Green-White-Checker

ON PIT ROAD: Sanborn, Sprint Cup and soggy shoes

It's Thursday again. That means it's time to roll the old Mini Stock out of the garage, wipe the dust off and shake down the setup with a spin around the dirt track at the end of the street. With that, here's the latest list of notes collected in a dog-eared notebook over the last few weeks...

* EVERY TIME A non-Sprint Cup-affiliated team wins a NASCAR Camping World East Series race, it should be celebrated, particularly by fans who lament the significant changes the series has undergone in the last few years.

When the CWES was still a northeastern-based series, Matt Kobyluck’s Mohegan Sun team was one of the better funded teams there was. These days, with Cup teams putting East cars on the dyno every day – every day! – it’s impossible for "regular" guys to keep up.

OXFORD 250 NOTES: Carey Martin, Shawn Martin and Kevin Harvick's goodwill

I'm not sure, but I think I've finally dried out after sloshing through puddles for the last 5 days. All that rain sure does give you plenty of time to think about everything that happened last weekend at Oxford Plains Speedway.

* CONGRATULATIONS TO CAREY MARTIN for setting the reputation of the local racer back about two decades.

It's not that Martin chose not to back down to a Sprint Cup Series driver in the TD Banknorth 250, and it's not that the Denmark, Maine, driver was willing to trade paint with a guy who's won the Daytona 500.

It's that Martin wasn't racing the race cars on the track -- he was racing the name of the guy in his rearview mirror, and it was about as bush league as it gets.

ON SITE: Kevin Harvick wins the Oxford 250

Kevin Harvick had never seen Oxford Plains Speedway before Friday. He left having mastered it in a brand new car.

Harvick unofficially led the final 118 laps to win the TD Banknorth 250 on Monday night, a race postponed one day and then 3 hours by rain on Monday afternoon. Harvick’s crew chief Shane Wilson built the car specifically for the Oxford run, and its now a perfect 1-for-1.

And already sold to the American-Canadian Tour team for which Karl Allard drives.

"I know everybody’s supposed to be asleep right now, but damn I’m happy," said Harvick, the 2007 Daytona 500 champion. "I want to thank all the other competitors. What a great race. What a lot of fun."

ON SITE: Oxford 250 finish

Unofficial TD Banknorth 250 top-5:

1. Kevin Harvick
2. Glen Luce
3. Joey Polewarczyk Jr.
4. Shawn Martin
5. Ben Rowe

Harvick led the final 118 laps

ON SITE: Oxford 250 - Lap 200

In case you were wondering...

Kevin Harvick's half-straightaway lead over Joey Polewarczyk Jr. was erased by a Ricky Rolfe crash that brought out the 12th caution of the TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway on lap 198.

Here's the top-10:

1-5: Harvick, Polewarczyk, Nick Sweet, Ben Rowe, Eddie MacDonald.

ON SITE: Halfway home in Oxford 250

A competition caution, the 9th caution of the night, has flown on lap 126. The 35th TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway will now be official, but there is no current threat of rain.

Here's the unofficial top-10 at this point. There's a five-minute break taking place:

1-5: Eddie MacDonald, Kevin Harvick, Joey Polewarczyk Jr., Larry Gelinas, Brent Dragon.

ON SITE: Track is dried, main event on tap

Some 3 ½ hours later, we’re back to a dry track and a chance to start the TD Banknorth 250.

The sun is out, the darkest clouds seem to have scattered and drivers are being introduced for a rolling start as I write.

Couple of notes as we get ready...

ON SITE: Scott Luce takes advantage of Oxford 250 postponement

There was one driver in the Oxford Plains Speedway pit area on Monday morning who was happy that rain intervened the night before.

If it weren’t for the rain out, the chances were pretty slim that Scott Luce of Strong, Maine, would have made it out for any more TD Banknorth 250 qualifying rounds. Luce had a hard hit along a barrier on the outside of turn 3 on the first lap of the first heat race.

"It was one of the harder licks I’ve ever taken," said Luce, a former OPS Late Model champion who has been a part-time competitor in the division this season. "It was a pretty good lick. I feel pretty fortunate that I only glanced the concrete wall. It could have been worse."

ON SITE: A dozen cars have headed home

And now we’ve got some official news.

There are 74 Late Models at Oxford Plains Speedway this fine Monday morning, leaving a total of 12 that have had to pack up and head home. All but 3 of the cars still here were out at some point to either practice or scuff tires in the 1-hour TD Banknorth 250 practice session.

Only one qualified driver – T.J. Watson of Cundy’s Harbor – has not returned to Oxford today. Watson was to have started 13^th in the ‘250' this evening – though he does live locally and it is expected that he will return this evening in time for the main.

ON SITE (again): Late Models back at it on a Monday morning

The Monday morning wake-up call. Is there anything a motorsports journalist dreads more?

We’re back at Oxford Plains Speedway! And, at least for now, the rain has decided to take a little time off after putting in overtime on Sunday. Good news – most of the cars have also returned for the TD Banknorth 250. Bad news – we might still have to wait a little longer than planned to see this race finally run to completion. The gut feeling here is that we’ll finish it up today, though a rain delay or two is more than likely.

We're down, unofficially, some 15 Late Models that are unaccounted for, but it's a very rough estimate. Among those not seen are qualified drivers T.J. Watson and Carey Martin.

I'm stealing a little something from Bill Ryan this time

You can probably tell by now that Bill Ryan likes to use this very Green-White-Checker blog for fodder for his own Green Flags and Tire Smoke blog.

It's high time I get a little back from Bill, know what I'm saying?

And I'm doing it on the big stage.

ON SITE: Oxford 250 a Sunday washout

After a third rain delay lasted nearly 20 minutes, the 35^th annual TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway was finally postponed.

The program will restart at 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon, picking up with the start of the 6^th Late Model heat race of the day. The card will then continue as originally scheduled.

There are a total of 20 cars already qualified for the 43-car starting field. 2002 race winner Scott Robbins won the pole by virtue of winning the first heat race.

ON SITE: We're going to race the TD Banknorth 250

Consider this the last weather update you’ll get, unless, of course, things change.

The track is almost dry, with Mini Stocks helping the drying process now, and the 35^th TD Banknorth 250 will attempt to run tonight. In the interest of time, the Mini Stock and Strictly Stock features will be pushed to the very end of the program – post-250, if you will.

It will, in the immortal words of Oxford Plains Speedway public address announcer Kalle Oakes, be "all 250 all the time."

ON SITE: Oxford Plains officials still hoping to race today

There’s not a lot new to report here. It has been raining steadily for hours, and the 35^th annual TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway is still in a holding pattern.

The pre-race drivers’ meeting was held shortly after 1 p.m., as was the traditional draw for heat race starting positions. Scott Robbins, who won the ‘250' in 2002, will start from the pole in the first heat race – giving him, at least theoretically, the best shot at winning the pole for the race when it is run.

There are 86 cars entered.

ON SITE: We're getting wet. Will get wetter later. More at 11.

Welcome to Oxford Plains Speedway, where I finally found a reason to watch Mini Stock racing.

Of course, doesn’t this guy know they’ve got a much more appropriate division for him at Unity Raceway? Heck, they’ve got an actual ‘Monster Mini’ class there. If I was this guy’s marketing director, I know where I’d tell him to race.

Mostly I think of these things because it’s been raining here for the last 2 hours, and it looks as though it might not stop until sometime in late August. I’m no weather man, of course, but I know what yellow and red mean on a radar screen.

ON SITE: Ricky Rolfe, Kevin Harvick share pointers

Like in that movie "The Shawshank Redemption." he's the guy you see when you want to get things done.

Kevin Harvick figured that out early on this week.

On his way out of the track after completing all of the practice he wanted to complete, Ricky Rolfe was stopped by Harvick for a final time. The two drivers talked for several minutes, before smiling and shaking hands.

ON SITE: Bill Whorff Jr. back at the Oxford 250

Bill Whorff Jr. has a history both in the TD Banknorth 250 and in extra-distance Late Model events.

But on Saturday afternoon, the man who won the Coastal 200 at Wiscasset Raceway earlier this season and finished 2nd in the Oxford 250 to his son 2 years ago, was at a loss for words.

"We've put sway bars, springs, we've changed everything," Whorff said. "Tonight we're going to put it up on blocks and start from front and go right to rear. We're going to take everything apart and make sure we don't have anything bent or out of whack somewhere. We've tried everything all day and we haven't improved."

ON SITE: Scott Payea feels he's finally hit on a setup

Scott Payea enters the TD Banknorth 250 as the American-Canadian Tour points leader, the poster child for the ACT hopes at winning the prestigious race.

But Payea can only laugh when he's asked about it's like to be on everyone's list of contenders after finishing 3rd in the event last summer.

"My whole career has kind of been under the radar and we've always seemed to just be there at the end of the race," Payea said after wrapping up practice on Saturday. "Leading the points -- there's nothing we can be sad about with that. You take everything that comes with it, because it just means you're having a good year. Hopefully, we can live up to these expectations that have maybe been put on us now."

ON SITE: Travis Adams has a big fan

Ownership has its advantages.

Standing near his race car before practice got underway on Saturday morning at Oxford Plains Speedway, defending track champion Travis Adams watched Kevin Harvick walk by several times, eyeing something over Adams' shoulder. The Sprint Cup Series driver, who has his own car entered in Sunday's TD Banknorth 250, kept on staring, prompting Adams to give Harvick a wave.

"He came running right over like we were longtime best buddies," Adams said. "I mean, he'd really been gawking, so I knew something was up."

Can Kevin Harvick really win the Oxford 250?

The publicity machine goes into full-bore whenever a Cup driver competes at the local level, and it's been no different this time around. But make no mistake about it -- this will be like every other Cup attempt, with the lone exception being Kyle Busch's 2006 try, which remains the most sincere effort at winning the Oxford 250 by a Cup driver since NASCAR drivers competed at Oxford for points decades ago.

Kevin Harvick is here to have fun.