MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Taking a moment to himself in his No. 83 sprint car, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid held his head against his helmet, eyes closed.
He’d just picked up his sixth win of his rookie season with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, but his first at the historic Williams Grove Speedway during the Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage Fruit opener.
“I don’t know what to say. I don’t think I’ve ever finished in the top 10 here with the Outlaws and we just won it,” Kofoid said. “Probably my hardest track I’ve been to. But it is just a testament to Dylan (Buswell, his crew chief) and his abilities. I’m just the lucky guy that gets to drive it.
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had and best I’ve ever been in a sprint car. Any race car in my career.”
Kofoid started fourth in the 25-lap prelim Feature – which was pushed to Saturday evening before the $75,000-to-win Weis Markets National Open presented by Sage Fruit after dense fog created safety issues Friday night. PA Posse member Chase Dietz scored the pole position by winning the Toyota Dash and Giovanni Scelzi started next to him.
When the race commenced, Scelzi darted ahead of Dietz in the first corner and Kofoid tested a three-wide pass through the middle off turn two but eased out of it and fell in line behind Scelzi, taking second from Dietz.
With clean air, Scelzi pulled away from Kofoid by about a second in the opening laps, but the Roth Motorsports No. 83 found its rhythm early.
By the time Scelzi caught the back of the field on Lap 6, Kofoid was also breathing down his neck. The two drag raced down the front stretch and Kofoid threw his car ahead of Scelzi going into turns one and two, taking the lead. Two laps later, Scelzi also fell victim to Dietz.
As Kofoid battled slower traffic, Dietz started to close in. Their runs came to a halt on lap 15 when Brent Marks and Scelzi collided in Turn 4, sending Scelzi outside the track. Scelzi walked away unharmed.
When the race resumed, Kofoid launched ahead of the field and Pittman made a charge to second-place past Dietz. But before Pittman could try to formulate a run, another red flag came out three laps later for T.J. Stutts getting upside down.
On the final restart of the Feature, Kofoid had another stellar launch, pulling ahead of Pittman by several car lengths. That propelled him to a more than four second lead by the time he found the checkered flag.
“I don’t believe in perfection, but this car was damn near perfect,” Kofoid said. “Probably the only thing that made me nervous was we couldn’t take off good. I kind of stumbled quite a bit. But I figured if I keep my pace up and just go around the top the long way I could get a good enough gap to enter on the top.”
Pittman, who finished second in the National Open last year, finished second in the prelim, knowing what he’ll need to do to win his first National Open title later in the night.
“I had a shot at him. We restarted right on his bumper, that was the closest I got to him for the rest of the race,” Pittman said. “We just didn’t have anything for him. They’ve been one of the cars to beat in the country, no matter where they go the last month or two.
“But our car is really good, for us to go from seventh to second… We just didn’t have the all-out speed. Face it, I’m not going to pound the top as hard as some of these guys do and Buddy is one of the best at it. Our shot is to get around the bottom or middle.”
Dietz rounded out the podium, scoring his career-best finish with the World of Outlaws and first top-five finish with the series.
“This is awesome for our team,” Dietz said. “Just a massive thank you to all of my crew, sponsors, family. It has been a helluva ride the last two years now. We’ve been very strong and just getting better and better. There, in the Feature, I didn’t want that red flag with Gio, because I was just getting up there to Buddy. I felt like we were better at that point. Just how these races play out.”
With a 25th to 12th run, Carson Macedo earned the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Reigning National Open champion Brent Marks claimed the Simpson Pole Award in Sea Foam Qualifying.
Feature Finish (25 Laps)
1. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]; 2. 69K-Daryn Pittman[7]; 3. 2D-Chase Dietz[1]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[5]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 6. 39M-Anthony Macri[8]; 7. 83SR-James McFadden[10]; 8. 2-David Gravel[6]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 10. 13-Justin Peck[12]; 11. 67-Justin Whittall[13]; 12. 41-Carson Macedo[25]; 13. 9-Kasey Kahne[3]; 14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[22]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart[27]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III[16]; 17. 58-Chase Randall[14]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[18]; 19. 8-Cory Eliason[24]; 20. 1A-Jacob Allen[21]; 21. 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 22. 11-TJ Stutts[11]; 23. 8R-Freddie Rahmer[26]; 24. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[28]; 25. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 26. 49-Brad Sweet[19]; 27. 22-Brandon Spithaler[20]; 28. 21-Brian Brown[17]