8/3/2025
I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park
Buddy Kofoid Capitalizes Late for First Ironman 55 Victory
HITTING THE GYM: Buddy Kofoid Capitalizes Late for First Ironman 55 Victory
The current runner-up in points picks the perfect time to conquer I-55 for the first time
PEVELY, MO (August 2, 2025) - A lot must go right to win the Federated Auto Parts Ironman 55.
It鈥檚 the most laps the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series runs all season. It requires a great car and driver. It requires mixing patience with aggression. It requires stamina. All the pieces have to come together to conquer the demanding 55-lapper at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park.
The man who figured out the puzzle in 2025? That would be Michael 鈥淏uddy鈥� Kofoid. The Penngrove, CA lined up fifth and came out on top of a main event that provided all kinds of twists and turns.
First, Friday鈥檚 winner Carson Macedo appeared on his way to a weekend sweep until heartbreak hit. He鈥檇 led from the drop of the green, but a flat right rear tire under caution sent him to the Federated Car Care Work Zone and ended his hopes of a first Ironman title. That handed Sheldon Haudenschild the top spot in his hunt for a record-tying third dumbbell trophy, but Kofoid had other ideas.
The Penngrove, CA native immediately brought the battle to Haudenschild when the green lights returned. Haudenschild held him off at first, but the Roth Motorsports No. 83 wasn鈥檛 done. A Lap 51 slide job cleared and proved to be the winning move for Kofoid. He secured the lead and drove away as Haudenschild wound up in a battle for the runner-up spot with Tanner Thorson. The checkered flew, and Kofoid made his way to Victory Lane to collect a brand new dumbbell trophy and a $25,000 check.
鈥淚 wanted to start on the outside every restart just because I felt like as the race went on my car started to take off better and better,鈥� Kofoid explained. 鈥淚 would stay out longer, and I feel like I鈥檇 get such a big tow of momentum and almost got Sheldon on that restart. I didn鈥檛 think I was all the way clear, so I left him a little bit of room and just got back in line and knew that if we could get to traffic, he may be in trouble because our car has notoriously been tremendous in dirty air.
鈥淒ylan (Buswell) just made great adjustments under the open red, and that probably won us the race. I鈥檓 just super happy to have him in my corner. I would not want to race against him. And of course, Nate (Knotts) and Gage (Tyra) do a tremendous job. I鈥檓 just having a lot of fun.鈥�
Kofoid became the 11th different winner of I-55鈥檚 premier event and the fifth from the state of California, joining Jason Meyers (Clovis, CA), Rico Abreu (St. Helena, CA), Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, CA), and Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA). Kofoid鈥檚 eighth World of Outlaws victory of 2025 establishes a new personal-best mark, and the 18th of his career equals him with Brad Doty for 34th all-time. I-55 becomes the 15th different track where the 23-year-old has won with The Greatest Show on Dirt, and it was one he was ready to check off the bucket list.
鈥淚 was extremely excited in the car and still am,鈥� Kofoid said. 鈥淚 feel like this is a place that fits in my wheelhouse and just haven鈥檛 been able to quite capitalize. I ran second and third last year, ran third last nights, had other times I feel like before that I鈥檝e been fast and just had something go wrong or just make a mistake on my end and give it away. So, it鈥檚 just really cool to finally capitalize on a win here, and to do it for the Ironman is pretty awesome.鈥�
The second spot went to Tanner Thorson after a spirited drive. He wheeled the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88 all the way from 17th to second, more than enough to earn him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors. It gave the Minden, NV native his second career World of Outlaws podium and first since the first ever Series Feature he qualified for in 2015.
鈥淏adass,鈥� Thorson said of his run. 鈥淭hat was awesome. We鈥檝e been kind of crappy the last two nights, and Stevie (Smith) and I and the guys just put our heads down and went back to some stuff we were doing at the beginning of the year, and it worked.鈥�
Sheldon Haudenschild wound up with a bittersweet third place finish with the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink team. It gave him nine podiums in 2025, but watching the lead slip away late was a tough pill to swallow as he looked to hoist the dumbbell a third time.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know if the bottom was really the right choice there,鈥� Haudenschild said of the late restart. 鈥淏ut I ended up getting going. I just didn鈥檛 really run it hard enough there. I bounced a couple times through the holes, and I was just trying to be really smooth and get through those holes smooth. (Kyle) Ripper and the boys did a great job tonight. We鈥檝e been struggling, and when I have got myself in position to win these races, I just haven鈥檛 capitalized. We鈥檒l keep pushing here.鈥�
David Gravel and Zach Hampton completed the top five.
David Gravel swept both Simpson Quick Times on the weekend, upping his season total to 14 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.
Heat Races belonged to David Gravel (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Skylar Gee (Real American Beer Heat Two), Carson Macedo (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Buddy Kofoid (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).
The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Carson Macedo for the second night in a row.
Macedo also topped the Toyota Dash.
Bill Balog won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.
The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Carson Macedo.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are heading to Knoxville Raceway for the 64th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey鈥檚 on Aug. 6-9. This year鈥檚 champion will bank $195,000 and earn Sprint Car immortality.
If you can鈥檛 make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
NOS Energy Drink Feature (55 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[5]; 2. 88-Tanner Thorson[17]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 4. 2-David Gravel[4]; 5. 6-Zach Hampton[8]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[12]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 9. 45-Cory Eliason[6]; 10. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[9]; 11. 14-Spencer Bayston[3]; 12. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 13. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[14]; 14. 18-Emerson Axsom[23]; 15. 2C-Cole Macedo[18]; 16. 7S-Chris Windom[13]; 17. 45X-Landon Crawley[16]; 18. 7A-Will Armitage[11]; 19. 37-Bryce Norris[24]; 20. 51B-Joe B Miller[20]; 21. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 22. 24T-Christopher Thram[19]; 23. 17B-Bill Balog[21]; 24. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[22]
Submitted By: Jimmy Dearing