Kofoid Leads Them All For WoO Score At New Bakersfield

Buddy Kofoid in victory lane at Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway. (Devin Mayo photo)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – There’s nothing quite like home cooking and home crowds in racing, and Buddy Kofoid proved why once again Friday night with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

The Penngrove, Calif., native was the star of the entire program at Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway, completing a clean sweep en route to his 11th Outlaws victory of the year.

Kofoid set fast time in qualifying, won his heat race, topped the pole dash, and then led every lap of the feature despite a green-white-checkered, extra-distance finish that threatened to deny him.

Despite that, Kofoid kicked off the Outlaws’ California Swing just like he dominated it in 2024. He won half of the tour’s six races last year in the Golden State.

“Happy to be home and start out the west coast swing right like [we did] last year,” said the driver of the Roth Motorsports No. 83. “Hopefully, this can be the trend for these next couple weeks now. That was tough with the amount of restarts we had, but I feel like my car was good enough to where I could restart kind of early around the top and get away in case I missed the bottom just because [the groove] got super narrow.

“Dylan [Buswell, crew chief], Nate [Knotts], and Gage [Tyra] gave me a phenomenal race car. I could move around anywhere.”

With his 29th career Outlaws victory and 11th of the season, second most among all drivers, Kofoid became a winner at a fifth different California facility with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

He previously won at Placerville Speedway, Stockton Dirt Track, Bakersfield Speedway, and Merced Speedway prior to Friday night at the new Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.

The moment which set up the final restart came as Kofoid was steaming off turn four toward the checkered flag, when Spencer Bayston spun in turn two. During the ensuing yellow, current point leader and defending series champion David Gravel ducked to the work area with a flat right-rear tire.

Another series star in Sheldon Haudenschild topped a zany battle behind Kofoid for runner-up honors, though he had to survive two near-crashes and a fierce tussle with Carson Macedo on the final restart in order to secure the position.

“We had a hard race that whole time,” Haudenschild explained. “I went from fourth to sixth and battled the [No.] 15 [Kerry Madsen and the [No.] 17B [Bill Balog]. Me and the [No.] 41 [Macedo] got into it down there just racing hard.

“That was pretty fun, just making consistent laps, and honestly [Macedo] just tried the bottom down there and lost his run down the frontstretch. I think the [No.] 83 had the best car all night probably.”

Carson Macedo completed the podium for his fourth top three in five races, ahead of Logan Schuchart and Balog. Madsen, Chris Windom, Cole Macedo, Emerson Axsom, and Dominic Scelzi closed the top 10.

Home-state driver Dominic Gorden rolled from 23rd to 11th to be the night’s KSE Hard Charger.

Gravel ended up 15th and remains 142 points ahead of Kofoid in the championship standings.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season continues Saturday night, Sept. 13 at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway. Gravel won the most recent tour visit to the track on March 26, 2022.

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid [1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [4]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo [5]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 6. 15S-Kerry Madsen [6]; 7. 7S-Chris Windom [9]; 8. 2C-Cole Macedo [14]; 9. 18-Emerson Axsom [12]; 10. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [8]; 11. 10-Dominic Gorden [23]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson [11]; 13. 99-Skylar Gee [20]; 14. 121-Caeden Steele [22]; 15. 0-Tim Kaeding [15]; 16. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [18]; 17. 2-David Gravel [7]; 18. 21-Spencer Bayston [19]; 19. 88N-D.J. Netto [13]; 20. 28M-Conner Morrell [24]; 21. 2K-Gauge Garcia [21]; 22. W-Donny Schatz [10]; 23. 6-Zach Hampton [17]; 24. 3-Kaleb Montgomery [16].

Lap Leader(s): Buddy Kofoid 1-31.

KSE Hard Charger: 10-Dominic Gorden (+12)