David Ragan captures Snowball Derby pole

David Ragan appears to have figured out Five Flags Speedway.

In an interview on Thursday with SB Nation, Ragan admitted that he has struggled at times with the famous Pensacola half-mile, finishing 27th and 18th in his first two Snowball Derby attempts.

On Friday night, Ragan moved one step closer to achieving his Snowball Derby dream by qualifying on the pole for Sunday’s 45th running of the Snowball Derby. Ragan took the top spot by turning a 16.485 second lap to best 59 other drivers including John Hunter Nemechek who will start on the outside pole.

T.J. Reaid, Kyle Busch and Chase Elliott completed the top-five.

“It’s just gratifying to come down and run with the best of the best,” Ragan said. “This race has so much history and some of my Georgia racing heroes like Ronnie Sanders has been able to win and now we’re on the pole.

“It’s gets harder on Sunday.”

Friday's qualifying session only locked-in 33 of the 37 starting spots. The fastest 30 drivers qualified for the Snowball Derby and three others; Mike Garvey, Logan Boyett and Steve Wallace joined them based on their provisional status.

The final four spots will be decided upon in a last chance race at 4 p.m. on Saturday afternoon (more on that in my next post)

Here's the complete Snowball Derby qualifying results (Not a starting lineup):