Grassroots Rundown: Takeaways from the 2024 Snowball Derby

PENSACOLA, Fla. – What a past few months it has been for Kaden Honeycutt.

Niece Motorsports announced at the start of October that the Texan will run full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2025. Three weeks later he won the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model championship, snatching the points lead with a victory in the final race.

Those moments made for a big October, but Honeycutt’s best moment of 2024 was yet to come. On Sunday (Dec. 8), Honeycutt scored the biggest victory of his career when he claimed the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.

Honeycutt prevailed in a late 21-lap dash to the finish ahead of Stephen Nasse, Ty Majeski, Jace Hansen and William Sawalich.

But while Honeycutt was the star of the show, there were many storylines at play during Sunday’s race. Here are three things that stood out from the 57th running of the famed Derby.

Honeycutt Aims to Further His Successes

Amazingly, Honeycutt’s Derby triumph is his first Super Late Model win, coming in less than 10 total starts. The result proved the 21-year-old to be a wheelman and major prospect.

Even with CARS Tour trophies and a pair of ARCA Menards Series West trophies to his name, winning the prestigious Tom Dawson trophy beats them all.

“This is No. 1,” he told Frontstretch post-race. “There is nothing better than this, man. And anything in motorsports, this can’t even (be beaten by) the Daytona 500 of the Cup Series. Hopefully, we can get our first Truck trophy next year. But I’m sorry, this is better. This is the hardest thing you’ll ever do, this is the hardest race in the country. And this is where hard-nosed grassroots racing comes about and that’s why. It’s (the) most prestigious for a reason.”

Current NASCAR Cup Series driver Carson Hocevar served as one of the announcers for the Derby. Hocevar previously competed in Trucks for Niece. Phil Gould was his crew chief and Hocevar was quite successful, accruing four wins, three top-10 points finishes and one Championship 4 appearance.

Honeycutt’s crew chief for next year? Gould. It’s a neat connection but also provides a goal for Honeycutt.

Winning races, making the playoffs and contending for the title are Honeycutt’s primary goals for 2025, he told Frontstretch during the Derby race weekend. He’ll also return to the Derby to defend his crown.

Darrell Waltrip, Donnie Allison, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, and Erik Jones all have a Derby trophy and Cup wins on their resume. Majeski, a two-time Derby winner who finished third on Sunday, just won the Truck Series championship last month.

Could Honeycutt join them with success in NASCAR? Only time will tell, but it’s hard to bet against him.

Nasse Comes Oh-So-Close to Sweeping the Weekend

In his 14th Snowball Derby appearance and five years removed from a post-race disqualification that kept him from a win, Nasse came oh-so-close to taking home his first Tom Dawson Trophy. The Floridian’s No. 51 was on rails in the closing laps, allowing him to close within a half-second of Honeycutt in the final laps.

But Nasse ultimately ran out of time. He dove deep into turn 3 on the last lap in a desperate attempt to catch Honeycutt, but came up just short.

The sting was deep and immediate.

“It hurts for me, I won’t lie,” he said. “Like I said, this might even hurt more than getting disqualified. But, you know, it just says a lot about my team as well, having been able to come in here, qualify, almost start dead last. Have a really rough start to the race. Almost knock the radiator out of it about halfway through. And then still, at the end of the race, we had the fastest car on the racetrack.

“We just ran out of time. And like I said, happy for them guys … looking forward to next year.”

On Saturday night, Nasse won the Allen Turner Snowflake 100. It was his first win on Derby weekend, though Nasse has taken the checkered flag first two other times. His potential 2019 Derby win was stripped away in post-race inspection. The next year he was penalized for rough driving on the last lap of the Snowflake 100, keeping him out of victory lane.

There were no penalties or controversy this year, just Nasse’s best Derby weekend. Winning the Snowflake was special, even if he couldn’t make history by becoming the first driver to sweep the weekend.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” Nasse said. “That’s a special one for me because it’s a family car. You know, my whole team puts a lot of work and a lot of effort, lot of hours. And it didn’t pay a bunch of money or nothing, so it’s just a big family (and) friends group effort.

“To come out here and beat some of them bigger teams, it felt really nice.”

Although Bubba Pollard has a longer winless tenure in the Derby, Nasse now among the notable near-winners. His Snowball Derby record sits at 0-14 heading into next year.

Cue the conversation about which driver will be the first to claim the Tom Dawson trophy. It’ll be a storyline come the race’s 2025 edition.

Majeski Unable to Go Back-to-Back

Majeski entered as the reigning winner amid a tremendous year. He already has two Tom Dawson trophies and entered with momentum, fresh off the Truck title with three wins during the season including the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.

The Wisconsinite’s success was also prevalent on the late model side. Majeski had won numerous races this year, most recently just one week prior in the Bill Bigley Sr. Memorial at fellow Florida short track Freedom Factory.

He had a fast No. 91, beginning when he won the pole on Friday night.

It was safe to say Majeski was a favorite, and he proved it throughout the weekend. He had a fast No. 91, secured the pole on Friday and led the most laps with arguably the best car in the 300-lap race.

In the end, it was timing that worked against Majeski. His car excelled on long runs, but the final run to the checkered flag wasn’t long enough to play to his strengths. Majeski ultimately ran out of time in third.

“I really think we were in our own zip code there on the long run,” Majeski said. “You know, the Snowball is a race where it’s long run, long run, long run and then you get to the end and it’s always a 20-lap dash to the end and you’ve got to have that raw speed in your car to get it done. We just really haven’t seen that from this car all weekend. I felt like that was our weak point, that’s what cost us the race today.

“Great racecar. Great supporters. Appreciate all our sponsors … Just (came up) a little bit short today. We needed that window to open up with 60 to go and everybody to put their tires on so we ended on a long run. But that isn’t how it went today.”

It’s hard to be disappointed with the year Majeski’ had. But he still wanted to claim the Derby for a third time and add a perfect ending to his season.

“It’s been a really good season, a dream-come-true season for me,” he said. “Obviously, this would’ve been great icing on the cake to an already great season, (I’m) just very blessed to drive great race trucks for Duke and Rhonda Thorson and run these racecars for my late model team.

“We’ve been together 13 years now, this is our 11th Snowball and it’s pretty special to come down here and be consistently competitive as we have year in and year out. So it’s very hard to do, just a little bit short today.”

Majeski will get another shot at a third Derby win in 2025. Assuming nothing changes, you can pencil him in as a favorite now.

Snowball Derby Results

1. 21 Kaden Honeycutt
2. 51 Stephen Nasse
3. 91 Ty Majeski
4. 08 Jace Hansen
5. 6 William Sawalich
6. 22 Gio Ruggiero
7. 8 Sammy Smith
8. 2 Chandler Smith
9. 54 Matt Craig
10. 26 Dawson Sutton
11. 4 Luke Fenhaus
12. 33 Dustin Smith
13. 76 Kole Raz
14. 26 Bubba Pollard
15. 8 Carson Kvapil
16. 55 Haeden Plybon
17. 51 Jake Finch
18. 24 Brent Crews
19. 30 Noah Gragson
20. 28 Cole Butcher
21. 89 Dylan Fetcho
22. 22 Buddy Shepherd
23. 23 Billy VanMeter
24. 7 Derek Thorn
25. 44 Jeremy Doss
26. 98 David Gilliland
27. 14 Connor Okrezesik
28. 32 Treyten Lapcevich
29. 69 Michael Hinde
30. 35 Jake Garcia
31. 32 Caden Kvapil
32. 44 Conner Jones
33. 2 John Bolen
34. 25 Nicholas Naugle
35. 76 Cayden Lapcevich
36. 43 Nick Loden