Even After Tuesday Podium, Kofoid ‘Numb’ In Tulsa

Buddy Kofoid (Jared Buckallew/Ascent Media photo)

TULSA, Okla. – In any other year at the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink, Buddy Kofoid would have been grinning and upbeat after a podium performance on his preliminary night with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.

Tuesday, however, there was none of that bubbling positivity. In fact, Kofoid said after all was said and done inside the SageNet Center that there was no emotion at all.

Kofoid described his state of mind as “numb” despite finishing third in the 30-lap Warren CAT Qualifying Night feature, mainly due to a mad thrash to repair his Mobil 1-backed, Speedway Toyota-powered No. 71 LynK Chassis after a wild flip in his A-Qualifier.

The Penngrove, Calif., native had already won his heat race from fifth earlier in the program, and was battling for third on lap seven of the qualifier when Corbin Rueschenberg threw a deep slide job into turn three, attempting to make a pass for position.

Rueschenberg didn’t have enough momentum to fully clear Kofoid, however, and washed up the track into the side of Kofoid’s car. The contact sent Kofoid upside down and spelled potential disaster for the two-time Tuesday prelim winner and reigning Chili Bowl runner-up.

While Kofoid was able to finish the qualifier, he was relegated to a B-main after that, leaving his KKM crew with minimal time to make repairs. They did so, and Kofoid went on to win the B in dominant fashion.

Starting from 18th in the feature, the nightcap was a different challenge. Kofoid picked cars off one at a time early, but benefited from several well-timed cautions through the middle stages to keep working his way forward. By lap six, he was inside the top 10 and at halfway, Kofoid was up to eighth.

Finally, he lined up sixth for the final restart with 10 to go, patiently executing over the closing stage before making the pass for the podium with three laps left on 16-year-old Gunnar Setser.

It was the end of a rally that took every ounce of focus the talented 24-year-old had within him.

But he also didn’t throw Rueschenberg – who ended up one spot behind Kofoid in the feature rundown in fourth – under the bus when all was said and done either.

“To start with, in the heat of the moment, I was actually pretty numb,” Kofoid told reporters after the post-race press conference. “If anything, I was a bit in disbelief, because in my career I’ve never really had … not necessarily that blatant, but I’ve never had that bad of a slider thrown on me to where I got wiped out like that. People will say, ‘Oh, you’ve ran into people or wiped them out before,’ and I’ll agree with it, but it’s not like I did any of that on purpose.

“I’m not saying what he did was on purpose, either,” Kofoid added. “Everyone brings up an incident I was involved in with the (World of) Outlaws early in the year … but that wasn’t like this. Here, I was hung in the fence and crashed. I looked left and he was already two feet away from me, and then it was on.

“Just unfortunate … but I knew I couldn’t reverse what happened and just wanted to get back out there.”

Kofoid’s third-place result was his fifth prelim night podium in six Chili Bowl appearances, but it likely would never have been possible without the cautions through the first half of the main that bunched the field back up and allowed him to keep passing cars.

Buddy Kofoid in action at Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Raceway. (David Campbell/DPC Media photo)

“Things happen extremely quick at the Chili Bowl, and with the position we found ourselves in, I knew I needed to make my moves early,” Kofoid reflected. “I looked up and I was seventh or eighth, then I got up to fifth. Then I moved up to third, but we had a yellow that pushed me back to fifth. I was able to pick them off one-by-one (from there).

“I needed to be the one who was the straightest and made the least number of mistakes. At the end, I don’t want to outright say I was better than the top two (winner Landon Brooks and runner-up Brenham Crouch, who locked into the Saturday finale), but I feel like when I got to third with three to go that I was creeping up on them a bit because I was staying smooth and consistent.

“All in all, it was a whirlwind of a day. I have to thank Keith Kunz, Mobil 1 and Toyota for believing in me,” he continued. “I think if we make it through the B on Saturday, that we’ll have a shot in the feature and that our car is very capable of getting to the front.”

With the knowledge that he has a real shot of racing his way into the championship feature from the B-main Saturday, how quickly will Kofoid put Tuesday night behind him to focus on what’s ahead?

“It’s already gone,” Kofoid said of the bad prelim night thoughts. “I feel like I don’t get really blown up in the head; that’s just not me and not my thing. I’m not going to go over and yell at someone to go do this or do that; I’ll be mad, but at the end of the day I can’t un-crash myself or have him not drive into the side of me.

“We just have to take what we’ve been given here, trust this amazing crew around us at KKM, and hope for the best in crunch time. I’m not doubting myself or the car. I’m happy with the direction we’re heading in.”

Action from the Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy Drink continues Wednesday with York Plumbing Qualifying Night from Tulsa Expo Raceway, while Kofoid’s next on-track activity will be Saturday’s primetime portion of the alphabet soup program.

Every lap of Chili Bowl week is available to be streamed through FloRacing.

Race Face Digital’s Chili Bowl coverage is supported by DPC Media, home of longtime motorsports and automotive photographer David Campbell. To purchase DPC apparel or order photos from Chili Bowl 2025, visit www.seemymind.com for more information.