PENSACOLA, Fla. — Chase Elliott battled with three different drivers for the top spot in the Snowflake 100 at Five Flags Speedway on Saturday but he led the final 48 laps for the win.
The first 23 laps of the race were led by fast qualifier Justin South, who gave up the lead to Elliott briefly on a lap 24 restart. But six laps later South was back on the point with an inside pass entering turn one.
South continued to lead until lap 53 when he got trapped behind a slower car and that allowed Elliott to slip inside coming off the second corner.
With South fading, the driver on the move was Ben Kennedy, who climbed from fifth to the second spot from lap 74 through 89 and was closing on Elliott.
But during a caution period on lap 92, Kennedy’s car was found to be leaking rear end fluid, which ended his night.
There were only three cautions during the first 90 laps, but the race was slowed five times over the final ten circuits. Mike Garvey passed Kyle Benjamin for the second spot on lap 95 with an inside pass entering turn three, but never challenged Elliott for the win. Benjamin finished third followed by Austin Theriault and Erik Jones.
Elliott led two times for a total of 52 laps and South led twice for a total of 48 laps.
It was Elliott’s second Snowflake 100 win, having won in 2010.
The win was worth $7,000 for Elliott.
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Ken de la Bastide is a reporter for The Kokomo (Ind.) Tribune.
