Kofoid Earns Runner-up Finish at Chili Bowl Nationals; Pursley Claims Hard Charger Award - Speedway Digest

Buddy Kofoid ran in the top two throughout all 55 laps on the way to a runner-up finish in Saturday night’s 38th annual Chili Bowl Nationals to lead the Toyota contingent. The second-place finish marks a career best for Kofoid in the Chili Bowl after previously finishing fourth in 2022.

After starting from the pole, Kofoid held the lead for the opening lap, only to see a caution wave forcing a complete restart. As the green flag waved, Logan Seavey was able to get the jump for the lead. Kofoid would recover to retake the lead on lap four, but once again a yellow flag would wave, setting the field back to the previous lap standings.

Kofoid would run with Seavey throughout the event, but just past the half-way point, track conditions began to make passing extremely difficult just after catching lapped traffic. As the track narrowed, the top four would basically be locked in and that’s how they would finish with Seavey winning, Kofoid coming in second, followed by Corey Day in third and Toyota driver Daison Pursley taking fourth.

Pursley may have had the run of the day, earning the Hard Charger Award after driving from 20^thto fourth in the first half of the race. Making his performance even more impressive was his ‘alphabet soup’ run, starting in the D Main and driving all the way into the feature.

In addition to Pursley’s Hard Charger Award, Toyota driver Kale Drake was named the 2024 Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year after finishing 14^thin tonight’s A Main.

Overall, nine Toyota-powered drivers from four different teams qualified for the 24-car A Main feature on Saturday in an event that featured 374 entries.

Toyota Chili Bowl Notes:

– Collinsville, Oklahoma native Kale Drake earned Toyota’s second consecutive Rookie of the Year award after climbing from the B Main to finish 14^thin Saturday’s feature event. The 18-year-old Keith Kunz Motorsports driver was making just his second national midget start. Jade Avedisian took home rookie honors in 2023.

– Toyota pilots Tanner Carrick, Buddy Kofoid and Spencer Bayston all earned Preliminary Night features over the course of the week.

– Jade Avedisian captured the first ‘Fuzzy Hahn Trophy’ as the top finishing female driver with an eighth-place finish in the B Main, missing out on the A Main by one position.

Quotes:

Buddy Kofoid, Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota:“I passed Logan (Seavey) and thought I completed a lap and the yellow came out and they said my transponder wasn’t working and put me back to second. There was still a long way to go, though, with 51 laps to go. I was able to stay with him and I thought I was a little better than him. Then we hit traffic and had a long line of cars, so I wasn’t going to be able to try to slide him until we got through traffic. Then the track started to go away and I knew we were pretty much going to have to stay at the bottom with the track conditions and that was it. The KKM guys gave me a great car. I just have to thank Toyota and Mobil 1 for giving me this opportunity.”

Daison Pursley, CB Industries Toyota:“It was unfortunate that I had to start so far back (20^th), but it goes to show how good my car was. Everyone at CB Industries did a phenomenal job. I’m forever thankful for the opportunity I’ve been given by Toyota Racing, Pristine Auctions and Chad Boat Industries. (How did track conditions affect your run?) It’s hard to tell when you’re racing against drivers like Logan, Buddy and Corey, there’s really no telling. The track widened up fast and that was in my favor in being able to pass so many cars early. Unfortunately, it just locked down a little too early. Overall, though, everyone with the Chili Bowl did a good job this week. (About coming from the D) It was pretty crazy. I don’t ever want to have that much stress on me and have to pass so many cars again (laughing). Just shows goes to show how good a car I was in, where I was able to move around and do what I want. We just didn’t mesh together well on our qualifying night. Just unfortunate circumstances, but to come back on Saturday and have this great a run was pretty incredible.”

Toyota 2024 Chili Bowl Results

Toyota-Powered Drivers	Hometown	PreliminaryFinish	SaturdayStarting/Finish
Buddy Kofoid	Penngrove, CA	A Main – 1^st	A Main 2^nd
Daison Pursley	Locust Grove, OK	A Main – 16^th	D Main – A Main 4^th
Tanner Carrick	Lincoln, CA	A Main – 1^st	A Main 7^th
Spencer Bayston	Lebanon, IN	A Main – 1^st	A Main 8^th
Emerson Axsom	Franklin, IN	A Main – 5^th	B Main – A Main 11^th
Ryan Timms	Oklahoma City, OK	A Main – 2^nd	A Main 12^th
Kale Drake	Collinsville, OK	A Main – 6^th	B Main – A Main 14^th
Cannon McIntosh	Bixby, OK	A Main – 6^th	B Main – A Main 20^th
Steven Snyder	Rising Sun, MD	A Main – 4^th	B Main – A Main 23^rd
Jade Avedisian	Clovis, CA	A Main – 7^th	B Main 8^th
Brady Bacon	Broken Arrow, TX	A Main – 5^th	B Main 10^th
Bryant Wiedeman	Colby, KS	A Main – 6^th	B Main 16^th
Trey Marcham	Newcastle, OK	A Main – 7^th	B Main 13^th
Brent Crews	Denver, NC	A Main – 9^th	C Main – B Main 15^th
Gavin Miller	Allentown, PA	A Main – 9^th	C Main – B Main 16^th
Gary Taylor	Snohomish, WA	A Main – 10^th	C Main – B Main 19^th
Chris Windom	Canton, IL	A Main – 5^th	B Main 19^th
Blake Hahn	Sapulpa, OK	A Main – 15^th	D Main – C Main 7^th
Jerry Coons, Jr.	Tucson, AZ	A Main – 10^th	C Main 7^th
Jacob Denney	Galloway, OH	A Main – 17^th	D Main – C Main 10^th
Kris Carroll	Claremore, OK	A Main – 13^th	C Main 11^th
Parker Price-Miller	Kokomo, IN	A Main – 12^th	C Main 15^th
Ricky Stenhouse	Olive Branch, MS	A Main – 23^rd	E Main – C Main 20^th
Alex Bright	Collegeville, PA	A Main – 17^th	D Main 6^th
Gavin Boschele	Mooresville, NC	A Main – 15^th	D Main 11^th
Nick Drake	Mooresville, NC	A Main – 19^th	D Main 12^th
Landon Crawley	Benton, AR	A Main – 20^th	D Main 13^th
Justin Grant	Ione, CA	A Main – 20^th	D Main 14^th
Emilio Hoover	Broken Arrow, OK	A Main – 20^th	D Main 20^th
Taylor Reimer	Tulsa, OK	A Main – 21^st	E Main – D Main 20^th
Kenney Johnson	Bethany, CT	A Main – 23^rd	E Main 7^th
Danny Wood	Norman, OK	B Main – 5^th	E Main 8^th
Ryder Laplante	Calera, OK	B Main – 5^th	E Main 9^th
Jesse Love	Redwood City, CA	B Main – 5^th	E Main 14^th
Weston Gorham	Colleyville, TX	B Main – 8^th	F Main – E Main 14^th
Brayton Lynch	Springfield, IL	B Main – 5^th	E Main 16^th
Kyle Larson	Elk Grove, CA	A Main – 24^th	E Main 20^th(DNS)
Casey Shuman	Rattlesnake Bend, AZ	B Main – 8^th	F Main 7^th
Wout Hoffmans	Boxmeer, Netherlands	B Main – 9^th	G Main – F Main 7^th
Tom Harris	Banbury, OXF, UK	B Main – 9^th	G Main – F Main 11^th
Mike Hess	Riverton, IL	B Main – 8^th	F Main 15^th
Kyle Simon	Covington, OH	B Main – 7^th	F Main 18^th
Tanner Holmes	Jacksonville, OR	B Main – 15^th	J Main – G Main 6^th
Brody Wake	Lake Havasu City, AZ	B Main – 11^th	H Main – G Main 11^th
Sean McClelland	Tulsa, OK	C Main – 5^th	K Main – H Main 11^th
D.J. Estes	Burlington, TX	B Main – 13^th	I Main – H Main 12^th
Mariah Ede	Fresno, CA	B Main – 15^th	J Main – I Main 11^th
Jace McIntosh	Bixby, OK	C Main – 5^th	K Main – J Main 8^th
Dylan Menz	Jimbooma, QLD, Aus.	B Main – 16^th	J Main 13^th
Chad Frewaldt	Kansas City, KS	B Main – 16^th	J Main 15^th
Keith Martin	Cleburn, TX	B Main – 16^th	J Main 16^th(DNS)
Santino Ferrucci	Woodbury, CT	C Main – 6^th	K Main 7^th
Noah Harris	Broken Arrow, OK	C Main – 7^th	L Main – K Main 9^th
Dillon Welch	Carmel, IN	C Main – 8^th	L Main – K Main 10^th
Josh Hanna	Flint, TX	C Main – 6^th	K Main 11^th
Josh Baughman	Odessa, TX	C Main – 6^th	K Main 16^th
Brock Berreth	Tulsa, OK	C Main – 8^th	L Main 7^th
Josh Hawkins	Whitehouse, TX	D Main – 3^rd	N Main – L Main 9^th
Sam Johnson	Mooresville, NC	D Main – 8^th	O Main (DNS)