PENSACOLA, FL :: Five-time X-1R Pro Cup Series Champion Clay Rogers will start shotgun on the field in Sunday’s Snowball Derby. That hasn’t phased Rogers’ confidence though. The veteran racer feels his car is good and thinks he’ll be towards the front at the end of Sunday’s race looking for his second Snowball Derby win.
“Obviously qualifying didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Rogers said. “We struggled with two lap speed. The car in race trim has been really good ever since the end of the day on Thursday. We made some long runs, put some decent tires and ran right with the kid that won last year (Erik Jones) for 37 straight laps at the end of practice on a good solid long run. I feel really good about the car in race trim. We’re just going to have to give those guys eight or ten laps to blister off their speed then I think we can run with them.”
On Saturday, Rogers didn’t focus too much on making the car perfect in anticipation of a weather change on Sunday.
“Build a lot of speed in your car today, you might pay the price tomorrow,” Rogers stated. “You’re going to need more drive off tomorrow than today and the pace is going to slow tomorrow. I’m glad it’s going to be warmer tomorrow and make it more of a driver’s race and more strategy and how you treat your car during the race. Hopefully that will play in to our hands.”
Rogers, who won the 2013 X-1R Pro Cup Series Championship, has 36 career wins in the Pro Cup Series. Rogers won the Snowball Derby in 2006. Rogers also made three starts in the PASS South tour in 2013 where he scored two top-five finishes and three top-10 finishes. Rogers will start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field after being locked in with a provisional.
