June 17, 2022 | By Lee Spencer

With KBM and TRD support, Buddy Kofoid is confident in truck return at Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, IOWA--Buddy Kofoid hopes to build on his recent dirt success when he returns to the Camping World Truck Series this weekend at Knoxville Raceway.

The defending USAC National Midget champion made his truck debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports at Bristol Motor Speedway in April. Unfortunately, his 27th-place finish wasn’t indicative of Kofoid’s performance.

But the 20-year-old Toyota Racing Development driver will be looking to redeem himself on Saturday night.

“I feel like I will be even more prepared now going into Knoxville because I think I have a good sense of the weight and power of the truck,” Kofoid said. “Now that I have one race under my belt, I think I have a good sense of what to expect and am looking forward to getting back to it with Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and all the guys on my Mobil 1 team.”

Kofoid’s development has been non-stop this season. He’s won four of the first 10 USAC midget races in 2022—including a consecutive Indiana Midget Week title with Keith Kunz Motorsports. Kofoid currently holds a 46-point lead over Justin Grant in the USAC midget standings.

He has also been victorious on the POWRi tour, winning two of the first three events. In his fifth start with the All-Star Circuit of Champions this year, Kofoid finished a season-high fifth at Sharon Speedway on Tuesday. The affable racer and  Penngrove, Calif.-native has also dabbled in Late Models on pavement and the World of Outlaws.

Despite his tremendous success on dirt, Kofoid longs for a career in NASCAR. Certainly, TRD and KBM will provide all the tools for Kofoid to get up to speed at Knoxville. He’ll pilot the No. 51 Toyota Tundra—which has visited Victory Lane three times in the first 12 races, most recently with the bossman Kyle Busch at Sonoma Raceway last Saturday.

The only characteristics that Knoxville shares with Bristol are its half-mile length and dirt surface but that’s where the similarities end. Knoxville is a permanent zook clay dirt oval that stretches to 80 feet in front of the grandstand and 60 feet on the backstretch with eight-degree corners.

“I think the biggest difference will be the lack of banking that Knoxville has compared to Bristol,” Kofoid said. “In turn, I think that will make the grip level and speeds a lot less.”

Still, Kofoid welcomes the challenge.

“I feel like my expectations are always high because I put that on myself no matter what,” Kofoid said. “But I think with the speed I had at Bristol I’m looking forward to capitalizing on that and am hungry to finish on a high note.”