Kofoid Keeps Rolling With Dodge City Outlaws Triumph

Buddy Kofoid (83) passes Emerson Axsom for the lead at Dodge City Raceway Park. (Tyler Carr photo)

By Alex Nieten, World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series PR

DODGE CITY, Kan. (Sept. 12, 2026) – The winningest World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series team keeps on winning.

The Greatest Show on Dirt returned to Dodge City Raceway Park after six years away on Saturday for the Gunslinger Stampede, and Buddy Kofoid drew and fired much faster than any of his competition.

The 24-year-old completely dominated the trip to the top-notch Kansas facility. Emerson Axsom led the field to green and narrowly paced the opening lap, but then Kofoid cleared a slide job in turns one and two on lap two and waved goodbye.

Kofoid wasted zero time building a huge advantage aboard the Roth Motorsports No. 83. The Penngrove, Calif., native pulled away in clean air. Traffic also proved to be no problem as Kofoid put away lappers as the gap between he and Axsom grew to nearly five seconds.

Two-time and defending series champion David Gravel took over the second spot late, but Kofoid was much too far ahead as he motored to Dodge City victory lane.

“I just wanted to fire off [well],” Kofoid said of the start of the race. “I felt like I didn’t fire off great in the Dash but was still able to not lose a spot. It was kind of the same thing in the feature. I didn’t really anticipate him (Axsom) going that early. I feel like I kind of stayed down and spun, so I was like okay I’ll try to stay out and tow myself around.

“I got a really good run in (turns) one and two and got to his outside almost way quicker than I anticipated with how far back I was. He kind of entered down and slid across, and I was all the way up. I just feel like at that point I had the momentum advantage,” Kofoid added. “I just got under him good and slid across at the right time in (turns) one and two.”

Kofoid and the Roth crew extended their lead as the winningest team on tour in 2026 with their 13th victory of the season. That also gave Kofoid a new personal best mark of wins in a single World of Outlaws campaign. He’s the 14th different driver to top an Outlaws race at Dodge City.

In addition, Kofoid is up to 35 career World of Outlaws checkered flags, one away from equaling Shane Stewart for 23rd all-time.

Gravel came home second in the Big Game Motorsports No. 2, his 28th podium of the season, which is tied with Kofoid for the most, while Axsom finished third with the Klaasmeyer/Petry Motorsports team, falling just two spots shy of backing up his first career win with another.

Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild completed the top five.

The finish:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid [2]; 2. 2-David Gravel [5]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom [1]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo [4]; 5. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 6. 17B-Bill Balog [6]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [8]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [7]; 9. 2C-Cole Macedo [10]; 10. 23-Garet Williamson [9]; 11. 51-Steven Snyder Jr. [11]; 12. 17-Spencer Bayston [12]; 13. 45X-Ashton Torgerson [18]; 14. 2B-J.J. Hickle [13]; 15. 16C-Skylar Gee [14]; 16. 6-Bryce Lucius [15]; 17. 7S-Chris Windom [16]; 18. 28M-Conner Morrell [20]; 19. 74-Zack Merritt [22]; 20. 2W-Alex Pettas [17]; 21. 2J-Zach Blurton [19]; 22. 91-Jeff Stasa [23]; 23. 6G-Bryan Gossel [21].

ARTICLE CREDIT: World of Outlaws Communications