It’s like an annual rite of passage in the Super Late Model community …

Bubba Pollard opens a new season each January with increased hope and optimism, ultimately shattering those expectation with wins and championships over the next 11 months. Then comes December, when Pollard arrives on the Florida Gulf Coast, planning his latest pursuit of the Tom Dawson Trophy, looking every bit like the favorite.

And yet, something always seems to come between Pollard and Snowball Derby glory.

For the 2015 running of the Super Bowl of Short Track Racing, Pollard is hoping to flip the script. Coming off a season in which he traveled more than ever before and won races all over the country, the 2013 Southern Super Series champion just wants to be around at the finish to see what he has for the best short track drivers in the world.

Despite always having fast cars at Five Flags Speedway, the 28-year-old always seems to get caught up in one of the multi-car crashes that filters out the field each December.

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In seven Snowball Derby starts, Pollard has one pole (2011) and four starts inside the top-15, so it’s not like he’s racing around with those driving with a sense of desperation. For whatever reason, Pollard has finished outside of the top-25 in four of those seven events, and believes it is a case of bad luck, which can turn around as early as next weekend.

“What’s it going to be this time,” Pollard says he asks himself on the way to the track each winter. “It can get frustrating, but all you can do is put yourself in position to not have problems. This is a race where anything can happen, and often does.”

No one knows that more than Pollard, who spent all day during the 2013 event running second to Chase Elliott, when he broke an axle on the final pit stop with less than 30 laps to go. Elliott was disqualified after taking the checkered flag, handing Erik Jones his second-consecutive victory.

Pollard would have likely inherited the win if not for his misfortune.

Last season, Pollard qualified 15th but was running in the top-10 when he got caught up in a fiery mid-race incident with Chad Finley. There have been other races and equally fast cars, but something always seems to happen.

Despite the adversity, Pollard said he’s approaching this race with the same optimism and hope that he does every Snowball Derby. He’s here to win and believes he will have a decent shot at accomplishing that goal as well.

“You just have to go out there and race — treat it like every other race,” Pollard said. “We’ve had some of our better finishes starting in the back. I mean, we don’t want that, but it goes to show that you can’t always control everything.

“Anything can happen so all you can do is build fast race cars and race them.”

That approach has worked well for Pollard, as he’s won three times in Southern Super Series competition this season, including twice at Five Flags. He also scored a $30,000 bonus by sweeping a pair of West Coast races at Kern County Speedway (CA) and Evergreen Speedway (WA).

And now, he’s bringing his fastest bullet to Pensacola in the hopes of winning $20,000 and the glory that comes with the Snowball Derby.

“This is a car we built earlier in the year,” Pollard said. “It’s seen a good bit of track time. We have a new car that’s almost ready but we wanted to bring a car that we were comfortable with. We know how fast this one is capable of being.

“We’ve freshened it up with new parts and the key will be keeping up with the track because it goes through a lot of changes during the week.”

Pollard will be fast because he always is — but could this the year he closes out?

Snowball Derby week begins on Wednesday night with the qualifying pill draw and pit party. Time trials for the event is on Friday night with the race itself kicking off on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET. Speed51.com will provide a live Pay-Per-View broadcast.