Sunday’s Capitani Classic at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway was virtually a throwaway for everyone involved except Buddy Kofoid.

The 21-year-old developing star and his new Roth Motorsports No. 83jr team found what they came for: crucial speed that can make or break a Knoxville Nationals preliminary night, which comes for Kofoid on Thursday.

On Sunday, Kofoid bested Carson Macedo in the first 30-car group for fast-time honors. He was also one of the few drivers to complete an eight-lap heat race, where he started fourth and finished second to Roth teammate James McFadden.

Tonight at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa, they log one final race — the Front Row Challenge live on FloRacing — before the Knoxville Nationals ultimately begins.

“We achieved what we want, in a weird sense, getting timed in well and getting through the heat race,” Kofoid’s crew chief, Dillon Buswell, said. “But the track could be different in our qualifying night, so we’ll keep that in mind.”

Kofoid’s one of many drivers urgently settling into a new ride at the height of summer amid one of the craziest Sprint Car silly seasons in recent memory. He started the year in the Crouch Motorsports No. 11 — now driven by Cory Eliason — before departing the team in early May.

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But Kofoid, beyond his sheer talent, is better off than most drivers just landing on their feet. The Toyota Racing-backed team has hit the ground the running since June 21-24’s Huset’s High Bank Nationals, where Kofoid turned in two podiums and nearly the $250,000 victory before an engine expired while leading the grand finale.

They won an All Star Circuit of Champions feature July 28 at Missouri’s I-70 Motorsports Park and then narrowly lost to Rico Abreu the night after at Knoxville Raceway. That runner-up finish still served as a building block into this week’s Knoxville Nationals just like Sunday’s Capitani Classic.

WATCH: Highlight's from Buddy Kofoid's runner-up finish in July 29's ASCoC event at Knoxville Raceway.

“(My team) did a really good getting me comfortable here, a place I probably struggled at in the past,” Kofoid said. “I feel like this year we’ve gotten a lot better. We were really good in the All Star show. … We’ve just been chipping away. Yeah, qualified well and felt really good in the heat race. Had a great start … got to second and was able to move around and see what our car was able to do.

“I feel like this gives us an even more-than-good baseline, maybe than what I was expecting, going into our prelim night.”

Kofoid's No. 83jr team has also actively fine-tuned their Toyota Racing engine program. On Sunday, the team employed a Toyota engine from Speedway Motors for the first time this year.

“It’s a really different package motor wise with the Toyotas,” Kofoid said. “Hot-lapped pretty good, and changed some stuff and qualified, I feel like, exceptionally well for me here (at Knoxville). … So far I feel like it’s an already been an improvement, or a positive difference, to some extent.”

As the crew chief, Buswell said the engine from Speedway Motors was specially built for week’s Knoxville Nationals and an upgrade from their previous two trips to Knoxville. Kofoid also finished ninth on July 8 at the track’s Mid-Season Championship.

“The first couple times we’ve came here this year, we were way off in qualifying,” Buswell said “We actually changed cars as well. This is actually a different engine that we haven’t ran here. Definitely feeling more confident heading into Knoxville, to come here and go quick time, out-time cars like (Macedo) and stuff that have always seemed to time well.”

The Capitani Classic may have been a complete throwaway, but it wasn’t a throwaway for @MichaelKofoid & @RothMotorsports.

Fastest in Group A, fourth to second in the heat.

Kofoid found what he came for tonight: crucial early night speed that makes or breaks a Knoxville prelim. pic.twitter.com/DYwDcP1xer

— Kyle McFadden (@ByKyleMcFadden) August 7, 2023

Kofoid doesn’t have an extensive Knoxville track record — Sunday was his 10th race at the famed facility — but he already has enduring memories. He was introduced to Knoxville by racing in NASCAR’s Truck race at the track last June, a race he started fifth and finished 11th.

“It’s funny … that was my first here,” Kofoid said. “I didn’t think that’d be my first race at Knoxville. I think before I ran the Nationals last year, I only had two winged races (in the season to that point). And I don’t feel nearly as comfortable as I do right now, as confident as I do in myself and my car.

“And my guys, and super proud to do it with Toyota and everyone. I think this year, I’ve been here five or six times this year. I feel like I’ve gotten better each time, and maybe as a whole with myself and all the Roth Motorsports guys. We’ve gotten better and learned each other.”

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If Kofoid finished 11th in Saturday night’s finale last year at the Nationals with hardly any Knoxville experience, perhaps he should be one of the favorites to claim the laurels this time around.

He isn’t in FloRacing’s 10 favorites to win the Nationals, which doesn’t bother him because “there’s a lot of people that have been coming here way longer than I have that are a lot better (at Knoxville) and have more experience that I do here, for sure.”

Kofoid’s more focused on growing with the team around him than becoming overly attached with expectations, either self-induced or induced by others.

“I don’t think about that stuff as much as (working) on myself and trying to get our whole program better and to work with the guys more, to build that relationship, especially since it’s a newer environment for me,” Kofoid said. “We’ve had success fairly quick and we’ve been consistent. I’ve just been focusing on that and having fun.

“I feel like this last month or two we’ve come here … we’ve been clicking and have been consistent. Getting timed in and getting through your heat race is huge. As I said, I don’t know if I think about that as much as what we’re doing in our home space. And not trying to look too far ahead.”