First Look at 56th Snowball Derby Entry List

On Monday evening, Five Flags Speedway unveiled the first look at entries for the 56th Annual Snowball Derby presented by Hooters and Safe Locator. Currently, 46 teams are entered for the event, including names familiar to short track racing supporters and NASCAR fans alike.

William Byron, fresh off a fight for a NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix, is one of several drivers on the entry list who made appearances in the Cup Series this year. He is joined by two-time Snowball Derby champion Erik Jones, 2018 Snowball Derby winner Noah Gragson, Ryan Preece and Carson Hocevar.

Last year's Snowball Derby winner, Derek Thorn, joins Jones and Gragson among the prior Derby winners on the entry list. Newly-crowned ASA STARS National Tour champion Ty Majeski and 2019 Derby winner Travis Braden complete the list of former Derby winners currently entered.

Nearly 20 states, along with Canada and Mexico, are represented on the entry list. This year in particular, there's a unique twist as the "champions" who can rest the easiest going into qualifying night on Friday, December 1 are all outsiders geographically.

Along with Thorn as the most recent Snowball Derby champion and the only driver potentially eligible for the 37th starting spot, ASA Southern Super Series champion Gio Ruggiero (Seekonk, Massachusetts) and Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series champion Jeremy Doss (Upper Lake, California) would be first in line for the provisionals awarded to top points finishers in those two series should they not clock in among the 30 fastest drivers in the qualifying session.

Of course, all of these competitors will be going against some of the top Super Late Model drivers in the country, with their own laundry list of accolades. The list of championship-winning Late Model drivers on the entry list includes the likes of Stephen Nasse, Bubba Pollard, Matt Craig, Jake Garcia, Hunter Robbins, Luke Fenhaus, Chase Burda, Carson and Caden Kvapil, Derek Griffith, Preston Peltier, Haeden Plybon and Jacob Gomes.

The entry list also includes winners from some of the biggest Super Late Model races this year. Cole Butcher won the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway and Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway, and William Sawalich became the youngest winner in the history of the All American 400 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway on Sunday. Sammy Smith, a former winner of both the Winchester 400 and Redbud 400, is also entered.

A full list of entries can be viewed below.

The 56th Annual Snowball Derby takes place at Five Flags Speedway on November 30-December 3. Thursday, November 30 features practice for the Snowball Derby and Allen Turner Snowflake 100 and feature racing for Five Flags’ Pro Trucks, Pure Stocks and Sportsmen.

Friday, December 1 is Pole Night for the Snowball Derby, as Super Late Model teams will take the track battling for the top 30 starting spots in the field for the biggest race of the year. The Modifieds of Mayhem and Crown Stocks are also scheduled to race on Friday.

Saturday is the busiest day of the weekend at Five Flags Speedway. With the Snowball Derby Last Chance Qualifier, the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 and its own qualifying and LCQ and the Outlaw 50-lap feature, Saturday, December 2 will be action-packed from start to finish at Five Flags.

The weekend wraps up on Sunday, December 3 with the Super Late Model crown jewel, the Snowball Derby. The green flag will drop at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET) for this year’s Snowball Derby.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy/Racing America

56TH ANNUAL SNOWBALL DERBY ENTRY LIST
Updated November 6, 2023