Buddy Kofoid isn’t quite sure what to expect when he arrives at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway to make his second career run at the Knoxville Nationals.
But the 21-year-old is firm on one point.
He wants to finish better than 11th in Saturday’s $185,000-to-win A main.
While chasing down rookie-of-the-year honors last year, Kofoid put his best foot forward right out of the gate, locking himself into the A main with a strong prelim performance during the week.
Kofoid finished 11th in Saturday’s 50-lap event, won by Donny Schatz.
Most onlookers would likely consider it a standout performance for a rookie — Kofoid even took home the official rookie-of-the-year award for it — but the California native wants to be in the hunt for a top-five finish this time around.
“It’s a lot different situation that I’m in now,” Kofoid said. “I feel better going into Knoxville this year, rather than last year, so I think that’s a big plus. But I’m still not sure what to expect.”
In comparison to last season, when he primarily raced midgets, the two-time USAC national midget champion has had plenty of time to tune up his skills behind the wheel of a sprint car. But he’s had to do it while bouncing around to different teams and cars throughout the year.
Though Kofoid started out in the No. 11 Crouch Motorsports sprint car, a mutual split with the team in May pushed him into the midget ranks temporarily, where he won a few races with Keith Kunz Motorsports. From there, he dove back into the sprint car world, piloting the No. 55 entry for Vermeer Motorsports during Ohio Speedweek.
Kofoid then found a permanent home with Roth Motorsports in late June, where he’ll remain through the end of the season.
Since moving to Roth, in what Kofoid describes as a “smooth transition,” the duo has already found victory lane with the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions. They’ve also grabbed two podium finishes on the World of Outlaws tour.
With his comfortability steadily increasing in the cockpit of the No. 83jr Roth Motorsports machine, Kofoid has turned his attention to the Knoxville Nationals.
Part of Kofoid’s preparation process for this year’s trip to the tricky, half-mile dirt track has involving reflecting on his first experience at the historic event.
“I had ran (at Knoxville) a few times before, but the pace of the race is just super-fast. Knoxville wears me out more than any other track we go to in a sprint car, but especially it being the Nationals, makes it even more so,” Kofoid said.
After starting 14th in last year’s feature, Kofoid worked his way up to sixth by the time of the mid-race break, but found it difficult to keep pace after the feature resumed.
“We faded back a little bit as the track changed,” Kofoid noted. “Knoxville is a hard place, especially for me. I hadn’t been there all that much. It’s been nice to spend some time there this year to work on myself and get our car better.”
As a self-proclaimed “stats guy,” there’s one particular point that stands out to the California native about his inaugural run at the nationals last August. By holding on to 11th in the A main, Kofoid became the highest-finishing rookie at the Knoxville Nationals since the turn of the century.
“That’s kind of a cool feather in your cap, at a place like that and a race like that, so hopefully we can back up our performances — but even better,” Kofoid said. “I’d love to run super well in the prelim, lock straight in and have that sigh of relief again.
“I don’t know what would make me happy. Just, anything better than 11th.”