For the majority of Saturday’s Last Chance Qualifier Race, it looked like Noah Gragson was going to be in a dogfight if he hoped to make it into the 2021 Snowflake 100 field. However, after a caution for a blown motor for Eddie Van Meter with 13 to go, Gragson shot out of a cannon on the restart to take the lead and he cruised to the victory in the race.
Gragson, who won the Snowball Derby in 2018, will now look to add the Snowflake 100 to his career resume after the win in Saturday night’s 50-lap last chance qualifier.
The blown engine for Van Meter coated the track in oil, which caused the Five Flags Speedway safety crew to spread speedy-dry all over the track.
Here is video of Van Meter’s car on fire after the expired motor:
Eddie Van Meter catches fire in the Snowflake 100 LCQ@TobyChristieCom pic.twitter.com/pRU4aJgH2i
— Garage Guys ? (@GarageGuysFS) December 4, 2021
When the race went back green, the top-two drivers Conner Jones and Bryson Shaffer hit the speedy-dry, then dropped like rocks in the running order.
The two drivers who looked like shoe-ins to move onto the Snowflake 100 field, each missed out as they finished sixth and 11th respectively.
John DeAngelis, Trevor Cristiani and Dustin Smith finished second through fourth, and pending post-race inspection, they along with Gragson will transfer to the Snowflake 100 starting grid.
Smith did an incredible job moving into the transfer position, as he started at the rear of the 24-car field.
Here are the full results from the 2021 Snowflake 100 Last Chance Qualifier:
- 30 – Noah Gragson
- 7 – John DeAngelis, -0.800
- 90 – Trevor Cristiani, -2.519
- 33s – Dustin Smith, -2.999
- 77w – Timothy Watson, -3.276
- 14 – Conner Jones, -4.761
- 12t – Christopher Tullis, -5.495
- 15l – Mike Lovell, -5.703
- 11w – Jolynn Wilkinson, -6.228
- 57 – Zach Telford, -6.670
- 12s – Bryson Shaffer, -7.454
- 5m – Jeremy Miller, -7.984
- 34 – Mamba Smith, -8.206
- 4h – Harrison Halder, -8.399
- 41 – Hunter Jack, -9.146
- 2j – Kyle Jones, -9.456
- 13e – Nick Egan, -9.899
- 77s – Andrew Schied, -10.354
- 4p – Kyle Plott, -12 laps
- 54t – Grant Thompson, -13 laps
- 23 – Eddie Van Meter, -13 laps
- 36 – Jake Bollman, -25 laps
- 11c – Stacey Crain, -29 laps
- 53 – Kyle Ivey, -39 laps
