Chase Elliott wins Snowball Derby pole with record lap

Chase Elliott continued to add to his list of accomplishments behind the wheel as he won the pole for the Snowball Derby. The son of Bill Elliott won the pole with a lap of 16.133 seconds, setting a new track record.

“It felt like a good lap, but I didn’t think it was that good, but obviously glad that we could get it done,” Elliott said. “It definitely can be nerve-wracking (to be the last to qualify), and at the same time not being locked into this race this year, that can be a little nerve-wracking, too.

“But you just gotta go out and do the same thing you do and not lose track of that.”

This marks the first time that the 2011 Snowball Derby winner has sat on the pole for the event as his previous best qualifying effort was a fifth. He won the Snowflake 100 last year.

Late Model stand-out Bubba Pollard qualified second, followed by Joe Nemechek’s son John Hunter-Nemechek, Defending Southern Super Series champion Daniel Hemric and Augie Grill.

Casey Smith qualified sixth followed by Austin Theriault, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner David Ragan, Zak Hausler and ARCA competitor Grant Enfinger.

Matt Kenseth’s son Ross qualified 11th followed by defending race winner Erik Jones. Jones beat Kyle Busch last year to win the event. Jones returned this year, driving the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Late Model for Kyle Busch Racing.

With time trials completed, the top 30 are locked in the field, along with three provisionals. Donnie Wilson, Clay Rogers and Chris Davidson will make the coveted event virtue of their provisional.

The rest of the drivers will be forced to run the 50-lap last chance qualifier later tonight (Saturday) to complete the last four positions of the field. The event will be worth watching as it will include ARCA runner-up Mason Mingus, Canadian Alex Labbe, 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Rookie of the Year Cole Powell and NASCAR drivers Dakoda Armstrong and Cale Gale.

The complete Snowball Derby qualifying results can be found below.