Andrew Buff looks to cap off his championship season with his first World Short Track Championship title
Andrew Buff’s 2023 season is already highlighted by a Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly championship and DIRTcar Sportsman Series title, but he’s not stopping there.
The Latham, NY driver has one more challenge he plans to tackle before the offseason: the World Short Track Championship.
Buff will head to The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Oct. 26-28, to attempt to capture his third straight major victory of the season and his first World Short Track title at the Concord, NC oval.
“It would be really cool to win all of that in one year,” Buff said. “It’s definitely something to think about. Hopefully we can do it and be able to say that we accomplished it.”
His championship season started with scoring nine wins and 34 top-five finishes in 42 Hoosier Racing Championship matchups on his way to winning his first Weekly title over Labor Day Weekend.
That success continued as he won three of his nine starts on the DIRTcar Sportsman Series tour, each coming at a different track: Albany-Saratoga Speedway, Land of Legends Raceway and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park. He was officially crowned the Series champion at the conclusion of the Oct. 14 matchup at Brockville-Ontario Speedway.
Andrew Buff sits in Albany-Saratoga’s Victory Lane after scoring his third DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series victory on September 22.
“I think a lot of it is being consistent and staying up towards the front,” Buff said. “We didn’t have too many DNFs and were able to finish about 90% of the races that we were in and within the top-five. I think that goes a long way in adding up all the points for the end… I think just overall, I became a better driver and was able to take myself out of bad situations.”
Buff will try to keep that momentum rolling one more weekend during the World Short Track Championship. He’ll be entered for Thursday night’s (Oct. 26) DIRTcar Sportsman All Star Invitational Feature and then will try to qualify for Saturday’s (Oct. 28) 30-lap finale.
He’ll take some time to visit friends in the Charlotte area and enjoy the mild fall climate on his way down, but he stated one thing will linger in his mind the whole time.
“We haven’t won the (World Short Track Championship title),” Buff said. “But I want to win.”
The annual event draws 10 different divisions weekly racers, leading to nearly 300 entries for the weekend. For most of them, the World Short Track Championship will be their first time seeing the 4/10-mile red clay track this year. But Buff is ready for the test, prepared with a robust notebook from previous visits to the 4/10-mile oval.
He posted a seventh-place finish in 2021 followed by an 18th place finish in 2022. After starting on the inside of row two, mechanical issues forced him out of the race seven laps shy of the finish.
But the 25-year-old will be looking over every inch of his equipment for the next week and a half, making sure it is in optimal condition to bare any conditions that may arise. He isn’t underestimating his competition and is ready to put in the work to win one more time.
“The level (of competition) is crazy,” Buff said. “We’re on such a level playing field (at The Dirt Track), every little bit to get ahead helps. Everybody is working just as hard as everybody else to go down there and win on such a huge stage… You have to work just as hard here as you do throughout the year.”
For tickets to the World Short Track Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte, Oct. 26-28, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
