PENSACOLA, FL :: In the typical timed sport, two tenths of a second separates the first- and second-place finishers. In this year’s Snowball Derby qualifying, that same fraction separated the pole winner and the cutoff time that sent 32 drivers — including some notable names — to the last-chance qualifying
(LCQ) race.

Not only has this year’s Derby field proven to be as tight as ever, but its preceding LCQ doesn’t lack in competition either. With a time of 16.212, pole winner Hunter Robbins took home the $1,500 prize, while Anderson Bowen’s 16.439 landed the No. 29 team in the position to rely on a provisional starting spot in Sunday’s race.

Along with Bowen, David Rogers, securing a spot by virtue of Five Flags Speedway track points, and past winner Clay Rogers claimed the two remaining provisionals. But most who qualified outside of the top 30 weren’t fortunate enough to obtain a provisional spot for the main event, leaving a number of talented drivers to vie for the four remaining spots in one of the biggest short-track racing spectacles of the year.

While runner-up finisher in the ARCA championship and last year’s Snowball Derby, Grant Enfinger, barely made the race cutoff in 29th position, more heavy hitters than available spots find themselves heading to the LCQ on Saturday afternoon. Fellow ARCA racer Mason Mingus,and Late Model notables Travis Braden, Johnny VanDoorn, Spencer Davis, Harrison Burton, and Austin Theriault, who finished third in last year’s Derby, are among those needing to race into the event — showcasing the magnified closeness of competition typical of the race itself.

Mingus, VanDoorn, Davis, Burton, Theriualt, and the others are allotted few spots in few laps — with only 50 laps to get to the front, the typical pressure of an LCQ race is heightened by not only the small lap margin, but the high levels of stress produced by such a prestigious event. As assumed for a LCQ, carnage will likely ensue; it will be a 50-lap matter of survival for all involved — so much so that a handful of teams tend to withdraw rather than taking the chance of hauling a withered machine back to the shop.

That stress won’t end at the LCQ, though. For those missing the cut, a year will go by before another chance at the top honors in Super Late Model racing will present itself. For the top four in the LCQ, a tight window for race prep, potential repairs, and debriefs will be available for teams prior to taking possible the most important green flag of the year on Sunday.

But regardless of the pressures associated with the LCQ, simply being in the Snowball Derby field on yields a significant chance to be around at the end and fight for a chance at one of the  most coveted awards in short-track racing, the Tom Dawson Memorial Trophy.

And that in itself is enough to make this particular LCQ, and main event, one of the most aggressive — and must-watch — in event history.

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