Christopher Bell had just set a new track record in qualifying for Sunday’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. After driving a blistering lap of 16.027 seconds, Bell seemed certain that he was on the pole.
However, the technical inspection shed, better known as the Room of Doom, had other ideas.
Super late model rules mandate that there be seven inches of clearance between the tire and the fender, and one of Bell’s tires was a greater distance away than the tolerance allowed.
Bell’s time was disallowed and Ty Majeski was moved to the pole position. As a consequence, Bell will have to race his way into the Derby in the 50-lap last chance qualifier this afternoon so he can race at 2:00 Sunday afternoon.
Bell is relishing the challenge of driving in the last chance race, however.
“I get to have a lot more fun, I get to pass some cars, I’ve got to start in the back, so it should be entertaining for me and for everybody in the stands, too,” Bell said.
The biggest risk for Bell will be making sure he makes the right moves without putting his car into too much danger. One wrong move could spell the end of Bell’s chances of making the Derby
“Obviously it’s a very good possibility that we’ll crash before we get to the front, but we’re here to win. But we’re going to have to be smart about it, we can’t go out there and crash on lap ten of a fifty lap [race], so hopefully we can get through the [race] without any issues and get ourselves a chance for tomorrow.”
