---

Eckes nips Nemechek in Snowball Derby thriller

By Brandon Paul, Speed51.com (Pensacola, FL) — The 49th Annual Snowball Derby was worth waiting two days for. Christian Eckes and John Hunter Nemechek put on a show during the final laps that fans won’t forget for a long time. The teenage drivers swapped the inside lane and the lead four times during the final two laps before 16-year-old Eckes nipped 19-year-old Nemechek at the line by 0.017 seconds.

“I can’t even believe I’m standing here right now,” Eckes said in Victory Lane. “I thought our day was over when we had that incident down the backstretch. Man, I just can’t believe this. This is the Snowball Derby and this is just crazy.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Speed51.com Photo

Nemechek stayed quiet most of the day after starting in the back half of the field. He took the lead from Ty Majeski on lap 287 and seemed to be on his way to his second Snowball Derby victory. That was until Eckes closed in on Nemechek and started poking a nose to his inside with three laps to go.

Eckes finally found a path to the inside of Nemechek coming to the flagstand with two laps to go. He made the pass but his lead was short lived, as Nemechek pulled a crossover off of turn two. Eckes returned the favor once again coming to the white flag. Having the inside lane turned out to be the difference as they drag raced to the checkered flag.

“I can’t even believe it right now,” Eckes said. “To be honest with you, I came here hoping for a top 10 and to get the win is just ridiculous. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t even believe this.”

While Nemechek was disappointed with the second-place effort, he was proud to be a part of the dramatic finish in front of the great crowd that patiently waited two day to see the race.

“He made the crossover move pretty much one corner earlier than I did,” Nemechek said. “I should have backed off and held him to the outside and he wouldn’t have got to me. But heck of a race. I can’t thank all the fans enough for coming out on a Tuesday. This is awesome to be able to put on such a close finish for you guys. That’s how you win a race right there. He showed what he could do and rubbin is racing.”

For much of the race it seemed as though Chad Finley would be the driver celebrating an underdog victory. He led more laps than any other driver before suffering a problem under the hood with 18 laps remaining.
Pre-race favorite Ty Majeski led the first 42 laps of the race, but faded late to
finish third.

2016 Southern Super Series champion Donnie Wilson and 14-year-old Chandler Smith completed the top five.

Post-race technical inspection went quickly with the top-three drivers making their way across the scales after the race. Chief Technical Inspector Ricky
Brooks told Speed51.com it was a quick process because of the vast amount of pre-race tech they did throughout the week.

49th Annual Snowball Derby Official Results
Five Flags Speedway – Pensacola, Florida

Pos # Driver
1 15 Christian Eckes
2 8 John Hunter Nemechek
3 91 Ty Majeski
4 2W Donnie Wilson
5 26S Chandler Smith
6 7 Casey Roderick
7 82 Grant Enfinger
8 77 Zane Smith
9 5G Noah Gragson
10 99L Raphael Lessard
11 26 Bubba Pollard
12 43T Derek Thorn
13 14C Connor Okrzesik
14 99 Casey Smith
15 29 Spencer Davis
16 07 Corey LaJoie
17 4D Dalton Armstrong
18 55 Dalton Sargeant
19 01 Derek Scott, Jr.
20 42 Chad Finley
21 51N Stephen Nasse
22 9B William Byron
23 98 Daniel Hemric
24 3 Kaz Grala
25 9K Derek Kraus
26 97 Cole Anderson
27 112 Augie Grill
28 5 Jerry Artuso
29 9C Jeff Choquette
30 83 Scotty Ellis
31 14 Chris Davidson
32 51 Christopher Bell
33 11 David Rogers
34 12 Harrison Burton
35 4 Kyle Plott
36 16 Brandon McReynolds

---

Back to News