PENSACOLA, FL :: Chase Elliott took the lead with six laps to go in Saturday night’s Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway and never looked back. Elliott, who started on the pole, slipped early on in the race but rebounded en route to his second consecutive Snowflake 100 victory.
The final 88 laps of the race were run caution free.
“I didn’t expect it to go green like that,” Elliott said in Victory Lane after the race. “I anticipated a lot more cautions. I was glad it went green because I didn’t see any torn up racecars. It was a good race for the fans to watch and fortunately we came out on top.”
Elliott feels tomorrow’s race could also have some long green flag runs as well.
“There’s a lot of stuff different from tomorrow,” Elliott explained. “I hope my car’s good on the long run. I think you’re going to see a lot more of the same. I expect long run stuff tomorrow. Hopefully we can get the job done tomorrow.”
Elliott’s Snowflake victory came after he scored the pole for the race, setting a new track record in doing so. Elliott also set a new track record for the Snowball Derby where he also qualified on the pole. Now, Elliott’s final goal is to go for a clean sweep.
“It means a lot but the weekend’s not over so our goal is to get a clean sweep on the weekend and I think we can do it,” Elliott remarked. “If everyone does their job to the best of their ability and we can be around at the end of that race tomorrow, I think we’ll be alright.”
Second place finisher John Hunter Nemecheck felt he made his move too early.
“I made my move too early,” Nemecheck stated. “I tried going hard too early and he saved his stuff a little bit more and that’s what the key factor was. It’s all about saving and trying to get the best equipment there for the end and we came up just a little bit short.”
Justin South finished third while Hunter Robbins finished fourth and Dwayne Buggay finished fifth. The final caution of the race was for a multi-car accident involving Jared Fryar, Mark Day, Ben Kennedy, Junior Niedecken, Harrison Burton and a handful of other cars. The race was red flagged for the incident, the final incident of the race.
Elliott will start on the pole in Sunday’s Snowball Derby – a race he won in 2011. The green flag on tomorrow’s Snowball Derby will fly at 2pm CST.
Unofficial Results
1. #9 Chase Elliott
2. #8 John Hunter Nemechek
3. #43 Justin South
4. #18R Hunter Robbins
5. #45 Dwayne Buggay
6. #1 Mike Garvey
7. #29A Anderson Bowen
8. #112 Augie Grill
9. #42 Steven Davis
10. #66 Korey Ruble
11. #60 D.J. Shaw
12. #98 Russell Fleeman
13. #11 Brad May
14. #26 Bubba Pollard
15. #11 Johanna Long
16. #12 Harrison Burton
17. #88 Garrett Jones
18. #5K Daniel Keene, Jr.
19. #7 John DeAngelis, Jr.
20. #129 Spencer Davis
21. #99H J.J. Haley
22. #4 Jerrod Foley
23. #8 Jake Griffin
24. #10 R.S. Senter
25. #81 Brandon Odom
26. #8D Mark Day
27. #2JB John Bolen
28. #4P Kyle Plott
29. #54 Daniel Hemric
30. #99 Junior Niedecken
31. #47 Jared Fryar
32. #05C Bayley Curry
33. #96 Ben Kennedy
34. #22P Jeremy Pate
35. #14L Ryan Luza
36. #14D Corey Deuser
