Buddy Kofoid passed fellow Toyota driver Chance Crum in traffic on lap 25 of 30 and went on to his third straight USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ victory on the opening night of Indiana Midget Week on the red clay at Bloomington Speedway.
It’s the sixth national midget feature win for Kofoid in 2022 and the 31st of his career – all with Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) and Toyota. He has now earned consecutive top-five finishes in each of the first six races to open the USAC season.
For much of the event, it appeared that Crum was on his way to his first career USAC victory as he took the lead at green flag with Kyle Cummins running second, followed by Justin Grant, Kofoid and Kaylee Bryson.
The top five would maintain those positions through the first nine circuits before Kofoid moved up to third on lap nine and then began a battle with Cummins that would see the two trade second place back and forth five times through lap 22 before Kofoid secured the position.
In front, Crum began to hit heavy traffic as Kofoid closed up behind him and would eventually move past him coming out of turn two on lap 25. Crum wasn’t done yet, though, as he would briefly retake the lead on lap 27, only to see a caution flag wave, giving the lead back to Kofoid with the field reverting back to the last scored lap.
After the restart, Kofoid would pull away to more than a second lead on lap 29 and would eventually beat Crum to the finish line by 1.338 seconds. Cummins would finish third, with Bryson coming home in fourth and Grant placing fifth. Like Kofoid, Grant has scored six straight top-five finishes to open the season, including three wins and five podium finishes.
Bryant Wiedeman would place sixth, followed by Cannon McIntosh in seventh, with Mitchell Moles in ninth, Thomas Meseraull tenth and Taylor Reimer scored in 11th as Toyota-powered drivers earned nine of the top 11 finishing positions.
Night two of Indiana Midget Week will take place Saturday on the 3/8ths mile oval at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Quotes:
Buddy Kofoid, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “I told (crew chief) Jarrett Martin if we can get this thing comfortable, I’ll show them what we can do. This last stretch of races has been really good for us. Our speed is really phenomenal right now. That was tough physically. It just wears you out. It was a really fun race and I hope all the fans enjoyed it. We’ll go back and see how we can be better tomorrow.”
Chance Crum, Rudeen Racing: “I’m really happy to get a second, but dang it, I didn’t want that yellow. I was trying to move around in traffic. But to finish second to Buddy is overall a really good night. We’re racing again next Wednesday at Circle City. It’s really cool going against this level of competition. It’s so tough, but my guys made it easy for me. They gave me a great car tonight and we were fast.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Bloomington Speedway Results
Buddy Kofoid – 1st
Chance Crum – 2nd
Kaylee Bryson – 4th
Justin Grant – 5th
Bryant Wiedeman – 6th
Cannon McIntosh – 7th
Mitchel Moles – 9th
Thomas Meseraull – 10th
Taylor Reimer – 11th
Dominic Gordon – 14th
Brenham Crouch – 16th
Jade Avedisian – 17th
Rylan Gray – 19th
Jace Park – 20th
Logan Seavey – 23rd
TRD PR
