Motorsports
Stephen Nasse finally wins Snowball Derby after Ty Majeski penalty
PENSACOLA, Fla. — It took 15 previous tries and Ty Majeski jumping the final restart but Stephen Nasse has finally – unofficially – won the Snowball Derby.
In what turned out to be 300 laps of classic survival, Stephen Nasse was scored as the winner Monday. Nasse never actually took the lead and crossed the line behind Ty Majeski – but officials ruled Majeski jumped the final restart, giving Nasse his first Snowball Derby win in his 15th try.
“I told them if we can win this, it’ll make up for a winless season,” Nasse said. “We’re gonna hit up Ruby Tuesday again and have a celebration.”
Majeski dominated the race but went on defense on the restart with 13 laps to go. Officials gave him a warning for jumping the first restart attempt – and then the black flag for jumping the second attempt.
Majeski stayed out and sharply disagreed with the call after the race.
“I don’t know, I felt like I was being pretty consistent. I definitely jumped the first and the second, the rule is to pick up the pace to the line but the rule, the way it is written, is not black and white and leaves it open to balls and strikes. So, I don’t know what to say… I’d like to talk to race control and have a discussion. I feel like we won this race and we’ll try and argue of course,” Majeski said.
Nasse took the win over Dawson Sutton, who ran the fastest time in practice and showed better speed as the race went on.
“It is my dream to win this race so it sucks to finish second but I’m thankful to be here,” Sutton said. “It was a really up and down day and I’m thankful to finish second.”
TOP 10 (LAP 300): Stephen Nasse, Dawson Sutton, Jake Garcia, Kasey Kleyn, Jake Finch, Matt Craig, Ty Fredrickson, Preston Peltier, Haeden Plybon, Derek Thorn.
Snowball Derby 2025 Recap
Going into the race, Ryan Preece and Max Reaves pulled out due to scheduling conflicts.
Preston Peltier led the first 16 laps before Ty Majeski took the lead and Spencer Davis rallied around Peltier to take second.
Meanwhile, Hudson Bulger sunk from fifth to 11th in two laps before spinning off the bumper of defending race winner Kaden Honeycutt on lap 39.
During the first run of the race, possible favorite Tristan McKee fell out of the race with a mechanical issue. Kyle Busch also went a lap down 34 laps in.
Bulger’s troubles didn’t end there as a lap 52 incident with Treyten Lapcevich and Casey Roderick ended his day.
The most bizarre crash of the day happened on the restart when Richard Childress Racing development driver Carson Brown crashed while slowing for a caution for Lapcevich’s car leaking fluid. The crash buckled all the way up to the roof.
Under caution, on lap 62, Majeski and Jake Finch pitted. Davis and Peltier stayed out and took the leading spots but Peltier snagged the lead away on the lap 68 restart.
On the restart, Stephen Nasse cracked the top 10 after starting 32nd. By lap 73, he jumped to eighth.
Busch also found himself working his way through the field with new tires, jumping to ninth immediately before Lapcevich stopped on track and brought out a caution on lap 83 that led to a restart where Busch dropped to 13th.
On the other hand, Nasse drove from eighth to fifth on the restart with Davis now out in front. It didn’t last long, however, as Majeski passed him for sixth on lap 102.
Majeski and David Gilliland chopped through the field as they took care of Nasse, then Dawson Sutton and then Jace Hansen before the next caution flew on lap 111 for Derek Kraus crashing in turn two. That left the top-10 as:
- Preston Peltier, David Gilliland, Spencer Davis, Ty Majeski, Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Stephen Nasse, Jake Finch, Bubba Pollard, Kyle Busch.
Gilliland, Majeski, Garcia, Finch, Pollard, Busch and Buddy Shepherd stayed out for the lap 117 restart. A lap later, Majeski clawed the lead away a lap and Garcia followed through before Shepherd spun and destroyed his car in turn two.
“I just got turned, plain and simple,” Shepherd said. “The 33 car [of Matt Craig] has gotta be a pretty big idiot to do that on lap 120 [of 300].”
Majeski retained the lead on lap 126 but Nasse, Davis, Butcher and Peltier rallied by Garcia.
However, Davis’ day soon came to an end when smoke poured from his car on lap 144. A fitting loose on his oil pump ultimately ended his day.
Back on track, Majeski, Nasse and Peltier took the podium spots by lap 166 but Kole Raz joined them in the mix in fourth. Right after Majeski lapped Gilliland one run after passing him for the lead, Raz took third from Peltier on lap 182 and then took second on lap 192. Another 23 laps and Raz closed to Majeski’s bumper — but the final competition caution cut his bid for the lead short.
The restart was no kinder to Raz who dropped behind a few drivers, including Dustin Smith, Gavan Boschele, Dawson Sutton and Stephen Nasse, as a result of spinning his tires.
Kaden Honeycutt rallied into the top 10 but had to come to pit road with less than 40 laps to go. That ended his day saying, “something broke on the left front.”
The race shaped up with 25 laps to go when Stephen Nasse took second from Dustin Smith. As contenders fell away, including Preston Peltier who had a flat tire and the pair of Smith and Boschele who crashed to bring out the final caution, it came down to a restart with 13 laps to go.
To officials, Ty Majeski jumped not only the first restart attempt but also the second attempt — warranting a black flag that handed the win to Stephen Nasse.
Snowball Derby 2025 Full Results
- Stephen Nasse
- Dawson Sutton
- Jake Garcia
- Kasey Kleyn
- Jake Finch
- Matt Craig
- Ty Fredrickson
- Preston Peltier
- Haeden Plybon
- Derek Thorn -1 lap
- Michael Atwell -1
- David Gilliland -1
- Dylan Fetcho -2 laps
- Dustin Smith -2
- Cole Butcher -2
- Gavan Boschele -2
- Derek Kraus -2
- Chase Pinsonneault -3
- Kyle Busch -3
- Brandon Lopez -3
- Derek Griffith -4
- Jacob Gomes -4
- Ty Majeski -5 laps (scoring stopped with five laps to go)
- Kole Raz -8 laps
- Jace Hansen – OUT (Mechanical, 288 laps)
- Kaden Honeycutt – OUT (Mechanical, 258 laps)
- Bubba Pollard -123 laps
- Spencer Davis – OUT (Mechanical, 155 laps)
- Treyten Lapcevich – OUT (Mechanical, 146 laps)
- Buddy Shepherd – OUT (Crash, 120 laps)
- Carson Brown – OUT (Crash, 61 laps)
- Casey Roderick – OUT (Crash, 58 laps)
- Hudson Bulger – OUT (Crash, 51 laps)
- Tristan McKee – OUT (Mechanical, 20 laps)
- Max Reaves – DNS
- Ryan Preece – DNS
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick’s final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen’s stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers’ stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com