Cole Butcher and Cassius Clark, driving for King Racing, have qualified for Sunday’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. Butcher, from Porter’s Lake, NS, will start his No. 53 Atlantic Tiltload entry ninth on the 34-car field. His lap of 16.480-seconds was less than two-tenths off the pole lap of 16.319 set by Preston Peltier. Clark eeked in under the wire with the Pictou-based No. 13, 29th of the 30 cars that transferred to the main event in Friday’s qualifying time trials. That said, Clark’s lap of 16.658-seconds is only a little more than three-tenths of a second off the pole speed, an indicator of just how tight the field for Sunday’s race will be. Bubba Pollard will start outside pole with Augie Grill, Mason Mingus and Jeremy Dodd rounding out the top five on the starting grid. Kyle Busch travelled from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards in Las Vegas on Thursday evening to Pensacola Friday, qualifying 15th. Fifty-three cars took times in Friday’s qualifying session with the 22 non-qualifiers headed for Saturday’s 50-lap Last Chance race, which will transfer the top four finishers to the main event. Notables in the Last Chance race include Rich Bickle, Garrett Evans, and Maine’s Ben Rowe. The Snowball Derby is one of the top short track races in North America attracting racers from throughout the United States and Canada. 2017 marks the 50th running of the event. Besides the Last Chance race, Saturday’s card features the Snowflake 100 for late models and Pro Truck racing. The Snowball Derby (300 laps) is set for Sunday at 2 p.m. (local, 3 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. AT). Saturday and Sunday’s on-track action is available online, pay-per-view, from Speed51 TV.
