PARK CITY, KS (March 28, 2026) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid reminded everyone of one of life’s most valuable lessons on Saturday night: never give up.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car main event at Park City, KS’ 81 Speedway looked like it was over at the halfway point. On the 15th lap of 30, Ryan Timms had extended his lead over Kofoid to just north of four seconds. Timms masterfully worked through traffic aboard the Liebig Motorsports No. 10 that looked similar to his dominant Knoxville Nationals title of 2025.

But then Kofoid chipped a bit away, and then a little more, and then a little more. Suddenly, the distance between the two had been more than cut in half by Lap 21. It continued to shrink as the final circuits clicked off. When the white flag flew, Kofoid had moved the Roth Motorsports No. 83 within striking distance.

The duo motored out of Turn 2 for the last time, and Kofoid built up a run but still faced a deficit of a handful of car lengths. But that didn’t stop the Penngrove, CA native from setting up for a major slide job in the final set of corners that easily cleared. Timms turned off the cushion in an effort to cross him over but couldn’t find the momentum he needed as Kofoid took the checkered flag in one of the wildest finishes we’ll see all year.

“When I was that close and then I saw him go to the top, I knew instantly there was a chance,” Kofoid said. “It was just a matter of getting across in time and then blocking him down the straightaway so he couldn’t get under me. When he slid me after the restart and got into the side of me, it actually bent the nerf bar into the pitman arm, so I didn’t even have full steering like the whole race. I thought something in the right front broke because I just could not turn at all, and that’s why he got so far ahead. I think the pitman arm eventually bent the bumper back out of the way to where I could get mostly full range of motion again.”

Kofoid became the third multi-time winner of the season, joining David Gravel and Anthony Macri. He’s the ninth different driver to top a race with The Greatest Show on Dirt at 81 Speedway. Kofoid equaled Ron Shuman for 28th on the all-time World of Outlaws win list with his 24th career triumph. The 24-year-old also continued to claw his way back up the standings. After falling as far as sixth in recent weeks, Kofoid moved ahead of Donny Schatz to take the fourth spot.

Timms came up a corner short of his second career World of Outlaws checkered flag, but it was a drive that reminded everyone he’s one of the sport’s top young talents that’s going to be around for years to come.

Cole Macedo rounded out the podium to cap a strong weekend for he and the TwoC Racing team.

Carson Macedo (from 22nd) and Donny Schatz completed the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

David Gravel clocked the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.

Gravel also collected his fifth Simpson Quick Time of the year, breaking the 81 Speedway track record with a 12.877 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Donny Schatz (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Bill Balog (DIRTVision Heat Two), David Gravel (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Cole Macedo (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Buddy Kofoid.

Kofoid also topped the Toyota Dash.

Blake Hahn won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

Carson Macedo took the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 from 22nd to fourth to earn KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.

Kasey Jedrzejek was the Five Star Bodies Rookies of the Race.

Ryan Timms set the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

Garet Williamson was the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Spencer Bayston.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series takes Easter weekend off before getting back to work on April 10-11 at Pevely, MO’s I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park for the Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 10-Ryan Timms[2]; 3. 2C-Cole Macedo[7]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[22]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 6. 2-David Gravel[5]; 7. 23-Garet Williamson[10]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[11]; 9. 19-Brent Marks[13]; 10. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 11. 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 12. 55-Kerry Madsen[4]; 13. 9-Daison Pursley[12]; 14. 45X-Rees Moran[9]; 15. 7S-Chris Windom[15]; 16. 6-Kasey Jedrzejek[27]; 17. 51-Scott Bogucki[19]; 18. 17-Spencer Bayston[25]; 19. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[20]; 20. 32-Bryce Lucius[18]; 21. (DNF) 27-Emerson Axsom[26]; 22. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn[21]; 23. (DNF) 12X-Landon Crawley[23]; 24. (DNF) 21-Brian Brown[17]; 25. (DNF) 88R-Ryder Laplante[16]; 26. (DNF) 88-Austin McCarl[14]; 27. (DNS) 95-Matt Covington

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

This article was republished with the permission of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. Original article can be found here: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/never-give-up-kofoid-overcomes-huge-gap-to-steal-81-speedway-win-from-timms/

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