Ty Majeski enters Snowball Derby week with a tremendous amount of momentum.
The past month has been something short of a dream come true for the four-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion. It began on November 18 when he captured his third-consecutive Florida Governor’s Cup at New Smyrna Speedway.
He followed that up a week later with his first NASCAR Xfinity Series top-10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with Roush-Fenway Racing. On Tuesday, he was named to a three-driver rotation in the Xfinity Series No. 60 next season alongside Chase Briscoe and Austin Austin Cindric.
And he’s done it the old-fashioned way — through hard work, resolve and on-track success. He hasn’t brought a single check to get to the brink of a full-time driving career. All that is missing from this story, in his mind, is the addition of the Tow Dawson Memorial Trophy.
“We’re really excited for the Derby,” Majeski told Short Track Scene at Homestead over the weekend. “We won the Gov Cup and there are a lot of things that carry over from New Smyrna to Pensacola. We’ve been pretty close the past couple of years, but I think we’re still getting better too.”
This will be Majeski’s fourth attempt at Derby glory.
In 2014, Majeski finished 19th but made headlines for a textbook save in qualifying to keep his car off the wall. In 2015, slow pit stops forced him to continually battle back from mid-pack before ultimately settling for third.
He finished third again last year as rain pushed the race back from Sunday to Tuesday. That resulted in live pit stops getting ditched for controlled stops and right into the 91 team’s favor. Without $5,000 pit crews holding an advantage, the 2016 Derby was about pure speed.
And only a handful of teams have enjoyed the pace generated by Majeski and crew chief Toby Nuttleman over the past several seasons.
They were leading that race with 15 laps to go, but were eventually overtaken by Christian Eckes and John Hunter Nemechek en route to their record setting 1-2 finish.
Now, for 2017, Majeski believes they are as prepared as ever for the first week of December.
“We’ve learned a lot the past couple of years,” Majeski said. “And we’re going to have the best pit stops we’ve ever had because we got some of my guys from Roush coming down to pit the car. I mean it when I say that this is the most prepared that I feel like we’ve ever been.”
As is usually the case, all that is missing on Derby Sunday is luck, and that remains to be seen.
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