Setting the Field for the 57th Annual Snowball Derby

Friday night is Country Pleasin' Sausage Pole Night for the 57th Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. Drivers will take the track one at a time starting at 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET in hopes of making the field for this year's edition of the biggest event in Super Late Model racing.

How will the field be determined for this year's Snowball Derby? Here's everything to know going into Friday's qualifying session.

Positions 1-30: Friday Qualifying

The top 30 qualifiers in Friday's qualifying session will be locked into Sunday's Snowball Derby. The pressure will be on competitors going into the race against the clock this evening to make that top 30 cutoff.

RELATED: 2024 Snowball Derby Qualifying Draw Results

The margins at the bubble can be razor thin at times. Last year, both Cole Butcher and Kole Raz clocked in at 16.803 seconds, but were fortunate enough to place 29th and 30th.

In 2021, Jeff Storm outqualified Jake Finch by just one-thousandth of a second for the 30th position. In 2017, Stephen Nasse and Donnie Wilson turned identical lap times for the 30th position. That's how close the margins can be between turning your attention to Sunday and battling in Saturday's Last Chance Qualifier.

Positions 31-34: Saturday Last Chance Qualifier

Whether you call it a Last Chance Qualifier, a B-Main, a hooligan race, there's no doubt the 50-lap race on Saturday is a pressure-packed one. It often features some of the top names in Late Model racing, fighting for the final four spots in the field - and anyone can find themselves in this field.

The winner of the 2020 Last Chance Qualifier? That would be Chase Elliott, a two-time Snowball Derby winner just weeks after he won the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. He finished ahead of another two-time Derby champion, Augie Grill, in that race, with Derek Griffith and Chandler Smith taking the remaining two transfer spots.

Last year, NASCAR Cup Series competitor Carson Hocevar and NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith crashed in the Last Chance Qualifier while battling for their ticket into the Snowball Derby. Even the best can find themselves on the outside looking in after Saturday.

Positions 35-36: Deep South Crane Blizzard Series, ASA Southern Super Series Provisionals

There are only two provisionals guaranteed to be available for the Snowball Derby. One goes to the highest finisher in the Deep South Crane Blizzard Series points standings who doesn't qualify in the top 30, provided they finished in the top 10 in points. Similarly, the other provisional goes to the highest-finishing top-1o driver in ASA Southern Super Series points.

One year ago, Billy VanMeter claimed the Blizzard Series provisional after finishing in a tie for 10th in points. These are no "promoter's options," they reward the drivers who have shined at Five Flags Speedway and on the Southern Super Series during the 2024 season.

It is worth noting that this year's Blizzard Series and Southern Super Series champion, Casey Roderick, is not in the Snowball Derby field. Otherwise, he would be guaranteed one of the provisional spots based on those championships had he not qualified in the top 30.

Top 10 - Deep South Crane Blizzard Series

1. Casey Roderick*
2. Stephen Nasse
3. Michael Hinde
4. Matt Craig
5. Jacob Gomes*
6. Cole Butcher
7. Jake Finch
8. Billy VanMeter
9. Dylan Fetcho
10. John Bolen

Top 10 - ASA Southern Super Series

1. Casey Roderick*
   
2. Matt Craig
3. Bubba Pollard
4. Stephen Nasse
5. Michael Hinde
6. Billy VanMeter
7. Jake Finch
8. Cole Butcher
9. Dustin Smith
10. Connor Okrzesik

Position 37: Defending Snowball Derby winner

There is a third potential provisional, only available to the previous year's Snowball Derby winner. It is not a "past champion provisional" that moves down the line to the most recent Derby winner who doesn't qualify in the top 30. Many years, the defending champion is able to qualify their way in, and this provisional is not utilized.

Thus, Ty Majeski is guaranteed a place in the Snowball Derby field as last year's winner. The provisional for defending race winner was most recently used in 2017, when Christian Eckes missed out on the top 30 in qualifying just one year after winning the 2016 Snowball Derby.

-Photo credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America