Kaden Honeycutt Outduels Majeski, Nasse for Snowball Derby Crown

Kaden Honeycutt joined the list of Snowball Derby winners on Sunday at Five Flags Speedway, holding off Stephen Nasse in the closing laps to score the victory in the biggest pavement Super Late Model event each year.

Honeycutt took the lead from two-time and defending Snowball Derby champion Ty Majeski with 19 laps to go, and quickly distanced himself from the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion. However, Nasse soon closed in after passing Majeski with nine laps to go.

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Hungry for his first Derby win in 14 Snowball Derby starts, Nasse drew all the way to Honeycutt's rear bumper and lunged into turn three on the final lap. However, Honeycutt maintained his advantage and took the checkered flag.

How badly did Honeycutt want to win the Snowball Derby?

"I threw up," said Honeycutt. "I worked up everything in my system. That's everything I had, I gave it everything I got to win that race. It's just crazy. That's what this race and this sport does to you."

Honeycutt was also motivated to win in memory of gentlemen like Jeff Sandlin of Strange Oval.

"This is the pinnacle of motorsports, man," he added. "There's nothing greater than the Snowball Derby. That's why this is so damn special. It's special for a lot of reasons, the loss of Jeff Sandlin and Josh Slater. Sandlin was a big part of our program, and unfortunately, he wasn't here to watch, but he watched from a better place.

"He provided a ton of information, a hell of a ton of axles, and just gave us anything we needed that was going to be better for our race car and our program. That's why he's so special to me. He supported me no matter where I was at or what I was doing, and he supported Pat [Jett] and Larry [Blount] a hell of a ton."

Majeski started on the pole and led the first 89 laps of the event. Honeycutt took the lead for the first time on lap 90, maintaining it through lap 163 aside from a brief challenge with Majeski on a lap 125 restart.

A new challenger entered the frame at lap 192, as Jace Hansen surged to the lead after running as far back as 23rd. The yellow flag waved for a mandatory caution shortly thereafter on lap 201, setting the stage for the final 100 laps of the event.

Majeski reclaimed the top spot on lap 209, leading until a lap 272 caution as Noah Gragson spun exiting turn four. Majeski and Honeycutt battled fiercely for the lead on the restart, with Honeycutt taking the lead for good on lap 282.

"I wanted to move Ty there cleanly," said Honeycutt. "I didn't want to go in there and wreck him. I moved him probably just a little bit too hard the first time. The second time, deservedly so, I got hit back. I felt like I ran him down into two and got him just a tick off the bottom and had a good run. I took it and was able to set sail from them.

"I'm grateful for the opportunity from Pat and Larry, Cook Electric, LBM, Jett Motorsports, and every single one of these guys that helped me to get to where I'm at."

With the second-place finish, Stephen Nasse earned the Bobby Gill Hard Charger Award for the Snowball Derby one night after winning the Allen Turner Snowflake 100. Nasse started 30th and drove his way through the field, entering the top 10 in the final 100 laps.

Nasse had one of the fastest cars on the track at race's end, eating into Honeycutt's lead over the final 10 laps, but ultimately ran out of time. The Pinellas Park, Florida driver made a similar charge in Saturday's Snowflake 100, driving from 24th to the win.

"I just needed more time. I needed one more corner," said Nasse. "I had the opportunity, I could have went into the corner and punted him. The way I would have had to do it, since we weren't close enough, it was hard to judge that speed. I felt like the speed I was carrying into three that last lap was a little bit too much.

'If I did get him like that, he would have went right around. I didn't want that. I'm super close to that whole team. They're almost like familiy to me, Pat Jett, all his sons, Larry Blount. I jabbed the brake and still wanted to get to him, but I had killed momentum too much.

"We've been in contention the last three or four years now. Not many people can say that. I think we gained a lot of fans this weekend and put on a good show, so can't be too upset about that."

As for Majeski, his long-run speed carried him to a race-high 192 laps led, eclipsing the 500-lap mark for career laps led in the Snowball Derby. However, the Wisconsin native lacked short-run speed when needed to close out the race.

"Really, in race trim, all week long, we didn't have that fire-off speed," said Majeski. "We saw it yesterday in happy hour. This is one of those races where it's long run, long run, long run. You've got to be good enough on the long run to stay in the game to set yourself to the short run at the end.

"This race always comes down to a 20, 25 lap shootout. We just didn't have that raw speed in our car today. We saw that at a different point in the race when the 21 got me on the short run and I was able to reel him back in, pass him and pull away on the long run.

"You can't ever be fast enough to win the Snowball Derby. It's got to go your way. Today, with the way the race played out, it didn't suit our strong suit today."

Jace Hansen finished fourth, with William Sawalich rounding out the top-five. Giovanni Ruggiero, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Matthew Craig and Dawson Sutton completed the top 10.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America

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