PENSACOLA, Fla. — Derek Kraus is hoping this year’s Snowball Derby will go more like his debut in the event, instead of how the crown-jewel super late model race has gone for him the last two years.

The Stratford, Wis., young gun has had to race his way into the big dance through the last chance race in each of his last two attempts, making for a stressful week Kraus doesn’t want to repeat.

In his inaugural Derby appearance, however, Kraus made the race via his qualifying time and was able to relax going into Sunday. If he can do that this year, the 17-year-old believes he’ll have a shot at racing for the victory.

“It’s always fun to come to the Derby,” said Kraus. “It’s definitely a marquee event on the calendar and one that everyone always looks forward to, so when it comes around everyone makes sure to bring the best stuff and the best people they can.

“Racing in like we’ve had to the last two years is definitely not how you want to get into the show, but if you have to do it that way, at least it means that you’re in the race,” Kraus added. “The first year I came here, we qualified in and that was both relieving and a huge shock, but the last two years we’ve really struggled in qualifying for some reason. Hopefully, this year we can buck the trend and run up front.”

Kraus noted it’s not just the long-distance aspect of the winter super late model classic that makes it a challenge, but the tricky half-mile layout at Five Flags Speedway makes the race equally difficult.

“The track just changes so much from the start of the week to the finish,” Kraus said. “People come here and test and test and test for days leading into the race and now you’ve got more than 100 late models (between super and pro late models) here … so the track will be totally different on Sunday than anything we experience through the course of the week.

“It’s just a moving target and a different animal that we have to keep chasing, but my hope is that we can be on the right side of that with our race car this time around.”

After a NASCAR K&N Pro Series West season with Bill McAnally Racing that included four wins, eight top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 14 races, as well as five pole qualifying efforts, Kraus was excited to get a crack at a marquee event to conclude his season.

“It’s definitely a blast to come to a race track like this for such a big race,” he said. “This is like a NASCAR event for the super late model world. If you can end it on a high note, you’re doing something right.”