When the green flag waves for the 57th Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway, the eyes of the American racing world will be fixed on the half-mile oval in Pensacola, Florida. Known as the Super Bowl of Super Late Model racing, the Derby is as much about raw speed as it is about the heated rivalries forged in the heat of competition.

But few rivalries in the storied history of the Snowball Derby have matched the intensity of last year’s showdown between Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse. With less than 10 laps to go last year, Pollard and Nasse were locked in a battle so intense it ended with both cars in the wall. As fans gear up for 2024, one question looms: can these two Titans keep their cool, or are we in for another explosive showdown?

2023: When Pollard and Nasse exploded

The 2023 Snowball Derby was a race for the books, and not just because Ty Majeski snagged his second win. The real headline? The collision—literally and figuratively—between Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse. Pollard, determined to finally claim another Snowball Derby win, was chasing Nasse with everything he had. Nasse, leading the pack but feeling the heat, tried to hold off Pollard in a battle that pushed both drivers to the edge. With seven laps to go, Pollard’s faster car closed the gap.

Then came the moment. Pollard nudged Nasse in Turn 1, forcing him high, but Nasse slammed the door in Turn 2. The result? Contact that sent both into the wall and ended their races in dramatic fashion.

“Crash. I got nothing else. It is what it is,” Pollard said after the race. “Got ourselves in position, we had the race car, we kind of got off on that second run, third run…inched our way back in it on the third run, got it better and put ourselves in position…I ain’t seen the replays or anything, but I feel like he chopped me off pretty good because it knocked the wheel out of my hands we hit so hard. I ain’t gonna win, he ain’t gonna win kind of things.”, he further added.

Pollard didn’t stop there, adding: “The thing I got pissed at the most is if you think about it is his mentality is if I’m not going to win it, Bubba’s not going to win it. That’s fine, I just hate it’s like that, though.” Nasse, meanwhile, kept his comments brief: “It’s just hard racing.”

As for Majeski, who capitalized on the crash to secure the victory, he admitted, “I thought if I could clear him and Bubba could wiggle Nasse, then I could sneak away, but it never happened.” Reflecting on his win, Majeski added, “He (Nasse) was lifting to keep me on the outside, and it allowed Bubba to close the gap and fill the hole, but that might have been the mistake that lost him the race.”

A rivalry years in the making

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For those who’ve been watching Pollard and Nasse battle over the years, the 2023 crash felt inevitable. Their history dates back to 2020 at CRA Speedfest in Cordele, where they first made headlines for their on-track animosity. That day, Pollard took the lead with 13 laps to go, nudging Nasse up the track.

Nasse retaliated with an aggressive move in Turn 4 that sent both spinning. Post-race chaos ensued when Nasse parked next to Pollard’s car, climbed onto it, and delivered double middle fingers before officials intervened. Nasse minced no words afterward: “Bubba is a good race car driver; he’s done a lot in his career, and I will not take that away from him, but he is the biggest crybaby in this pit area.”

Pollard defended his actions, saying, “It looked like hard racing to me. I gave him a nudge. Whatever. He doored me. Cool. I used him up. He used me up. He pinched me off. It’s 15 to go, man. That’s hard racing. It’s $10,000 to win.”

This wasn’t even their first clash. Nasse recalled a years-old incident at Watermelon Capital Speedway: “I accidentally ran him off the track, and I came over the radio and said I was sorry. He comes up over to me against the outside wall on the front straightaway and puts me in the wall, breaks my wrist.”

Pollard, for his part, frames it as a natural part of competitive racing. “What are we out here doing…racing,” he said. “You think Dale Earnhardt didn’t do this? How many times did you see cold, hard racing out of Dale Earnhardt? What do you want to talk about? There is nothing to talk about here.”

And yet, the tension between them seems personal. “We didn’t like each other before this weekend,” Pollard said in 2020. “We don’t like each other right now. It’s on and off the track. We won’t ever like each other. We are two different people. We’re going to butt heads from here on out.”

Nasse added his own perspective: “The difference now is I’m consistently running up front near Bubba, and we’re racing for wins every week across the country. That’s why you’re seeing it boil over.”

With such a combustible mix, the 2024 Snowball Derby could reignite the feud—or maybe even finally settle it. Whatever happens, fans won’t want to miss a second. Who do you see coming out on top when the duo goes head-to-head the next time around? Tell us in the comment section below!