PENSACOLA, Fla. — A pair of NASCAR stars drew a Snowball Derby-sized crowd Friday night at Five Flags Speedway. But it was short-track racing’s biggest name that stole the limelight during the Busch Light 100.
It looked like vintage Bubba Pollard on Friday. The Senoia, Ga., driver appeared to bide his time before taking the lead on lap 81 in the third of this season’s four Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series features for super late models. He assured everyone, though, that he was hammer down from the drop of the green flag.
“I was pulling the trigger the whole time,” Pollard said. “You can’t save nowadays. There are too many good racecars, too many good race car drivers. Everybody’s so equal.”
Pollard’s victory was his 25th career Blizzard Series win in 90 overall races. He received just as big of a pop from the crowd when he was introduced in pre-race ceremonies as former Cup Series champions Chase Elliott and Kevin Harvick.
The two NASCAR invaders qualified well but had little for the 22-car field once the green flag dropped. Elliott, the former two-time Snowball Derby champion and five-time Blizzard Series winner, started second and tried to make an early push for the lead on the outside. However, the 2020 Cup champion’s efforts were thwarted each time by Dylan Fetcho and Casey Roderick. Elliott finished 16th.
Harvick, in his first career appearance at the famed half-mile asphalt oval, ran in the top-10 for most of the night before eventually settling for 13th.
Stephen Nasse finished runner-up and Roderick rounded out the podium in third.
Nasse, who won the second Blizzard Series feature in April, was once again terrific on the long runs. He started 10th and made his push toward the front following the competition caution at the halfway point.
“We had a bad qualifying spot and that put us behind,” Nasse explained. “There were a lotta good cars that were able to hold the bottom. That made it tough to get around. I thought I was making ground, but I guess I didn’t have more than Bubba did. Bubba had a good car tonight.”
Chad Robinson won the sportsman feature.
The finish:
Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Casey Roderick, Matt Craig, Cole Butcher, Jacob Gomes, Michael Hinde, Connor Okrzesik, Jackson Boone, Jeremy Doss, Dylan Fetcho, Michael Atwell, Kevin Harvick, Dustin Smith, Billy VanMeter, Chase Elliott, Jonathan Knee, Michael Goddard, Conner Sutton, John Bolen, Jake Finch, Allen Karnes.