CALHAN, CO (September 14, 2026) — A little luck never hurts in Sprint Car racing.
And luck was on Michael “Buddy” Kofoid’s side Monday night.
The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series returned to Calhan, CO’s El Paso County Raceway for the Rocky Mountain Rumble after a decade away and gave the sold-out crowd what they came for.
Kofoid got the best of polesitter David Gravel after a duel in the opening few laps to take command, but Gravel never let Kofoid escape his sight as the two drivers atop the points worked through tricky traffic.
Gravel’s moment came late in the going when he was able to muscle back by Kofoid. The Roth Motorsports No. 83 returned the favor, but the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 countered with a crossover and sent Gravel toward what looked to be a sure victory. However, disaster struck for the two-time and defending champ on the final lap as he couldn’t quite clear a slide job while trying to lap Bryce Lucius. The two collided and sent Gravel over as the red flag flew, and Kofoid was narrowly able to avoid the carnage.
“Just a rookie mistake,” Gravel admitted. “I just should’ve followed him into the corner. Watching the replay, I had a big enough lead, so I didn’t even need to do that. I was kind of protecting.”
That gifted Kofoid the lead and the win as the Penngrove, CA native went unchallenged on the green white checkered restart to come out on top of his El Paso County debut.
“I just tried to get on the brakes as hard as I could and tried to get it turned and hoped to maybe miss them,” Kofoid explained of dodging the crash. “It all worked out but I don’t know, I feel bad for the guys. I felt like I’d given that one away. I made probably two or three bad laps in traffic. Then David got there, and I was just trying to race with David and ran another not so great lap and gave a spot up to Carson (Macedo). I still feel like we had speed for sure and could run the top really hard. I got Carson back. That kind of proved to be the winning move.”
Kofoid’s Series-leading victory total in 2026 grew to 14 after Monday’s triumph. His career tally of 36 ties the 24-year-old with Shane Stewart for 23rd all-time with the World of Outlaws. Roth Motorsports is up to 140 scores as a team with The Greatest Show on Dirt, and Kofoid is responsible for 34 of them. With seven more checkered flags, he’ll equal Danny Lasoski for Roth’s winningest driver. And perhaps the most important number is 34, which is how many points Kofoid chopped out of Gravel’s championship lead, trimming it to 114 markers and keeping hope alive with home turf in California ahead for Kofoid.
Steven Snyder Jr. snuck up to the runner-up spot in the Three Stooges Racing No. 51 following the late chaos, giving the Rising Sun, MD native his first career World of Outlaws podium.
Chris Windom climbed up to the third spot aboard the Sides Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink No. 7S, his second time in the top three this season.
Donny Schatz and Spencer Bayston completed the top five.
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
El Paso County Speedway
Calhan, Colorado
Monday, September 14, 2026
Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying (2 Laps)
1. 83-Michael Kofoid, 12.153[15]
2. 17-Spencer Bayston, 12.365[11]
3. 41-Carson Macedo, 12.373[20]
4. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.377[16]
5. 2-David Gravel, 12.419[7]
6. 23-Garet Williamson, 12.425[1]
7. 7S-Chris Windom, 12.429[4]
8. 27-Emerson Axsom, 12.464[5]
9. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.491[22]
10. 51-Steven Snyder Jr, 12.493[18]
11. 2C-Cole Macedo, 12.502[12]
12. 15-Donny Schatz, 12.510[8]
13. 2B-JJ Hickle, 12.680[13]
14. 28M-Conner Morrell, 12.757[10]
15. 27B-Garrett Benson, 12.761[6]
16. 16C-Skylar Gee, 12.801[25]
17. 6-Bryce Lucius, 12.881[24]
18. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 12.898[9]
19. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 12.936[26]
20. 5D-Adam Trimble, 13.081[27]
21. 2J-Zach Blurton, 13.190[23]
22. 74-Zack Merritt, 13.302[17]
23. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 13.328[19]
24. 2W-Alex Pettas, 13.374[3]
25. 32-Blair Cooper, 13.536[2]
26. 2N-Shad Petersen, 13.711[21]
27. 45-Bradley Cox, 14.166[14]
NOS Energy Drink Heat Race #1 (10 Laps)
1. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]
2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]
3. 7S-Chris Windom[3]
4. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[4]
5. 2B-JJ Hickle[5]
6. 16C-Skylar Gee[6]
7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]
8. 74-Zack Merritt[8]
9. 32-Blair Cooper[9]
The Greatest Store on Dirt Heat Race #2 (10 Laps)
1. 17-Spencer Bayston[1]
2. 2-David Gravel[2]
3. 2C-Cole Macedo[4]
4. 27-Emerson Axsom[3]
5. 5D-Adam Trimble[7]
6. 28M-Conner Morrell[5]
7. 6-Bryce Lucius[6]
8. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]
9. 2N-Shad Petersen[9]
WIX Filters Heat Race #3 (10 Laps)
1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]
2. 23-Garet Williamson[2]
3. 17B-Bill Balog[3]
4. 15-Donny Schatz[4]
5. 27B-Garrett Benson[5]
6. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]
7. 2W-Alex Pettas[8]
8. 6G-Bryan Gossel[6]
9. 45-Bradley Cox[9]
Toyota Dash (8 Laps)
1. 2-David Gravel[1]
2. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]
3. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[4]
4. 23-Garet Williamson[3]
5. 41-Carson Macedo[6]
6. 17-Spencer Bayston[5]
MicroLite Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 6-Bryce Lucius[1]
2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[3]
3. 16G-Austyn Gossel[6]
4. 2W-Alex Pettas[4]
5. 6G-Bryan Gossel[2]
6. 74-Zack Merritt[5]
7. 32-Blair Cooper[7]
8. 2N-Shad Petersen[8]
DNS: 45-Bradley Cox
NOS Energy Drink Feature (35 Laps)
1. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]
2. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[10]
3. 7S-Chris Windom[7]
4. 15-Donny Schatz[12]
5. 17-Spencer Bayston[6]
6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[20]
7. 27-Emerson Axsom[11]
8. 5D-Adam Trimble[14]
9. 2C-Cole Macedo[8]
10. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]
11. 17B-Bill Balog[9]
12. 2B-JJ Hickle[13]
13. 16C-Skylar Gee[16]
14. 23-Garet Williamson[4]
15. 41-Carson Macedo[5]
16. 2J-Zach Blurton[18]
17. 2-David Gravel[1]
18. 6-Bryce Lucius[19]
19. 27B-Garrett Benson[15]
20. 16G-Austyn Gossel[21]
21. 28M-Conner Morrell[17]
22. 74-Zack Merritt[24]
23. 2W-Alex Pettas[22]
24. 6G-Bryan Gossel[23]