Buddy Kofoid Leads All During Tuesday’s Qualifying Night For The ’24 Chili Bowl Nationals

Story By: BYRAN HULBERT / CHILI BOWL NATIONALS – TULSA, OK – Picking up his second career Warren CAT Qualifying night feature win during the 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy, Michael “Buddy” Kofoid led start-to-finish to lock into his fourth championship feature event since 2020.

Back-to-back preliminary wins for car owner, Keith Kunz, Tuesday’s triumph brings his total to 36th victories as a car owner at the Chili Bowl Nationals.

Asked what the key to winning was, Kofoid responded, “With how the format is here, you want to try and put yourself in a position all day to be starting up front. I feel like we did a really good job all day with Heat Races, extremely good in the Qualifier, and still even felt like I could have been a little bit better for how tricky the track was.”

Taking off from the pole of Tuesday’s 30-lap event, Buddy dashed into the lead from the word go and quickly put distance over 2023 prelim night winner, Hank Davis. Finding traffic working Lap 13, a quick hold-up trying to pass a slower car the following lap allowed Davis to close rapidly but would not present the chance to overtake.

Caution on Lap 17, the leaders shot to the cushion, with Buddy again using a clean racetrack to his advantage. Coming down to a four-lap shootout as the field returned to green, Kofoid went on two wheels entering the first turn, but was able to recover, and hold on over Hank Davis by 1.457-seconds.

Chase McDermand crossed third, followed by David Gravel, who moved through the field from 11th. Kameron Key made up the top five. Thomas Meseraull was sixth, with Landon Brooks moving 14th to seventh. Kevin Thomas, Jr. went 13th to eighth, while Zach Daum hard charged to ninth from 18th. Colorado’s Jake Bubak rounded out the top ten.

Tuesday’s field consisted of 70 drivers out of a scheduled 73, for a running week total of 138 drivers so far. Nine flips among eight drivers have occurred, with everyone able to walk away. Another 74 are set for Wednesday’s York Plumbing Qualifying Night. The SageNet Center will open at 9:00 A.M. with cars on track at 4:00 P.M. (CT).

The 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals takes place January 8-13, 2024, under the giant roof of the SageNet Center in Tulsa, Okla.

Results:

Chili Bowl Nationals powered by NOS Energy
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, Okla.
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Warren CAT Qualifying Night
Car Count: 70
Event Count: 138

OERB Heat Races: Top 40 in passing points advance to Qualifiers.

OERB Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 92M-Josh Most[1]; 2. 7S-Jake Andreotti[7]; 3. 55X-Kevin Thomas Jr[8]; 4. 87F-Kinzer Edwards[4]; 5. 321-Chad Winfrey[9]; 6. 4G-Cole Garner[3]; 7. 31-Kyle Beilman[2]; 8. 121-Steve Glover[5]; 9. (DNF) 7W-Brendon Wiseley[6]

OERB Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 57W-Landon Brooks[3]; 2. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[5]; 3. 47X-Zach Daum[4]; 4. 7T-Thomas Meseraull[9]; 5. 14P-Kyle Strickler[7]; 6. 09T-Timmy Thrash[2]; 7. 60-Landon Britt[1]; 8. 08-Brock Berreth[6]; 9. 19K-Riley Kreisel[8]

OERB Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7U-Chase McDermand[3]; 2. 71E-Mariah Ede[4]; 3. 8K-KJ Snow[8]; 4. 116-Claud Estes III[1]; 5. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[7]; 6. 96-Cody Brewer[5]; 7. 4C-Cody Jessop[6]; 8. 91B-Kevin Bayer[9]; 9. 1HD-Tommy Colburn[2]

OERB Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 55D-Nick Drake[2]; 2. 21J-Kameron Key[7]; 3. 10-Ryker Pace[3]; 4. 1M-Caden McCreary[8]; 5. 13-Elijah Gile[6]; 6. 9A-Blake Bower[1]; 7. 6X-Anthony Esberg[5]; 8. (DNF) 14E-Joseph Wray IV[4]; 9. (DNF) 22G-Jack France[9]

OERB Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 08X-Parker Price Miller[2]; 2. 22B-Troy Betts[3]; 3. 20C-CJ Sarna[4]; 4. 10M-Darin Naida[8]; 5. 45H-Robbie Price[7]; 6. 87-Tanner Holmes[9]; 7. 14X-Andy Pake[6]; 8. 86C-David Camfield Sr[1]; 9. 44-Colton Hardy[5]

OERB Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 2. 71W-Michael Kofoid[7]; 3. 2ND-Jeb Sessums[1]; 4. 19P-Carson Perkins[5]; 5. 48G-George Loux[3]; 6. 97X-Xavier Doney[6]; 7. 19J-Jack Berger[4]; 8. 22P-Brant O’Banion[9]; 9. (DNF) 88J-Joey Amantea[8]

OERB Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 11B-Clinton Boyles[4]; 2. 29S-Hank Davis[6]; 3. 7E-Cap Henry[1]; 4. 1K-Brayton Lynch[8]; 5. 28B-Brandon Mattox[7]; 6. 07-Scout Spraggins[5]; 7. 80-Clint Woolbright[3]; 8. (DNF) 17K-Tony Helton[2]

OERB Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 77J-John Klabunde[1]; 2. 58-David Gravel[4]; 3. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[6]; 4. 11K-AJ Bender[2]; 5. 27B-Jake Bubak[7]; 6. 11H-Jori Hughes[3]; 7. (DNF) 715-Robert Bell[5]; 8. (DNF) 6W-Colin White[8]

Smiley’s Racing Products C-Features: Top 4 advance to corresponding B-Feature.

Smileys Racing Products C Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 48G-George Loux[1]; 2. 09T-Timmy Thrash[4]; 3. 91B-Kevin Bayer[6]; 4. 44-Colton Hardy[13]; 5. 19J-Jack Berger[8]; 6. 60-Landon Britt[10]; 7. 4C-Cody Jessop[5]; 8. 88J-Joey Amantea[11]; 9. 22G-Jack France[12]; 10. 4G-Cole Garner[3]; 11. 121-Steve Glover[9]; 12. (DNF) 86C-David Camfield Sr[14]; 13. (DNF) 6X-Anthony Esberg[7]; 14. (DNF) 96-Cody Brewer[2]; 15. (DNS) 6W-Colin White

Smileys Racing Products C Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 97X-Xavier Doney[1]; 2. 9A-Blake Bower[4]; 3. 07-Scout Spraggins[2]; 4. 19K-Riley Kreisel[12]; 5. 14X-Andy Pake[5]; 6. 22P-Brant O’Banion[6]; 7. 11H-Jori Hughes[3]; 8. 08-Brock Berreth[10]; 9. 80-Clint Woolbright[8]; 10. 1HD-Tommy Colburn[15]; 11. 7W-Brendon Wiseley[14]; 12. 17K-Tony Helton[13]; 13. 715-Robert Bell[7]; 14. 14E-Joseph Wray IV[11]; 15. (DNF) 31-Kyle Beilman[9]

Team Toyota Qualifiers: Top 16 in combined passing points advance to the A-Feature.

Team Toyota Qualifier 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7U-Chase McDermand[4]; 2. 29S-Hank Davis[5]; 3. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[2]; 4. 7S-Jake Andreotti[6]; 5. 10M-Darin Naida[1]; 6. 87F-Kinzer Edwards[10]; 7. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]; 8. 45H-Robbie Price[9]; 9. (DNF) 2ND-Jeb Sessums[8]; 10. (DNF) 47X-Zach Daum[7]

Team Toyota Qualifier 2 (10 Laps): 1. 7T-Thomas Meseraull[3]; 2. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[4]; 3. 21J-Kameron Key[6]; 4. 55X-Kevin Thomas Jr[5]; 5. 7E-Cap Henry[8]; 6. 20C-CJ Sarna[7]; 7. 13-Elijah Gile[10]; 8. 92M-Josh Most[2]; 9. 28B-Brandon Mattox[9]; 10. (DNF) 1K-Brayton Lynch[1]

Team Toyota Qualifier 3 (10 Laps): 1. 71W-Michael Kofoid[6]; 2. 8K-KJ Snow[5]; 3. 27B-Jake Bubak[9]; 4. 22B-Troy Betts[1]; 5. 55D-Nick Drake[4]; 6. 14P-Kyle Strickler[8]; 7. 77J-John Klabunde[2]; 8. 11K-AJ Bender[10]; 9. 10-Ryker Pace[7]; 10. (DNF) 71E-Mariah Ede[3]

Team Toyota Qualifier 4 (10 Laps): 1. 08X-Parker Price Miller[4]; 2. 58-David Gravel[3]; 3. 11B-Clinton Boyles[6]; 4. 57W-Landon Brooks[5]; 5. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[8]; 6. 87-Tanner Holmes[9]; 7. 19P-Carson Perkins[7]; 8. 116-Claud Estes III[10]; 9. 1M-Caden McCreary[2]; 10. 321-Chad Winfrey[1]

The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Features: Top 4 advance to the A-Feature.

The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 14P-Kyle Strickler[5]; 2. 13-Elijah Gile[6]; 3. 87F-Kinzer Edwards[3]; 4. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[2]; 5. 1K-Brayton Lynch[12]; 6. 1M-Caden McCreary[9]; 7. 91B-Kevin Bayer[13]; 8. 22B-Troy Betts[1]; 9. 19P-Carson Perkins[7]; 10. 10-Ryker Pace[10]; 11. 44-Colton Hardy[15]; 12. 48G-George Loux[11]; 13. 09T-Timmy Thrash[14]; 14. 11K-AJ Bender[8]; 15. (DNF) 87-Tanner Holmes[4]; 16. (DNS) 2ND-Jeb Sessums

The Enjoy Illinois 300 NASCAR Cup Series Race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday, June 2 B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 47X-Zach Daum[11]; 2. 7E-Cap Henry[1]; 3. 3N-Jake Neuman[4]; 4. 20C-CJ Sarna[3]; 5. 19K-Riley Kreisel[15]; 6. 45H-Robbie Price[7]; 7. 97X-Xavier Doney[13]; 8. 28B-Brandon Mattox[8]; 9. 116-Claud Estes III[6]; 10. 321-Chad Winfrey[10]; 11. 07-Scout Spraggins[14]; 12. 77J-John Klabunde[5]; 13. 9A-Blake Bower[12]; 14. 10M-Darin Naida[2]; 15. 92M-Josh Most[16]; 16. (DNF) 71E-Mariah Ede[9]

A-Feature: Top 2 advance to Saturday’s A-Feature.

Warren CAT A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 71W-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 29S-Hank Davis[3]; 3. 7U-Chase McDermand[2]; 4. 58-David Gravel[11]; 5. 21J-Kameron Key[5]; 6. 7T-Thomas Meseraull[8]; 7. 57W-Landon Brooks[14]; 8. 55X-Kevin Thomas Jr[13]; 9. 47X-Zach Daum[18]; 10. 27B-Jake Bubak[12]; 11. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[9]; 12. 08X-Parker Price Miller[4]; 13. 7S-Jake Andreotti[10]; 14. 14P-Kyle Strickler[17]; 15. 25V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[23]; 16. 13-Elijah Gile[19]; 17. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[15]; 18. 8K-KJ Snow[6]; 19. 55D-Nick Drake[16]; 20. 3N-Jake Neuman[22]; 21. 87F-Kinzer Edwards[21]; 22. 20C-CJ Sarna[24]; 23. (DNF) 11B-Clinton Boyles[7]; 24. (DNF) 7E-Cap Henry[20]

Lap Leader(s): Michael “Buddy” Kofoid 1-30

Hard Charger: Zach Daum +9