Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kyle Busch wins 50th Snowball Derby; Harrison Burton finishes fourth

882002878

during the NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards at the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas on November 29, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

David Becker

Kyle Busch led the final 17 laps and won the 50th Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.

It’s Busch’s second victory in the Super Late Model race after winning the 2009 edition of the event in Pensacola, Florida.

Driving a car he owned, Busch passed Jeff Choquette for the lead on Lap 283 on the inside as they entered Turn 1. Busch went unchallenged the rest of the way, beating Choquette, Bubba Pollard, K&N Pro Series East champion Harrison Burton and Cassius Clark.

The final 70 laps of the 300-lap race went caution free. Choquette and Pollard combined to lead 221 laps around the half-mile track.

The win came after Busch started the race 15th.

“This is awesome. Man, what a day,” Busch told Speed51.com in Victory Lane. “I didn’t think we had it there for a while, for about 280 laps. Then that final 20 (laps), she came to life. Just tried to persevere and save and work my way to those guys and finally be able to get my way around them. I wasn’t sure that once I got there I’d have enough to get by them. But they just kind of kept falling off and mine just plateaued and kind of stayed.”

Ty Majeski, who will drive for Roush Fenway Racing in the Xfinity Series next year, finished two laps down in 17th. Majeski restarted first from a caution mid-race, during which he did not pit. But the race went green for 75 laps and Majeski was lapped twice.

Defending Snowball Derby winner Christian Eckes finished 19th, three laps down after he was involved in the large multi-car wreck on Lap 93 that caused a red flag. That wreck also involved pole-sitter Preston Peltier, who finished 32nd.

Noah Gragson, who races for Busch in the Camping World Truck Series, finished 12th, one lap down.

Corey LaJoie placed 24th after a broken track bar ended his night on Lap 218.