JOLIET, IL (October 19, 2024) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid and Roth Motorsports flipped a switch two months ago, and they’ve got no intentions of shutting it off.
The pairing rolled into Dirt Oval 66 for the Federated Auto Parts Route 66 Showdown on a hot streak that included five wins and 12 podiums in the last 14 races. Mechanical woes ended their night before it truly started on Friday. And Kofoid and company came back hungry on Saturday night.
The Penngrove, CA native started second for the 30-lap finale, slid ahead of Sheldon Haudenschild on the opening circuit, and then held off Haudenschild’s late run to secure his seventh World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victory of the year.
“My Roth Motorsports crew guys are unbelievable,” Kofoid said. “Like I’ve said, this is the most fun I’ve ever had racing and best I’ve ever felt in any race car. Like I always say, that’s just a testament to Dylan (Buswell) and his talent and making me a better driver. And then I feel like Nate (Knotts) and Gage (Tyra) just complement him really well. It just shows what it’s like to be with good people.”
Kofoid’s lucky number seven win of 2024 pushes him to 10 for his career, making him the 50th driver with double digit victories in the history of The Greatest Show on Dirt. Ten victories equals him with Danny Smith and Joe Gaerte on the all-time win list and makes him the ninth winningest Californian. Roth Motorsports is now up to 114 World of Outlaws checkered flags.
Haudenschild brought the field to green for the main event with Kofoid to his outside. Haudenschild slid in front of Kofoid in the first set of corners, but Kofoid built momentum for a run down the back straightaway. Kofoid had enough speed to duck under the NOS Energy Drink No. 17 entering Turn 3. He finished the slider exiting the corner to lead the opening lap.
A restart with 18 laps to go got wild as battles erupted all over the place including toward the front of the field. Gravel drove ahead of Haudenschild for second, but Haudenschild returned the favor with a slider. Gravel turned underneath him to retake the spot, and this time he held off Haudenschild’s counter.
Donny Schatz threw his name into contention during a halfway point restart as he rolled the bottom by Haudenschild for third.
Multiple yellow flags continued to set up restarts with drivers looking to capitalize. Haudenschild started to make his way back toward the front as he found some grip on the bottom of the oval.
The low side of the Joliet, IL track lifted Haudenschild to third on Lap 26 and then to the runner-up spot with two circuits remaining. However, the hourglass ran out as Kofoid held off Haudenschild’s last gasp when he stuck the bottom in Turns 3 and 4 but couldn’t muscle around Kofoid.
“The exit of (Turn) 4 was just really wide earlier in the race,” Kofoid said. “I could fire off good and get to the top, and I was able to diamond under Sheldon’s slider and kind of control the race. I was nervous with all of those yellows. I didn’t want to see that one with, I think, two to go. I couldn’t see my guys well, but they weren’t telling me I was doing anything wrong. I didn’t want to choose the outside or fire on the outside and try take the long way around because I feel like there was just so much meat on the front stretch on the bottom to take off on. Then it was just a matter of getting to the top and not tripping on the cushion.”
Settling for second was Haudenschild and the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing crew. He became more and more comfortable with the handling of his machine throughout the race but simply ran out of laps to get the job done.
“Being able to move around and find the bottom there in (Turns) 3 and 4,” Haudenschild said of what helped his late surge. “I feel like I was getting better the more fuel I burned off and was able to rotate down there. But Buddy was really good all night. I couldn’t keep up with him there the first 10 to 15 laps. The restarts were really hard starting on the outside as well. Happy with the weekend, a second and a fifth.”
Rounding out the podium was Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports crew as they continue to march toward a title. The Watertown, CT native is now up to 30 World of Outlaws podiums the season, the fourth time he’s reached that mark. His lead atop the standings is up to 78 markers with five races left.
“Man, I could not get a good restart behind him single file on the bottom,” Gravel said. “I just would start spinning and then hit the grip and just not get down the front stretch very good. Then I was kind of in defense going into (Turn) 1 where I kind of wanted to attack. Definitely didn’t want that caution because I feel like we were coming. I think lap traffic would’ve benefitted us.”
Donny Schatz and Carson Macedo completed the top five.
A run from 23rd to 11th in the Bill Rose Racing No. 6 earned Dylan Cisney the KSE Racing Hard Charger.
Buddy Kofoid earned his sixth Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 11th of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.
NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Buddy Kofoid, Emerson Axsom, and Zach Hampton. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Carson Macedo.
Sheldon Haudenschild topped the Toyota Racing Dash.
Darin Naida won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Bill Balog.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars return to Riverside International Speedway (West Memphis, AR) for the first time in six years on Oct. 25-26. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 3. 2-David Gravel[6]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[11]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[13]; 8. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 9. 27-Emerson Axsom[4]; 10. 55C-Chris Windom[12]; 11. 6-Dylan Cisney[23]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[19]; 13. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 14. 99-Skylar Gee[18]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley[20]; 16. 2KS-Danny Sams III[16]; 17. 45X-Scott Bogucki[15]; 18. 7N-Darin Naida[21]; 19. 70-Kraig Kinser[22]; 20. 22-Riley Goodno[17]; 21. 55-Kerry Madsen[14]; 22. 79-Blake Nimee[24]; 23. 17X-Zach Hampton[5]; 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]
MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 7N-Darin Naida[2]; 2. 70-Kraig Kinser[7]; 3. 6-Dylan Cisney[3]; 4. 79-Blake Nimee[13]; 5. 12-Corbin Gurley[4]; 6. 15JR-Cole Mincer[1]; 7. 17GP-Kelby Watt[11]; 8. 15K-Creed Kemenah[14]; 9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[10]; 10. 70K-Chris Klemko[17]; 11. 14T-Tim Estenson[15]; 12. 5E-Bobby Elliott[9]; 13. 32-Bryce Lucius[6]; 14. 10V-Matt VanderVere[5]; 15. 34-Sterling Cling[8]; 16. 77-Geoff Dodge[12]; 17. 51-Ayrton Gennetten[16]; 18. 55B-Clinton Boyles[18]
Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 4. 27-Emerson Axsom[4]; 5. 17X-Zach Hampton[5]; 6. 2-David Gravel[6]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 5. 22-Riley Goodno[7]; 6. 6-Dylan Cisney[5]; 7. 15JR-Cole Mincer[4]; 8. 5E-Bobby Elliott[8]; 9. 79-Blake Nimee[9]; 10. 70K-Chris Klemko[10]
Milton Hershey School Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 2. 2-David Gravel[1]; 3. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 4. 45X-Scott Bogucki[6]; 5. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 6. 10V-Matt VanderVere[9]; 7. 70-Kraig Kinser[8]; 8. 17GP-Kelby Watt[7]; 9. 14T-Tim Estenson[4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 4. 55-Kerry Madsen[3]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[4]; 6. 12-Corbin Gurley[10]; 7. 7N-Darin Naida[5]; 8. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]; 9. 15K-Creed Kemenah[9]; 10. 55B-Clinton Boyles[7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 17X-Zach Hampton[3]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog[2]; 3. 55C-Chris Windom[6]; 4. 2KS-Danny Sams III[4]; 5. 7S-Landon Crawley[1]; 6. 32-Bryce Lucius[5]; 7. 34-Sterling Cling[8]; 8. 77-Geoff Dodge[7]; 9. 51-Ayrton Gennetten[9]
Sea Foam Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid, 00:13.669[12]; 2. 2-David Gravel, 00:13.671[15]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:13.674[2]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:13.818[7]; 5. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:13.833[6]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:13.847[1]; 7. 15JR-Cole Mincer, 00:13.852[8]; 8. 14T-Tim Estenson, 00:13.888[5]; 9. 6-Dylan Cisney, 00:13.920[13]; 10. 23-Garet Williamson, 00:13.932[11]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:13.954[14]; 12. 45X-Scott Bogucki, 00:14.002[9]; 13. 22-Riley Goodno, 00:14.073[10]; 14. 17GP-Kelby Watt, 00:14.095[18]; 15. 5E-Bobby Elliott, 00:14.220[3]; 16. 70-Kraig Kinser, 00:14.247[4]; 17. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:14.325[17]; 18. 10V-Matt VanderVere, 00:14.438[19]; 19. 70K-Chris Klemko, 00:14.966[16]
Sea Foam Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:13.796[13]; 2. 7S-Landon Crawley, 00:13.840[1]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom, 00:13.879[12]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:13.951[16]; 5. 55-Kerry Madsen, 00:14.007[2]; 6. 17X-Zach Hampton, 00:14.062[3]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, 00:14.087[18]; 8. 2KS-Danny Sams III, 00:14.091[11]; 9. 7N-Darin Naida, 00:14.103[17]; 10. 32-Bryce Lucius, 00:14.111[6]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:14.124[7]; 12. 55C-Chris Windom, 00:14.127[15]; 13. 55B-Clinton Boyles, 00:14.138[4]; 14. 77-Geoff Dodge, 00:14.239[14]; 15. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 00:14.279[10]; 16. 34-Sterling Cling, 00:14.282[9]; 17. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 00:14.342[19]; 18. 51-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:14.427[5]; 19. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:14.468[8]
Wisconsin WingLESS Sprints
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 8-Adam Taylor[8]; 2. 70-Chris Klemko[1]; 3. 711-Tyler Kuxhouse[3]; 4. 40-Clayton Rossmann[7]; 5. 91-Jimmy Sivia[6]; 6. 38-Allen Hafford[4]; 7. 29JR-Nathan Crane[9]; 8. 19B-Jack Berger[13]; 9. 5J-Chris Lewis[11]; 10. 7-Scott Uttech[15]; 11. 11-Austin Hansen[17]; 12. 17-Bryce Andrews[10]; 13. 10V-Matt VanderVere[5]; 14. 7D-Josh Davidson[21]; 15. 70H-Tate Hensley[12]; 16. 29J-Ralph Johnson[14]; 17. 57-Tristan Furseth[16]; 18. (DNF) 4G-George Gaertner III[2]; 19. (DNF) 4-Jordan Paulsen[18]; 20. (DNS) 29OG-Tom Eller; 21. (DNS) 46H-Ken Hron
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Clayton Rossmann[3]; 2. 10V-Matt VanderVere[2]; 3. 38-Allen Hafford[1]; 4. 29JR-Nathan Crane[4]; 5. 711-Tyler Kuxhouse[7]; 6. 5J-Chris Lewis[6]; 7. 19B-Jack Berger[5]; 8. 57-Tristan Furseth[9]; 9. 11-Austin Hansen[8]; 10. 29OG-Tom Eller[10]; 11. 7D-Josh Davidson[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Adam Taylor[4]; 2. 91-Jimmy Sivia[3]; 3. 17-Bryce Andrews[2]; 4. 70-Chris Klemko[8]; 5. 4G-George Gaertner III[7]; 6. 70H-Tate Hensley[6]; 7. 29J-Ralph Johnson[9]; 8. 7-Scott Uttech[5]; 9. 4-Jordan Paulsen[10]; 10. 46H-Ken Hron[1]
Qualifying: 1. 29JR-Nathan Crane, 00:17.745[7]; 2. 8-Adam Taylor, 00:17.800[6]; 3. 40-Clayton Rossmann, 00:17.935[9]; 4. 91-Jimmy Sivia, 00:18.018[20]; 5. 10V-Matt VanderVere, 00:18.090[10]; 6. 17-Bryce Andrews, 00:18.135[5]; 7. 38-Allen Hafford, 00:18.144[18]; 8. 46H-Ken Hron, 00:18.144[21]; 9. 19B-Jack Berger, 00:18.153[8]; 10. 7-Scott Uttech, 00:18.310[16]; 11. 5J-Chris Lewis, 00:18.332[13]; 12. 70H-Tate Hensley, 00:18.389[2]; 13. 711-Tyler Kuxhouse, 00:18.423[3]; 14. 4G-George Gaertner III, 00:18.438[4]; 15. 11-Austin Hansen, 00:18.503[12]; 16. 70-Chris Klemko, 00:18.525[1]; 17. 57-Tristan Furseth, 00:18.562[19]; 18. 29J-Ralph Johnson, 00:18.596[14]; 19. 29OG-Tom Eller, 00:18.677[11]; 20. 4-Jordan Paulsen, 00:18.770[17]; 21. 7D-Josh Davidson, 00:18.925[15]