Buddy Kofoid earned his second win of the week in a Toyota one-two finish over Emerson Axsom on night four of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ Indiana Midget Week at Lincoln Park Speedway Thursday.
It’s the 43rd national midget feature win for Kofoid. He trails only Christopher Bell among Toyota drivers. The victory is the sixth for a Toyota-powered driver in seven USAC races this season.
Starting from the pole, Axsom would lead 20 of the first 21 laps, but behind him Kofoid was moving through the field after starting seventh. With a bumpy top side, most of the field was forced to run low, but Kofoid was able to carve his way through the field running the middle.
As the race crossed the midway point, Kofoid was finally able to master the top side of the track and was able to move past Axsom through turns one and two on lap 22 before powering away down the backstraight.
Kofoid would maintain the top spot through the final nine laps of the 30-lap event to earn his second win in the last three races after triumphing at Circle City on Monday. Tonight’s race will be his final event for the week as he returns to his full-time sprint car seat.
Axsom ran in the top two for the entire event on his way to a second consecutive runner-up finish. He’s earned top-five finishes in three of the four Indiana Midget Week events.
Justin Grant made it three Toyotas in the top four with a fourth-place finish. Also earning top-10 finishes were Bryant Wiedeman in sixth, Jade Avedisian was seventh, Taylor Reimer placed eighth and Gavin Miller came home in tenth.
USAC’s Indiana Midget Week heads to Bloomington Speedway on Friday night for round five, before wrapping up the week’s festivities with races at Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday and Kokomo Speedway on Sunday.
Quotes:
Buddy Kofoid, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “I could run the top in one and two, then went down in three and four knowing how treacherous it was up top that nobody was probably going to drive around me. I’m happy to have earned this one. I can’t thank the crew enough for getting me comfortable again after five months away. Thank you to Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby, Mobil 1 and Toyota enough for believing in me. It’s bittersweet to leave after tonight, but I have a great opportunity to go run the sprint car up in Ohio for Speed Week. I’ll be back for some more midget races”
Emerson Axsom, Petry Motorsports: “I hate running the bottom in a midget honestly. I wanted to get up to the top, but I saw Buddy hopping around up there and if he was having a tough time, I wouldn’t do any better. My guys gave me a great car. I feel like I’ve run second during Midget Week a million times. Hopefully we can win one of these. I have to thank Capitol Industries, Toyota and everyone that helps out on this deal and makes it so I can come have some fun for a week.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Lincoln Park Speedway Thursday Feature Results
Buddy Kofoid – 1st
Emerson Axsom – 2nd
Justin Grant – 4th
Bryant Wiedeman – 6th
Jade Avedisian – 7th
Taylor Reimer – 8th
Gavin Miller – 9th
Jacob Denney – 12th
Ryan Timms – 13th
Jake Andreotti – 14th
Jesse Love – 16th
Chance Crum – 18th
Brenham Crouch – 20th
Cannon McIntosh – 22nd
Toyota Racing PR
