In the present work, a method for the analysis of short time intervals in ball bearings is proposed. We study the effect of the internal clearance on the dynamics of ball bearings using recurrence plots and the recurrence quantification approach. In the proposed method, we focused on the analysis of dynamic states generated from the 2-DOF mathematical model, to which a function changing the damping coefficient in the clearance domain was added. Chosen recurrence methods showed the specific dynamic responses by different values of the radial clearance. The effect of self-consistency concerning the damping effect and vibration development is confirmed. The proposed method can be useful for the prediction of variable radial clearance in time by analysis of the acceleration response of ball bearing during its operation.