Buddy Kofoid gets worked up about what happened in the Chili Bowl last year the more you talk to him about it.
“Well, I tried to forgot that one,” said Kofoid on Sunday. “That one stung for a long time.
“But I was past it by time I got home and definitely once I strapped in for my next race. I get focused on the task at hand. Really, the one that still stings was (High Banks Nationals at) Huset’s and I watch that practically every day.”
More than Chili Bowl?
Kofoid looked poised to drive away to a second consecutive win in the Tuesday night prelim night and was leading five laps into the feature when Daison Pursley and Damion Gardner tangled in front of him. Kofoid had nowhere to go and crashed right into it.
Just like that, he went from racing in a fourth straight Championship Night main event to starting from an E-Main. He could only get as far as his D-Main before circumstances eliminated him from a late night soup run.
“Chili Bowl, I try not to watch that one because it makes me just angry,” Kofoid said.
Maybe it does sting a little.
“I was so upset,” he said with a laugh that said more than his words did.
It stings.
“We’ll try again and the beauty of it is that it’s another year and we get to come back and try again.”
Driving for the same Keith Kunz Motorsports group that he took to two consecutive USAC National Midget Championships in 2021 and 2022, Kofoid has no other expectation but challenging for the win. It’s the natural progression of a seventh place run in 2020, 19th in 2021 and fourth in 2022, last year be damned.
“Most every race I enter, that’s the mindset,” he said. “I feel like, for Chili Bowl, we’re capable and obviously, it’s a more than capable team. Crew guys, having Keith and Pete (Willoughby) believe in me. Toyota.
“I feel like I can do it, but some of it is luck, and making your own luck. Having stuff go your way but executing when it matters the most.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.