad Finley
14. 21 Cale Gale
15. 99 Casey Smith
16. 10 Johanna Long
17. 7 Paul Shafer, Jr.
18. 22 Jeremy Pate
19. 45 Clay Rogers
20. 98 Daniel Hemric
21. 51N Stephen Nasse
22. 49 Josh Hamner
23. 15 Mason Massey
24. 129 Spencer Davis
25. 29B Anderson Bowen
26. 11 Logan Boyett
27. 91 Zac Hausler
28. 77 David Ragan
29. 98 Mason Mingus
30. 26 Bubba Pollard
31. 74 Preston Peltier
32. 14 Chris Davidson
33. 41 T.J. Reaid
34. 53 Boris Jurkovic
35. 1 Mike Garvey
36. 112 Augie Grill
DQ: 9 Chase Elliott
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