By T.J. Buffenbarger
BARBERVILLE, FL (February 6, 2026) – February at Volusia Speedway Park may seem early for a statement win on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, but Michael “Buddy” Kofoid made it clear to the rest of the field that he will be likely one of the top contenders for the entirety of the tour after his feature victory Wednesday night during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.
Kofoid, from Penngrove, California, held off multiple challenges from defending World of Outlaws point champion David Gravel, including a three wide pass of slower cars in the closing stages of the event to hold a 0.931 second advantage at the finish.
After the main event Kofoid felt he had to on point to hold off the caliber of drivers that were behind him and show the field he was still capable of the speed the team showed over the last half of the 2025 season.
“When you have David and Carson (Marcdo) behind you, you have to be near perfect. I don’t believe in perfection, but you must be near perfect when you have guys like them behind you,” said Kofoid.
“I didn’t really know where to be,” said Kofoid of trying to figure out if he had to abandon the top of the racetrack to move to the bottom. “The top out of two kind of got treacherous and close to the wall. Then it kind of slicked off and there was a spot where you were kind of on the wall and I kind of kept getting to a little too quick for my liking. Then I saw David and I figured he was on the bottom. I didn’t know if that was because I was just in traffic, racing with other guys, or if it was that much better. I was able to just get a good run off two and kind of counter him and tried it one time on the bottom and didn’t really love it, so I just went back to running on the top and just tried to pound her harder and make good speed hether it was driving across or following it, and that kind of wore me out.”
Garret Williamson and Buddy Kofoid started on the front row for the 25-lap feature event. Kofoid took the lead while Williamson and Macri raced for the second position. Macri was able to slide past Williamson with a slide job in turns one and two. Williamson tried to counter in turns three and four, but Macri was able to maintain the lead.
Williamson then found himself under fire from defending World of Outlaws champion David Gravel for the third position. As Gravel was starting the pressure Williamson the caution flag appeared with three laps complete when Tanner Holmes got into the wall between turns three and four and rolled to a stop. Holmes entry had too much damage to continue in the main event.
Kofoid chose the outside lane for the double file restart that was short lived when the caution flag appeared for an incident coming out of turn two that involved Ryan Timms, Kasey Jedrzejek, Ashton Torgerson, and Sam Hafertepe Jr.
The single file restart that followed saw Kofoid pull away from Macri. On lap five Williamson, Gravel, and Schuchart began a three-car race for the third position. Travel was able to slide Williamson in turns one and two, but Williamson returned the favor in turns three and four. Gravel then took the third spot away one lap later leaving Schuchart and Williamson to race for fourth position.
Kofoid started to overtake slower traffic on lap eight. This allowed Kofoid to close with Macri running the bottom of the racetrack while Kofoid was on the top side of the speedway. Kofoid then made a three wide pass of slower traffic coming off turn two on lap 12 to open some breathing room.
David Gravel moved around Macri for second and was on Kofoid back bumper with 10 laps to go. Gravel was able to look to the inside of Kofoid in turns one and two to take the lead, but Kofoid was able to take the lead back in turns three and four to maintain the top position.
Gravel tried to repeat the same move on lap 20, but Kofoid was up for the challenge maintaining the lead going into turn three.
With two laps to go Kofoid made a three wide pass in lapped traffic with Gravel bearing down on his back bumper. The slower cars impeded David Gravel’s path and allowed Kofoid to pull away for the victory.
Gravel, Carson Macedo, Macri, and Logan Schuchart rounded out the top five. Donny Schatz moved up from the 21st starting position to finish sixth.
Afterward Kofoid was happy to end up with one of the gator trophies for the first time in his career and put himself in contention for the “Big Gator” trophy handed out for the top performing driver at the DIRTcar Nationals at the end of the week.
“I wanted one of these little scoundrels for a while now,” Kofoid said of the trophy. “I owe it all to Dennis and Theresa Roth, Todd Ventura Andy Graves, and Jason Roth, for allowing Dylan, Nate Gage and I to do what we love for our third year now together, and just really happy to do it for them.”
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.
Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals
Volusia Speedway Park
Barberville, Florida
Friday, February 6, 2026
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight A (2 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel, 13.192[18]
2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.271[1]
3. 39M-Anthony Macri, 13.322[22]
4. 26-Justin Peck, 13.331[3]
5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.336[19]
6. 13-Tanner Holmes, 13.381[17]
7. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 13.461[7]
8. 23-Garet Williamson, 13.502[6]
9. 28M-Conner Morrell, 13.524[2]
10. 19-Brent Marks, 13.539[4]
11. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.544[15]
12. 7S-Chris Windom, 13.595[21]
13. 5-Brenham Crouch, 13.628[16]
14. 51-Scott Bogucki, 13.646[9]
15. 21-Brian Brown, 13.731[12]
16. 17-Spencer Bayston, 13.799[8]
17. 2C-Cole Macedo, 13.817[20]
18. 11-TJ Stutts, 13.859[10]
19. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 13.929[11]
20. 15T-Ryan Turner, 14.012[14]
21. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 14.082[5]
22. 0-Glenn Styres, 14.212[13]
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying Flight B (2 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo, 13.254[6]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.420[10]
3. 16C-Scotty Thiel, 13.447[1]
4. 44-Chris Martin, 13.474[12]
5. 71-Parker Price Miller, 13.476[15]
6. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.498[3]
7. 10-Ryan Timms, 13.517[18]
8. 83-Michael Kofoid, 13.535[16]
9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson, 13.535[9]
10. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek, 13.536[4]
11. 88-Austin McCarl, 13.573[17]
12. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.595[7]
13. 17GP-Hank Davis, 13.608[11]
14. 32-Bryce Lucius, 13.627[19]
15. 9-Daison Pursley, 13.635[8]
16. 27-Emerson Axsom, 13.641[20]
17. 0D-Danny Sams III, 13.727[2]
18. 23D-Chase Dietz, 13.749[14]
19. 4-Cameron Martin, 13.784[21]
20. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.920[13]
21. 15K-Creed Kemenah, 13.947[5]
NOS Energy Drink Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]
2. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]
3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]
4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]
5. 2C-Cole Macedo[9]
6. 5-Brenham Crouch[7]
7. 15-Donny Schatz[6]
8. 21-Brian Brown[8]
9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[10]
10. 77T-Tyeller Powless[11]
11. 28M-Conner Morrell[5]
DIRTVision Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 26-Justin Peck[2]
2. 23-Garet Williamson[4]
3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[1]
4. 13-Tanner Holmes[3]
5. 7S-Chris Windom[6]
6. 17-Spencer Bayston[8]
7. 51-Scott Bogucki[7]
8. 19-Brent Marks[5]
9. 11-TJ Stutts[9]
10. 0-Glenn Styres[11]
11. 15T-Ryan Turner[10]
WIX Filters Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
2. 71-Parker Price Miller[3]
3. 16C-Scotty Thiel[2]
4. 10-Ryan Timms[4]
5. 88-Austin McCarl[6]
6. 9-Daison Pursley[8]
7. 4-Cameron Martin[10]
8. 17GP-Hank Davis[7]
9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]
10. 0D-Danny Sams III[9]
11. 15K-Creed Kemenah[11]
The Greatest Show on Dirt Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]
2. 83-Michael Kofoid[4]
3. 44-Chris Martin[2]
4. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]
5. 17B-Bill Balog[6]
6. 27-Emerson Axsom[8]
7. 23D-Chase Dietz[9]
8. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[5]
9. 32-Bryce Lucius[7]
DNS: 48-Danny Dietrich
C-Main (10 Laps)
1. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[1]
2. 32-Bryce Lucius[2]
3. 11-TJ Stutts[3]
4. 0D-Danny Sams III[4]
5. 15K-Creed Kemenah[8]
6. 15T-Ryan Turner[9]
7. 0-Glenn Styres[7]
DNS: 77T-Tyeller Powless
DNS: 48-Danny Dietrich
Toyota Dash (6 Laps)
1. 23-Garet Williamson[2]
2. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]
3. 2-David Gravel[4]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri[3]
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]
6. 71-Parker Price Miller[6]
7. 41-Carson Macedo[7]
8. 26-Justin Peck[5]
MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 15-Donny Schatz[7]
2. 17-Spencer Bayston[5]
3. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[2]
4. 5-Brenham Crouch[3]
5. 19-Brent Marks[13]
6. 23D-Chase Dietz[10]
7. 9-Daison Pursley[4]
8. 17GP-Hank Davis[12]
9. 27-Emerson Axsom[6]
10. 51-Scott Bogucki[9]
11. 21-Brian Brown[11]
12. 4-Cameron Martin[8]
13. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[15]
14. 32-Bryce Lucius[16]
15. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[14]
DNS: 28M-Conner Morrell
NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps)
1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]
2. 2-David Gravel[3]
3. 41-Carson Macedo[7]
4. 39M-Anthony Macri[4]
5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]
6. 15-Donny Schatz[21]
7. 23-Garet Williamson[1]
8. 26-Justin Peck[8]
9. 2C-Cole Macedo[17]
10. 17-Spencer Bayston[22]
11. 71-Parker Price Miller[6]
12. 17B-Bill Balog[20]
13. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[9]
14. 10-Ryan Timms[14]
15. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[16]
16. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[11]
17. 5-Brenham Crouch[24]
18. 7S-Chris Windom[19]
19. 16C-Scotty Thiel[10]
20. 88-Austin McCarl[18]
21. 27-Emerson Axsom[27]
22. 44-Chris Martin[12]
23. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[23]
24. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[25]
25. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[13]
26. 13-Tanner Holmes[15]
DNS: 28M-Conner Morrell