Chase Elliott won his second Snowball Derby on Sunday night at Five Flags Speedway after original winner Christopher Bell was disqualified in post-race technical inspection.
Bell had crossed the line first but his car was found to have a left side weight infraction, forcing his immediate disqualification by head technical inspector Ricky Brooks. The left side weight registered at 58.3 percent while the tolerance is 58.0.
Chris Gabehart served as crew chief for Bell this weekend and believes his driver picked up five pounds of weight during his celebration lap, which came on cooler tires and driving around a dirty racing surface.
“Christopher Bell won the race, certainly the biggest pavement race of his career, and tried to have a little celebration,” Gabehart said. “He grabbed the checkered flag and rolled around the race track and picked up five pounds of debris on the left side tires.
“We rolled through early morning tech at 57.76 percent left side weight and they give you 58.09 percent after the race. So we were over three tenths to the good this morning and there’s nothing on that car that does that. It’s just unfortunate.
“If you change the tires on the car and roll it right back across the scales, I guarantee you it would be fine, but that’s not how [Brooks] does it.”
For his part, Brooks gave Bell every opportunity to naturally get the weight off the car, allowing him to cross the scales three different times, and the weight just wouldn’t come off.
“It’s written blatantly in the rule book,” Brooks said. “There’s no tolerance. There’s no refueling. Nothing. Everyone here knows that.”
Before he could be announced as the winner, Elliott also had to pass technical inspection and was given the same thorough treatment that Brooks and his staff has become known for.
Ultimately, Elliott and his No. 9 Chevrolet passed and was declared the winner. And while the 2014 NASCAR XFINITY Series champion was more than willing to take the trophy, he also sympathized with Bell, having lost the 2013 Derby in post-race inspection.
“I’ve been on both end of it now,” Elliott said. “I’ve gone from grinning to wanting to crawl in a hole and not come out of it a couple of years ago. I know how it feels. I hate it for Christopher because he did an outstanding job.
“He did his part behind the wheel, and we’ve been there, man. It is not fun but I’m very happy to have another one of these trophies.”
Elliott’s victory in the Derby caps off what could be the end of his Super Late Model career for the time being as he is set to take over for Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entry next season.
Zane Smith moved up to second in the revised order with Ty Majeski, Dalton Sargeant, Bubba Pollard, Casey Smit, Preston Peltier, William Byron, Derek Thorn and Kaz Grala completing the top-10.
Bell led a race high 93 laps before his disqualification while Elliott led three.
The complete and official results can be viewed below.
- Chase Elliott
- Zane Smith
- Ty Majeski
- Dalton Sargeant
- Bubba Pollard
- Casey Smith
- Preston Peltier
- William Byron
- Derek Thorn
- Daniel Hemric
- Kaz Grala
- Quinn Houff
- Logan Boyett
- Corey LaJoie
- Clay Jones
- Cassius Clark
- Jerry Artuso
- Caleb Adrian
- Scotty Ellis
- Johanna Long
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Christian Eckes
- Donnie Wilson
- Derek Kraus
- Noah Gragson
- Harrison Burton
- Stephen Nasse
- Casey Roderick
- Kyle Plott
- DJ VanderLey
- Chad Finley
- Garrett Jones
- Kyle Grissom
- Augie Grill
- Bret Holmes
- Spencer Davis
- Christopher Bell
