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Buddy Kofoid Comes Back From a Flip to Lock Into Saturday B-Main at Chili Bowl

TULSA, OK — At one point in his Tuesday preliminary night at the Chili Bowl Nationals, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid found himself upside down. By the end of the night, the Penngrove, Ca., native had rallied to finish third in the evening’s feature behind Landon Brooks and Brenham Crouch.

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While fighting for third in his qualifying race, the No. 71 machine found itself on the receiving end of a slide job from Corbin Rueschenberg as the pair headed through turns 3 and 4 on the dirt track built inside the Tulsa Expo Center.

The duo made contact that sent Kofoid into the fence hard enough that it required some additional repair work. That bought his Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) crew enough time to replace the front axle on Kofoid’s machine and get him back into the qualifying race, where he eventually finished seventh.

The wait for repairs was a strange, new Chili Bowl experience time for Kofoid.

“In the heat of the moment, I was actually pretty numb, if that makes sense,” Kofoid said of his time sitting in the car while his crew worked. “I mean I was mad and kind of in disbelief of what happened, just because I feel like in my career I’ve never had anything that, I don’t wanna say blatant, but like that bad of a slider thrown on me where I get wiped out.

“At the end of the day, when I’m sitting there and they’re fixing it, I just want to get back out. I already know that I can’t reverse what just happened and (I’ve) got to get back to work and hopefully they get it fixed.”

KKM got Kofoid’s car back on track, but the damage to his night was done. The 2020 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year had to start second in a B-Main, needing to finish in the top four to advance to the A-Main.

Kofoid managed to win his B-Main, but that put him 18th on the grid for the preliminary night feature. Finishing first or second would lock the 2024 Chili Bowl runner-up into Saturday night’s main event, but there was a mountain to climb in the 30-lap race.

With little other option, Kofoid started marching forward. By the fourth lap, the Toyota Racing prospect was up to 13th. Two laps later he was in ninth. From there, progress slowed. Fewer and fewer drivers in front of Kofoid were taking themselves out and it took until Lap 12 for Kofoid to get into eighth place. But restarts became passing opportunities down the stretch, giving the KKM ace a chance to gain ground on the frontrunners.

“We had some of those crashes in front of me that kind of helped me out,” Kofoid said in the post-race press conference. “I look up and I was running like seventh or eighth and then had a good restart and it was like, ‘Oh, I’ll try the bottom.’ And then I think got to fifth and then I think maybe had another restart and was almost third and then had the yellow and had to go back to fifth.

“And then some of the guys moved to the bottom after I probably showed them the bottom and then some of them got up through there and Landon (Brooks) got up through there. And so I was like, ‘Okay, well I guess I’ve got to go back to the top.’

“I actually fell back I think to like sixth or seventh, (but) then just kind of started hunting them down and tried to minimize my mistakes and not use the cushion as much as maybe some other people were. (I) was able to kind of pick and choose where I wanted to pick up the cushion and was able to not throw the nose. Was able to get close to guys and slide them, kind of put them away because when it gets that slick, you can’t really cross people over. So I was able to just pick them off one by one.”

Kofoid worked his way up to fifth on Lap 18 but it wasn’t until Lap 27 that he snuck into fourth. One lap later, Kofoid moved into third, where he would hope in vain for another caution that would never come as he finished just over a second behind Brooks.

“I don’t want to say I was better than (the top two),” Kofoid said. “But I feel like when I got to third (sic), I’d kind of creep up a little bit and they were pounding it probably harder than I was. I think I was just so smooth and consistent as far as not making mistakes.

“I think it actually helped in the long run or would’ve, but yeah I learned a lot and I think we can definitely improve the car. Then I think I can drive it better and hopefully be in a good position for Saturday.”

Kofoid’s finish will lock him into a B-Main on Saturday evening, where he will need to finish in the top seven to lock himself into the 24-car field for the 40-lap A-Main with a chance to secure the coveted Golden Driller.

Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.