Michael Kofoid is an Outlaw.
Buddy has now committed to chase the full World of Outlaws championship with the Toyota Racing Development TRD 410 and Roth Motorsports. He is the 12th driver to commit to the series full-time.
That is compared to the 16 drivers that have committed to chasing the inagural High Limit Racing campaign. And putting tribalism aside, when considering that national Sprint Car racing has 28 drivers chasing a championship to start the year is an incredible fact.
Sure, several will drop off both tours over the spring and summer but that there is this kind of enthusiasm for the discipline is something fans of both groups and the entire discipline should celebrate.
High Limit contenders are being enticed by the proposed charter agreement, leaping to get into the series from the ground floor with two years to earn a franchise token. The charter system will pay at least 10 teams a guaranteed monthly payout comprised of television and streaming revenue.
Meanwhile, World of Outlaws still has attracted its share of notable contenders with a $1.6 million championship fund.
World of Outlaws specs
86 races across 41 tracks
$6 million in purses
$1.6 million points fund
$700,000k-800,000k in tow money
Restriction: Four qualified non-WoO starts
High Limit Racing specs
61 races across 37 tracks
$4 million in purses
$1 million points fund
$400,000k in tow money
No restrictions
World of Outlaws commitments
David Gravel, Big Game Motorsports No. 2
Brock Zearfoss, Zearfoss Racing No. 3Z
Logan Schuchart, Shark Racing No. 1S
Gio Scelzi, KCP Racing No. 18
Sheldon Haudenschild, Stenhouse Jr Marshall Racing No. 17
Landon Crawley, Sides Motorsports No. 7S
Bill Rose, Bill Rose Racing No. 6
Donny Schatz, Tony Stewart Racing No. 15
Noah Gass, Ran No Gass LLC
Bill Balog, B2 Motorsports No. 17B
Carson Macedo, Jason Johnson Racing No. 41
Buddy Kofoid, Roth Motorsports No. 83
High Limit Racing commitments
Jacob Allen, Shark Racing No. 1
Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49
Kasey Kahne, Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9
Zeb Wise, Rudeen Racing No. 26
Cory Eliason, Ridge and Sons Racing No. 8
Brenham Crouch, Crouch Motorsports No. 1
Rico Abreu, Rico Abreu Racing No. 24
Justin Peck, Buch Motorsports No. 13
Corey Day, Jason Meyers Racing No. 14/Clauson Marshall Racing No. 14BC
Spencer Bayston, CJB Motorsports No. 5
Chris Windom, Vermeer Motorsports No. 55
Brent Marks, Murray-Marks No. 19
Parker Priece Miller, PPM Racing LLC No. 9P
Tanner Thorson, Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88
Connor Morrel, Marc Dailey Racing No. 2MD
Tyler Courtney, Clauson Marshall Racing No. 7BC
Larson and Midweek Money
Kyle Larson will be back to defend his Midweek Money championship in 2024. That carries with it a $100,000 prize to the champion and was basically put in place to allow Larson to race for a championship again.
It’s also to entice weekly racers from various tracks to come out and race for a 10-race title if the full 60-race slate isn’t tenable.
But it also opens up the question if team owner and crew chief Paul Silva would be interested in putting a driver in his car for all the races Larson can’t make for charter system purposes.
Closing thoughts
It’s also worth pondering, with only 10 charter positions up for grab by the start of the 2026 season, if having a full-time roster that is already over 15 full-timers, that could entice some current commits to choose World of Outlaws instead.
It becomes a calculation of choosing the potential of being outside the top-10 in High Limit standings or being inside the top-10 of the World of Outlaws standings.
For example, 10th place in the World of Outlaws pays $87,500 at the end of the season. Ninth place pays $96,250.
So if there is a chance to crack the top-10 in the World of Outlaws standings, that could be more cost beneficial than being on the outside of the top-10 in High Limit standings and not getting in the charter system after two seasons.
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.