NASCAR Cup Stars Finally Break Through at the 250

 

Kevin Harvick rolls into Maine on Friday, withstands a weekend of rain, and wins the 35th TD Banknorth 250

 

Some quotes provided by www.oxfordplains.com 

 

Pictures Below Recap

 

 

 

Kevin Harvick got faster and faster as the weekend went on.  When it came time to put on a show, leave it to a NASCAR star to know how to do it! (above).

Results of the 2008 TD Banknorth Oxford 250

 

1. (11) #29 Kevin Harvick, Bakersfield, Calif., 345, $37,300
2. (38) #7ME Glen Luce, Turner, 345, $12,500
3. (9) #97 Joey Polewarczyk Jr., Hudson, N.H., 345, $7,700
4. (25) #94 Shawn Martin, Turner, 345, $6,000
5. (17) #10 Ben Rowe, Turner, 345, $5,000
6. (19) #88 Nicholas Sweet, Barre, Vt., 345, $4,000
7. (27) #55VT Brent Dragon, Milton, Vt., 345, $3,500
8. (3) #17 Eddie MacDonald, Rowley, Mass., 345, $15,000
9. (21) #95 Dennis Spencer Jr., Oxford, 345, $2,500
10. (32) #02NH Randy Potter, Groevton, N.H., 345, $2,400
11. (4) #55NH Brad Leighton, Center Harbor, N.H., 345, $2,300
12. (22) #89 Scott Payea, Milton, Vt., 345, $2,200
13. (18) #37 Larry Gelinas, Scarborough, 345, $2,100
14. (23) #0 Bill Whorff Jr., West Bath, 345, $2,050
15. (12) #50 Jeff White, Winthrop, 345, $2,000
16. (14) #02MA Derek Ramstrom, W Boylston, Ma.., 345, $1,850
17. (6) #7VT Eric Williams, Hyde Park, Vt., 345, $1,750
18. (10) #8 Rick Thompson Jr., Derby, Vt., 345, $1,700
19. (31) #16 Joey Becker, Jeffersonville, Vt., 344, $1,650
20. (13) #04 T.J. Watson, Harpswell, 344, $1,600
21. (24) #48QC Karl Allard, St. Felicien, Quebec, 344, $1,550
22. (15) #24ME Roger Brown, Lancaster, N.H., 344, $1,525
23. (37) #07 Scott Luce, Strong, 343, $1,500
24. (33) #70 Daren Ripley, Appleton, 343, $1,450
25. (5) #18 Carey Martin, Denmark, 343, $1,425
26. (1) #72 Scott Robbins, Dixfield, 342, $1,700
27. (40) #51 Ricky Rolfe, Albany Township, 342, $1,375
28. (16) #56 Dale Verrill, Paris, 342, $1,350
29. (30) #26VT John Donahue, Graniteville, Vt., 340, $1,325
30. (28) #14 Phil Scott, Montpelier, Vt., 338, $1,300
31. (36) #98 Quinny Welch, Lancaster, N.H., 332, $1,275
32. (35) #29x Ricky Morse, St. Albans, 301, $1,250
33. (39) #32 Jean Paul Cyr, Milton, Vt., 280, $1,225
34. (41) #00 Jeremie Whorff, West Bath, 213, $1,200
35. (7) #91 Patrick Laperle, St. Denis, Quebec, 201, $1,150
36. (26) #96 Kurt Hewins, Leeds, 172, $1,125
37. (8) #6VT Cris Michaud, Montpelier, Vt., 140, $1,125
38. (34) #69 Dave MacDonald, New Gloucester, 103, $1,125
39. (20) #03E Travis Adams, Canton, 64, $1,125
40. (29) #26 Corey Morgan, Lewiston, 62, $1,125
41. (2) #6 Tommy Ricker, Poland, 22, $1,325

July 21st and 22nd , 2008 – Oxford, Me

 

Kevin Harvick overcame a 24-hour rain delay and barnstormed New England’s biggest short track race by taking the victory in the 35th Annual TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.  The race was filled with regional aces and local stars, but none could overcome the talent and determination of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series star that used his off weekend from NASCAR’s top series to race somewhere he had never been before.

 

"It's a pretty historic race in itself. We've been down there (North Carolina) talking about the past winners of the races and the things that they've had in the past. It's one of the bigger late model races you can race in the country. I like going places that I haven't been before, so it's neat to be a part of it."

 

Harvick’s desire to win the race was evident from the start as he and his friend\crew member Shane Wilson made a decision to tackle a race that has not been kind to Cup series drivers in the past.  While Grand National stars Bob Pressley and Butch Lindley had success at Oxford in the late 70’s, no Cup series driver had ever taken the checkers at the “Oxford” 250 in the previous 34 years.  Geoff Bodine was just getting his career started in 1980 and 1981 when he won back to back races and Tommy Ellis and Chuck Bown were still Grand National level drivers for their wins in 1983 and 1990.  Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Terry Labonte all took their shots at the event in the mid 1980’s to no avail and more recently, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Kyle Busch could not crack victory lane at one of the country’s legendary tests of short track prowess.

 

Crew chief Wilson had Port City Race Cars build a car to the American-Canadian Tour (ACT) specifications that are widely run in the northeast late model circuits.  Wilson turned his garage into a shop and did the dirty work while Harvick and his friends planned a vacation to Maine…with a potent racecar hidden within their professional hauler.

 

"The rules are a lot different than anything we would race across the country. I do some of those deals where you sit in the seat and hope for the best when you get there," he added. "There's too many cars here to hope for the best when you get there."

 

Eighty-five cars were in the pits on Sunday to attempt to qualify through three rounds of heats, consolation races, and last chance qualifying races.  Hours and hours of practice are available to all drivers so the best teams and drivers will normally find a setup that works.  The “hoping” that occurs is in the luck of the draw and the “hope” that your driver will get a good starting spot in a heat race. 

 

“When we finished second in 2001,” said 2002 winner Scott Robbins, “we waited to be one of the last cars through the tech line so we could pick last.  Well, I picked second to last and finished the race in second.  Gary Drew was the guy who picked after me and he won it that year.” 

 

For 2008, Robbins’ wife Jessica was among the last to draw and she pulled the coveted “pole” from the bucket to put Robbins first in the first heat race.  Robbins parlayed that lucky draw into a heat race win and the pole position for the 35th Annual TD Banknorth 250.

 

The feature race would have to wait, however, as the other big story of the weekend was rain.  After the first five heat races were completed on Sunday the skies opened up and forced the completion of qualifying and the feature race to Monday afternoon and evening.  The race had not been pushed back to Monday since 1986 when Chuck Bown won the first of his two “Oxford” 250 championships in the damp and foggy backdrop that would be very similar to the 2008 version.

 

Consolation races and Last Chance Qualifying races were completed by Monday afternoon and after one last shower passed through the TD Banknorth 250 was ready for the green flag by early evening.

 

Taking the green flag was former champion Robbins and local campaigner Tommy Ricker.  Ricker would nose ahead from the outside groove to lead the first two laps with Robbins battling back to collect some of the $100 lap leader bonus money.  The car on the move was Camping World East Series competitor Eddie MacDonald.  MacDonald, also one of the top ACT and regional late model threats, went around Robbins on lap 6 and proceeded to play the rabbit to a very close field.

 

The runner up spot was contest hotly over the next 50 laps as Brad Leighton and Eric Williams kept MacDonald in sight.  Nineteen year old Joey Polewarczyk (Pole) was the first serious threat to MacDonald’s lead on a lap 51 restart and actually took the lead for two laps before relinquishing the top spot back to MacDonald’s #17.  Pole was better in the high groove and was looking to conserve his tires and let the equally quick MacDonald continue to set the pace.

 

While this was taking place, Harvick was playing the waiting game in the top ten and working his way into the top five.  He made an attempt to pass local racer Carey Martin on the high side and Martin, racing like it was the last lap, widened his Monte Carlo forcing Harvick into a low pass down the backstretch.  With Harvick getting the best of him, Martin slammed down into the Quirk Chevrolet sponsored car and forced the Cup star to back off in order to continue in one piece.  Harvick and Martin would exchange pleasantries during a lap 65 caution and the fire that Harvick might have needed to jump start him was lit.  Vacation was over.

 

With MacDonald, Pole, and Harvick establishing themselves as the cars to beat by lap 100 the rest of the top five continued to shuffle around.  There were many competitors with warning track power but none of them would impact the event.  Ben Rowe, Brent Dragon, Dennis Spencer Jr., Larry Gelinas, Nick Sweet, and Shawn Martin all made their way into the top ten but none could muster a real challenge to the leaders.

 

MacDonald appeared to be shot out of a cannon on lap 105 and widened his lead.  That burst sent second place Pole searching up the track to the high groove to look for more grip.

 

“That’s the only place I could get it to run,” said Pole after the race.  “It’s pretty cool that I got to show a driver like Harvick how to run up there.”

 

Sure enough, when Pole moved up a groove and began reeling MacDonald in ever so slowly, Harvick took his car to the high side to give it a try.

 

“I heard all week that the high groove was the way to go.  Well I tried it all weekend and it was slow as hell,” Harvick commented.  “And then after lap 70 I followed the 97 (Pole) up there and figured it out.”

 

There was no real need for drivers to worry about pit strategy for the second half of the race.  Due to the severe rain that had fallen over 24 hours track officials decided that a mandatory competition yellow was in order to maintain the safety of the race teams on pit road.  That meant no early or late stops and no charge from the back of the pack.  MacDonald, Harvick, and Pole would reach the halfway point as the leaders and the cars to beat.

 

The restart for the second half of the race was an indication of things to come.  On lap 128 Harvick was able to get by MacDonald for his first lead of the night.  However, MacDonald showed his mettle by working back past the NASCAR star on lap 132.  The final warning shot was fired by Harvick who put a beautiful “outside-in” pass on MacDonald in turns 3 and 4 to reclaim the top spot and serve notice that his car could run high, low and in the middle.  MacDonald had no answer at that point and Harvick was able to run his preferred line around the track.

 

A lap 169 restart saw Harvick leading with Joey Pole in second, ACT point leader Scott Payea in third, 1996 Oxford 250 winner Larry Gelinas in fourth and a slowly fading MacDonald clinging to the top five.  Back in 13th place was Maine’s Glen Luce.  Luce, who lost a qualifying spot in a heat race when a car spun in front of him on the last corner of the last lap AND lost another qualifying spot in a consolation race when the checkered flag was put away and a green-white-checkered finish cost him a transfer spot.  He was forced to win one of the Last Chance Qualifying races just to get in and was not heard from in any way until lap 175 when he cracked the top ten.  Luce has been a regular competitor on the ACT tour in 2008 and used his experience to work up through the field.

 

Much like in 1986 (the last time the race was run on a Monday due to rain), the fog began rolling in around lap 212, and so did Glen Luce.  Was Luce the next Chuck Bown?  Herb Dodge in Stock Car Racing magazine described Bown in 1986 as “the ghost of the Flying Dutchman, coming through the pack with eerie speed to haunt the leaders.”  He picked off Ben Rowe and Nick Sweet by lap 214 and set his sights on Pole and, could it be, Kevin Harvick coming back to the pack just a bit?

 

Luce’s dramatic run continued as he went by Pole on lap 222 for second and had cut Harvick’s 1.3-second lead to .7 seconds as Harvick negotiated lapped traffic.  Would Luce have time?  Or perhaps the leader would get himself into trouble as Randy Porter and Dave Dion did 22 years before to give Bown the lead.

 

With Harvick’s talent behind the wheel, Luce would never get the mistake that he needed.  Seeing Luce’s charge looming larger in his rearview mirror, Harvick turned up the wick and withstood the challenge and began widening his lead.  A caution with 10 laps to go would give Luce one more chance, however, the cooling of the tires was a blessing for Harvick as well.

 

“When I saw the 7 (Luce) coming I turned it up too much and was burning the right rear tire off it,” said Harvick.  “That late caution allowed it to cool down.”

 

Harvick was visibly loose over the last ten laps and Glen Luce was able to stay within a couple of car lengths but he could never muster a real challenge and Kevin Harvick did what none of the other NASCAR Cup stars could do in their primes – conquer one of the toughest short track races in the country and win the 35th Annual TD Banknorth 250.

 

"This race is a big deal," said Harvick in Victory Lane. "You look at the history of it and see names like Harry Gant, Jeff Gordon, and those true short track drivers like Junior Hanley who have won it. Chuck Bown, too. They can keep the check if they want. I wanted that trophy."

 

It was a popular victory for Harvick, who won over a large crowd who appreciated his honest approach and attempt at winning the race.  He whipped the crowd into a final frenzy, “I know everyone is supposed to be asleep right now, but damn, I’m happy!”

 

Harvick’s winnings were $37,300.

 

Luce put on the show of the night charging from the back of the pack to give the local fans a glimmering hope that one of their own would take home the first place check.

 

“I feel like I won it,” said Luce.  “Losing to a guy like Harvick is a win to us.  I had hard time getting into the race and the crew worked their butts off.  I thought I was reeling him in but then on that last restart the stagger got out of whack and I couldn’t catch him.”

 

Luce took home $12,500 for second place.

 

Polewarczyk, a winner of a 150-lap race just one month ago at Oxford, continues to impress the local fans and the Cup star.  Said Harvick, “He’s 19?  Really?  I figured the outside groove out by watching him.” 

 

Pole hung in there for third place.

 

“This is unbelievable.  Racing Kevin and Glen was awesome and even running Eddie early on was fun.  I thought I might be able to hold Glen off but he got hooked up in the low groove and I let him go.”

 

It was a great race and the best driver with the best car withstood the rain, an extended vacation, and a steep learning curve to take home one of the coveted titles in American short track racing.

 

 

Notes:

 

-          85 cars attempted to qualify.

-          Harvick was sponsored by Quirk Chevrolet Dealerships..

-          Glen Luce is sponsored by K+K Excavation / Glen Luce Trucking/Allsteak Hamburgers . 

-          Joey Polewarczyk is sponsored by Pole's Automotive/ N.H. Precision

-          Harvick’s car was purchased by ACT competitor Karl Allard and his team even before the race started!

-          Scott Luce crashed hard into the wall in Heat #1 on Sunday.  He was able to work through the night and get the car repaired for Monday and won the first Last Chance Qualifiers’ race.  He finished 23rd.

-          Glen Luce qualified by winning the second Last Chance qualifiers’ race.  In his heat race he was in a qualifying spot, however, racing back to the yellow at the checkered flag he was forced to let off the gas due to a car spun in turn 4 and that allowed Scott Payea to sneak by for the transfer spot.  In his consolation race, a car spun on the last lap and Luce snuck by racing to the checkers to get what he thought was a qualifying spot.  Instead, the track issued a green-white-checkers finish and he lost his transfer spot again!  Talk about hard work just to get in.

-          Ben Rowe finished 15th at Orange County Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday night in a PASS race and finished 5th at the Oxford 250 on Monday.

-          Only one of the top ten qualifiers finished in the top ten.  Joey Pole started 9th and finished 3rd.  Five of the top ten finishers came from outside the top twenty starting spots!

-          Past champions who were in the race:  Roger Brown, Jeremie Whorff, Ben Rowe, Scott Robbins, and Larry Gelinas.  Gelinas ran in the top five before the competition yellow at the halfway point.

-          Eddie MacDonald finished 24th at the NASCAR Camping World East Series race in Nashville on Saturday night and finished 8th at the Oxford 250 on Monday.

-           

 

Cautions:  13

Red Flag: 0

Official Lead Changes: 7

Leaders:  Ricker 1-2, Robbins 3-5, E. MacDonald 6-52, Polewarczyk 53-54, E. MacDonald 55-126, Harvick 127-131, E. MacDonald 132, Harvick 133-250

 

Heat Race Winners (20 Laps)

Heat 1:  Scott Robbins

Heat 2:  Tommy Ricker

Heat 3:  Eddie MacDonald

Heat 4:  Brad Leighton

Heat 5:  Carey Martin

Heat 6:  Eric Williams

Consolation Winners (20 Laps)

Consi 1:  Shawn Martin

Consi 2:  Kurt Hewins

Consi 3:  Brent Dragon

Last Chance Winners (20 Laps)

Last Chance 1:  Scott Luce

Last Chance 2:  Glen Luce

Last Chance 3:  Jean-Paul Cyr.

Provisionals:

High Point Oxford Late Model:  Ricky Rolfe

Past TD Banknorth 250 Champion: Jeremie Whorff

 

35th Annual Oxford 250 Pictures

 

                                           

2002 winner Scott Robbins won drew the pole, won the first heat, and led the early laps.
 

Joey Pole won at Oxford in June and followed that up with a strong 3rd place finish in the 250.
 

Patrick Laperle was strong in Heat #1 but never got to the front and finished 35th.
 
 

 

 

 


                                                         

2007 winner Roger Brown was never able to get untracked in the Lux Enterprises #24.
 

OPS regular Ricky Rolfe rode a hot streak into the 250…but the rain made for a green track and he missed the setup.
 

2006 winner Jeremie Whorff was back and needed the past champion’s provisional to get in.  He finished 34th.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 


ACT rookie Nick Sweet ran steady and finished in 6th place in his Oxford 250 debut.
 

Practice is a lot of fun to watch!  Some cars find the setup and others practice themselves right out of a good setup.
 

Former OPS regular Glen Luce made a stirring run to the front late in the race but couldn’t catch Harvick