Preston Peltier Disqualified from Snowball Derby Qualifying After Unapproved Body Adjustment

It was absolute heartbreak for Preston Peltier and his No. 48 Super Late Model team Friday at Five Flags Speedway.

The driver, who had rocketed to the third-place qualifying position in Friday’s Snowball Derby qualifying session, wound up disqualified in post-qualifying technical inspection and will now have to battle his way through the Last Chance Qualifier, which is scheduled for Saturday, if he hopes to advance to Sunday’s Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.

The disqualification for Peltier came after officials discovered an unapproved adjustment to the deck lid on the No. 48 machine, which occurred following pre-qualifying inspection.

“We were excited that we weren’t going to have to race our way through the LCQ like last year,” Peltier’s crew chief Garrett Wallace told Racing America. “But here we are anyway.”

Wallace argued that the deck lid issue was a non-issue and the team doesn’t feel it improved the lap time of the No. 48 car’s lap around the half-mile race track.

Whether the No. 48 team felt the deck lid gave them an advantage, or not, Peltier will have to lineup in the last-place starting spot in the 19-car Last Chance Qualifier event on Saturday.

While it’s not an ideal situation, the team is confident that they can still make it into Sunday’s Main Event as they have advanced from the LCQ in the past, including last year. But it’s a hurdle that they didn’t think they were going to have to hop over after clocking in third-fastest in the qualifying session.

Peltier being DQed from qualifying elevated Gio Ruggiero into the field for Sunday’s Snowball Derby. Ruggiero was 31st in qualifying prior to the DQ for Peltier.

Joining Peltier in Saturday’s LCQ will be Jett Noland, Sammy Smith, Derek Kraus, Carson Kvapil, Conner Sutton, Ryan Moore, Johnny Aramendia, Augie Grill, Timothy Watson, Carson Hocevar, Dustin Smith, John Bolen, Jake Garcia, Chase Burda, Billy VanMeter, Stuart Dutton, Albert Francis, and Travis Rodewald.

Peltier is a nine-time Snowball Derby race starter, and he has a career-best finish of fifth in the iconic race, which he pulled off in the 2019 edition of the event.

Photo Credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America