Mason Mingus

Photo courtesy VisitPensacola.com

PREVIEW: Kyle Busch to start 15th in Sunday’s 50th Snowball Derby

By Jerry BonkowskiDec 2, 2017, 4:45 PM EST

The golden anniversary of one of the most popular short track races in all levels of stock car racing takes place in Sunday’s Snowball Derby.

The 50th running of the Super Late Model classic takes the green flag at 3 p.m. ET at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The race will be televised on pay-per-view on Speed51.com.

Only 37 of the 67 cars that submitted entries will take part in Sunday’s 300-lap main event around the high-banked paved half-mile.

Qualifying took place Friday, with the top 30 drivers locked into Sunday’s show (see full qualifying list below). Three other drivers will receive a provisional position start, while four additional drivers will have one final try to qualify for Sunday’s field in Saturday night’s 50-lap “last chance” race.

Among notables in Sunday’s race are 2015 NASCAR Cup champ Kyle Busch, along with a number of young NASCAR drivers including Noah Gragson, Mason Mingus, Ty Majeski, Brandon McReynolds, Harrison Burton and Corey LaJoie.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series former champion Johnny Sauter was originally entered into the Snowball Derby before a hard wreck during practice Thursday forced the Wisconsin native to withdraw his entry.

Preston Peltier will start from the pole, while defending Derby winner Christian Eckes failed to qualify on a tiebreaker Friday, but will race Sunday because of a past champion’s provisional.

Kyle Busch was not happy with his 15th place qualifying effort, particularly since he and his team had a strong two-day practice at 5 Flags right after the NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“Obviously 15th isn’t where we wanted to qualify, but Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) and all the guys made our Toyota, Phoenix Construction Camry a lot better for final practice,” said Busch, who was sixth-fastest in Saturday’s final practice session.

“We made some 20-lap runs and we feel like we have good long-run speed, but we’re probably still lacking a little bit of speed firing off compared to the guys that qualified up front.”

Busch has one Snowball Derby win to date, in 2009.

Several well-known former NASCAR drivers are past Derby winners, including the late Pete Hamilton (1974), Donnie Allison (1975) and Darrell Waltrip (1976), Ted Musgrave (1988) and Rick Crawford (1989).

NASCAR has really taken a hold of victory lane at the Derby in recent years. Starting with the younger Busch brother’s win in 2009 and Johanna Long’s triumph in 2010, NASCAR drivers have captured the Derby in virtually every year since, including two-time winners Chase Elliott (2011 and 2015) and Erik Jones (2012 and 2013), and John Hunter Nemechek (2014).

Snowball Derby winners

1968 Wayne Niedecken
1969 Friday Hassler
1970 Wayne Niedecken, Sr.
1971 Dickie Davis
1972 Ed Howe
1973 Dickie Davis
1974 Pete Hamilton
1975 Donnie Allison
1976 Darrell Waltrip
1977 Ronnie Sanders
1978 Dave Mader III
1979 Freddy Fryar
1980 Gary Balough
1981 Freddy Fryar
1982 Gene Morgan
1983 Mickey Gibbs
1984 Butch Lindley
1985 Jody Ridley
1986 Gary Balough
1987 Butch Miller
1988 Ted Musgrave
1989 Rick Crawford
1990 Rich Bickle
1991 Rich Bickle
1992 Gary St. Amant
1993 Bobby Gill
1994 Tammy Jo Kirk (first female Snowball Derby winner)
1995 Jeff Purvis
1996 Rich Bickle
1997 Bobby Gill
1998 Rich Bickle
1999 Rich Bickle
2000 Gary St. Amant
2001 Wayne Anderson
2002 Ricky Turner
2003 Charlie Bradberry
2004 Steve Wallace
2005 Eddie Mercer
2006 Clay Rogers
2007 Augie Grill
2008 Augie Grill
2009 Kyle Busch
2010 Johanna Long
2011 Chase Elliott (At 15, youngest winner in Snowball Derby history)
2012 Erik Jones
2013 Erik Jones
2014 John Hunter Nemechek
2015 Chase Elliott
2016 Christian Eckes

Here’s how Friday’s qualifying played out. Just the first 30 drivers are locked in. Three others, including defending champ Christian Eckes, are locked in with provisional spots, leaving four remaining positions to be filled in Saturday night’s last chance event.

1 48 Preston Peltier 16.319

2 26 Bubba Pollard 16.344

3 112 Augie Grill 16.419

4 5M Mason Mingus 16.437

5 75 Jeremy Doss 16.441

6 81 Chase Purdy 16.460

7 14D Chris Davidson 16.461

8 91 Ty Majeski 16.475

9 53B Cole Butcher 16.480

10 55D Spencer Davis 16.514

11 9C Jeff Choquette 16.514

12 18 Casey Roderick 16.520

13 14C Connor Okrzesik 16.521

14 36 Dan Fredrickson 16.521

15 51 Kyle Busch 16.530

16 4 Kyle Plott 16.530

17 26S Chandler Smith 16.544

18 99L Raphael Lessard 16.552

19 11B Logan Boyett 16.553

20 18G Noah Gragson 16.571

21 20 Brandon McReynolds 16.573

22 12 Harrison Burton 16.576

23 46 Cole Rouse 16.582

24 00 Anthony Cataldi 16.609

25 53J Boris Jurkovic 16.621

26 07 Corey LaJoie 16.624

27 19 Kason Plott 16.649

28 01 Jake Crum 16.653

29 13 Cassius Clark 16.658

30 51N Stephen Nasse 16.660

31 2W Donnie Wilson 16.660

32 15 Christian Eckes 16.660

33 9K Derek Kraus 16.664

34 55 Brandon Oakley 16.705

35 32D Tyler Dippel 16.705

36 8F Tate Fogleman 16.734

37 88 Garrett Jones 16.743

38 33 Dustin Smith 16.744

39 7 John DeAngelis Jr 16.749

40 11R David Rogers 16.769

41 79 Kyle Bryant 16.778

42 89 Jeremy Pate 16.782

43 22 Donald Crocker 16.786

44 79A Joe Aramendia 16.815

45 16 Steven Davis 16.843

46 45 Rich Bickle Jr 16.847

47 5 Jerry Artuso 16.855

48 58C John Coffman 16.882

49 43 Dennis Schoenfield 16.897

50 4R Ben Rowe 16.947

51 64 Garrett Evans 16.967

52 32 Stuart Dutton 17.137

53 58F Jeff Firestine 18.159

Truck Series champ Erik Jones earned a cool $1 million-plus in 2015

By Jerry BonkowskiDec 6, 2015, 1:38 PM EST

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Erik Jones not only won the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, the 19-year-old Michigan native topped the earnings list with a series-high total of $1,103,630, according to NASCAR officials.

Jones was the only driver to earn over $1 million in the Truck Series this season. Included in his overall total was $139,381 in special awards, capturing the Sunoco Diamond Performance and Sunoco Rookie of the Year awards, as well as the Keystone Light Pole Award.

Matt Crafton earned the second highest amount of money ($842,207), followed by Tyler Reddick ($734,358), Timothy Peters ($610,655), Johnny Sauter ($558,313), John Wes Townley ($476,913), Cameron Hayley ($465,974), John Hunter Nemechek ($460,734), Ben Kennedy ($452,332) and Daniel Hemric ($440,289).

Eleventh through 20th on the money list were Spencer Gallagher ($425,771), Ray Black Jr. ($413,746), Tyler Young ($405,246), Mason Mingus ($368,802), Brandon Jones ($343,415), Jennifer Jo Cobb ($323,446), Korbin Forrister ($320,216), Travis Kvapil ($306,426), Norm Benning ($259,097) and Jordan Anderson ($240,089).

A total of 108 drivers earned payouts from the Trucks prize fund.

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Matt Crafton wins Truck finale as Erik Jones claims first NASCAR title

By Daniel McFadinNov 20, 2015, 10:01 PM EST

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Matt Crafton checked off everything he needed to win a third Camping World Truck series title.

But after earning the pole, leading the most laps and winning the Ford EcoBoost 200, it wasn’t enough.

Crafton celebrated in victory lane as Erik Jones did so on a stage on the frontstretch, taking in the excitement of winning his first NASCAR title. But the two-time champion who won six races in 2015 wasn’t phased by being usurped by a driver half his age.

“Just six wins and as many laps as we led it’s been awesome,” Crafton told Fox Sports 1. “It’s been, like I said, a dream season. We just had too many mistakes. I made mistakes. We’ve all made mistakes and we’re all human.

“But in 2016, we’re going to be stronger from it.”

Crafton was followed by John Hunter Nemechek and Tyler Reddick, the latter who finished 15 points behind Jones in the driver standings.

He comes up empty-handed in a season with six wins after winning three times in his two title season.

“We had a phenomenal season … we just had one column that was bad for us and that was DNF,” Crafton said. “The last five races, six races I knew I was going to have to be that much more aggressive.”

So Crafton “took the gloves off” and led the most laps in four of the last six races. But what he called “stupid stuff,” including running out of fuel at Las Vegas and crashing at Talladega and Phoenix, limited the No. 88 to just two wins over the final stretch.

But there was no stupid stuff Friday night. Instead, he was near perfect but that wasn’t enough.

MORE: race results

MORE: final point standings

HOW MATT CRAFTON WON: Crafton started from the pole and led a race-high 93 laps, including the final 46.

WHO HAD A GOOD NIGHT: John Hunter Nemechek started and finished second, leading 24 laps on the way to his eighth top five of 2015 … Rico Abreu finished 13th on the lead lap in only his second Truck start after rolling off the grid 14th … Ben Kennedy finished fourth for his sixth top-five finish of his career.

WHO HAD A BAD NIGHT: The first caution of the night waved on Lap 5 for Brandon Brown, whose No. 86 truck stalled on the apron of Turn 2 with a transmission issue … Brandon Jones quickly fell off the lead pace after contact with Mason Mingus sent Jones into the wall. After time on pit road for repairs, Jones returned but crashed again on Lap 74 crashed and went to the garage, finishing 31st… Daniel Suarez had led 10 laps when he spun in Turn 4 on Lap 60. Suarez stayed on the lead lap but brought out another caution on Lap 84 after hitting the wall in Turn 2, leading to a finish in 40th.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “He didn’t want to be there for two part-time seasons, but he was and, I think, he learned a tremendous amount in those seasons. To go full-time this year, we knew he was ready to tackle the championship.” Team owner Kyle Busch said after Erik Jones won the first driver’s championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the Camping World Truck Series.

Timothy Peters takes Phoenix win after Matt Crafton, Erik Jones crash

By Daniel McFadinNov 13, 2015, 10:52 PM EST

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Capitalizing on a crash between points leader Erik Jones, Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter just over 30 laps from the finish, Timothy Peters beat out John Hunter Nemechek to earn his second Camping World Truck Series win of the year.

Peters won the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway for his second win in four races after also winning at Talladega Superspeedway.

Peter’s credited his spotter Chris Lambert for keeping him “alert” to the wreck between the leaders and the other six cautions that filled the race.

“We were a top-five truck tonight and we earned this one,” Peters told Fox Sports 1, later saying he was shocked when he saw Jones and Crafton crash.

“Knowing the damage the No. 4 had, that kind of put us in the catbird seat,” Peters said. “The main thing was just making sure we take advantage and try to cap off the win tonight and not charging into the corner entry, which I have a bad habit of doing.”

The win is Peter’s 10th of his Truck career and it came after getting ahead of Nemechek on the final restart with 24 laps remaining. It is also his seventh top-10 finish in a row.

“The last two years we’ve had great truck but we’ve been in the right place at the wrong time,” Peters said.

Jones finished ninth and Crafton finished in the garage in 23rd, 20 laps off the lead.

Heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jones can clinch the title with a finish of 15th or better, 16th with at least one lap led or 17th with the most laps led.

MORE: Point standings

MORE: Race results

HOW TIMOTHY PETERS WON: Peters avoided multiple wrecks and outran John Hunter Nemechek in the final 24 laps under green to secure the win.

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Daniel Suarez started eighth and finished fourth for his seventh top-five finish … John Wes Townley finished third, earning his third top five of the year and just his fifth of his career.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: Championship contenders Erik Jones and Matt Crafton were in a three-car wreck with just over 30 laps remaining. Crafton, who entered the weekend 17 points behind Jones, finished 23rd. Jones finished ninth … William Byron, in his first career truck race, found himself in the Turn 3 wall on Lap 6 after contact with Brandon Jones, who spun into Cole Custer. Custer then careened back into Byron. Jones finished 32nd, Byron placed 31st and Custer went on to finish 26th … On Lap 17, Korbin Forrister was spun out on the frontstretch by Timmy Hill. Forrister couldn’t get his truck restarted, which had to be taken to the infield, but not before Forrister chucked his HANS device at Hill’s passing truck … On a Lap 45 restart, Mason Mingus appeared to lock up his brakes, which started a chain reaction as Dalton Sargeant spun to avoid him and collected Rico Abreu and Ben Kennedy. Abreu finished 28^th in his first Truck race.

NOTABLE: Toyota has clinched the Camping World Truck Series manufacturer’s championship. It is Toyota’s eighth title, tying Chevrolet for the most in series history … Nemechek has nine top-10 finishes in a season in which he hasn’t run in every race.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: “This is unbelievable. I’m speechless.” – Timothy Peters after earning his second win of 2015.

WHAT’S NEXT: Season finale Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway at 8 pm ET on Nov. 20 on Fox Sports 1.

Timothy Peters earns first Truck win of 2015, second Talladega win in a row

By Daniel McFadinOct 24, 2015, 3:45 PM EDT

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Timothy Peters won the Fred’s 250 at Talladega Superspeeday when the race ended with a caution on the first lap of the only green-white-checkered attempt.

Peters was in the lead only about half a straightaway when Spencer Gallagher and John Wes Townley collided with each other and then the wall just behind Peter’s rear bumper. It was Gallagher who had given Peters the push to get out front for the fifth and final time.

“I appreciate the push that Spencer gave me, I’m glad he’s OK,” Peters said. “The push that Spencer gave me was a little delayed, but it was enough to get us in front of (Brandon Jones).”

Peters and his team then had to wait two laps for the win, their first of the year and the first since winning at Talladega last year.

It was a wait but Peters, who started from the pole, was the beneficiary of NASCAR’s new rule limiting restrictor-plate races to one green-white-checkered attempt.

“It was still intense, I wasn’t going to celebrate until I saw the checkered flag and the truck was completely across the line,” Peters said. “It was really was no different with one (GWC) attempts versus three. Everybody was maybe a tad more aggressive”

Peters was followed by Brandon Jones, Mason Mingus, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick.

MORE: Race results

MORE: Truck point standings

WHY Timothy Peters WON: Peters grabbed the lead through the first two turns of the only possible green-white-checkered attempt. That’s where he was halfway down the backstretch when Spencer Gallagher and John Wes Townley crashed, bringing out the caution and effectively ending the race.

WHO HAD A GOOD RACE: Brandon Jones, in his first Talladega start, led seven laps and finished second … Erik Jones led six laps, finished fourth and increased his points lead to 18 points … John Hunter Nemechek was running near the back of the pack when he got loose and ran through the grass in the tri-oval on Lap 12. He bounced back to finish 11th after surviving a big crash with three laps to go.

WHO HAD A BAD RACE: The 10 drivers, including Matt Crafton and Matt Tifft, who were involved in “The Big One” with three laps to go on the backstretch. The caution was the fifth of the day, but the first for a multi-car crash, and turned into a 14-minute, 17-second red flag … Brian Keselowski led 10 laps in his Truck series debut and was in third prior to a late restart when he unexpectedly ran out of gas. Driving for brother of Brad, the older Keselowski ended the day in 17th … Terry Jones brought out the second caution on Lap 37 with a hard hit into the inside wall on the frontstretch, just before the pit road entrance. Jones was not hurt.

Quote of the Day: “You don’t ever want to wish bad luck (on anyone), but it wouldn’t hurt your feelings either to see that caution.” – Timothy Peters on the caution the ended Saturday’s race.

Notable: Peters is the third driver in series history to win consecutive races at Talladega
Superspeedway joining Todd Bodine (2007, 2008) and Kyle Busch (2009, 2010).

WHAT’S NEXT: Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway at on Oct. 31 at 1:30 pm ET on Fox Sports 1