BRISTOL, Tenn. — Reigning USAC National Midget champion Buddy Kofoid had an up-and-down night in making his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Toyota, Kofoid started the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt 32nd on the grid after his truck had overheating problems caused by mud during his qualifying heat race.
Methodically working his way forward, Kofoid ran as high as third before spinning in turn two as he tried to cross over to the inside of eventual race winner Ben Rhodes’ truck in a battle for fourth place on lap 139, after Rhodes drove deep into the corner and slid toward the top of the track.
Nonetheless, Kofoid was pleased with his effort.
“I felt like we had plenty of speed today in our Mobil 1 Tundra. Being my first time in something that heavy – especially on dirt – I felt like we had a strong showing for sure,” Kofoid said. “I think that last stage I felt like we were too free. We were about a third or fourth-place truck, but then the guys that pitted – they started coming on like we figured.
“Eventually (Ben) Rhodes got to me and was trying to slide me and eventually was going to make it work,” Kofoid continued. “I don’t know if we made any contact or not, but when he slid in front of me, I thought we touched a little bit in the left front. When I tried to come back down, it got the attitude of the truck kind of jacked up and with kind of already being on the free side it was enough to kind of finish me off.”
It was a difficult ending to a solid night for the Toyota development driver.
“Just kind of a tough deal and very unfortunate, but more or less just a racing deal,” Kofoid continued. “I felt like we had plenty of speed and made great adjustments. We made a gamble with the strategy at the stage and it almost worked. Just sucks to end it like that.”