OXFORD — Forty summers have changed countless elements of the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.
With an exception or two when it was a NASCAR Nationwide Series race in the early 1990s, one thing that hasn’t changed is the vaunted draw.
It’s the pull-a-number-from-a-bucket lottery that determines your starting position in the all-important, first-round qualifying heats.
Fans love the gimmick, even though most of them aren’t privy to the gathering on the other side of the 3/8-mile oval at which it unfolds. How drivers feel about the procedure, well, that usually depends on how it benefited them or broke their spirit.
A good number was still a good number Sunday.
T.J. Brackett’s representative picked the poker chip that read ‘POLE,’ and it proved prophetic. He won his 25-lap heat and parlayed his good fortune all the way to the prime starting position in the main event.
Of the six drivers who started pole in their qualifying races, five advanced to the 250 through that opening round. And the only one who didn’t, Ron Henry of New Gloucester, spun after failing to come up to speed at the drop of the green flag.
But being relegated to the back wasn’t an automatic kiss of death, either.
Cassius Clark of Farmington charged from ninth to first to win the fourth heat. D.J. Shaw did the same in round five.
Reigning PASS North champion Travis Benjamin raced all the way from 11th (last) on the field before finishing second to Bryan Kruczek in the second heat.
Joey Doiron, Martin Latulippe, Austin Theriault, Alan Tardiff, Mike Rowe and Adam Polvinen all rallied from a starting position of eighth or worse to crack the top four and make the show in the opening try.
Two factors might have helped that advancement.
This year’s first-round qualifying events were 25 laps, way up from 15 the past two years and also an enhancement from the 20 laps that were the rule the last time the TD Bank 250 was a super late model race.
And yes, the extra power and tires of the super late model supplied both the speed and the confidence those drivers needed to advance from back to front.
Sweating it out
Drawing dead last was Dave Farrington Jr. of Jay.
Farrington found a way, first charging from 11th to fifth to put himself near the front of the consolation grid.
Then with time running out in that 20-lap encore, Larry Gelinas and Aaron Ricker made contact. Bruce Haley of Minot initially slipped into third, but two turns later he drifted up the race track and handed the transfer spot to Farrington.
“I can’t think of a lot of guys who have made it in after drawing absolutely dead last,” Farrington quipped.
Youth served
Spencer Davis of Dawsonville, Ga., now owns a new distinction in racing. Other than sharing a name with the group whose oldie-but-goodie, “Gimme Some Lovin’,” was featured prominently in the “Days of Thunder” movie soundtrack.
Davis, 14, is now the youngest driver to qualify for the TD Bank 250 on his own merits.
That accomplishment was saddled with an asterisk about an hour later.
First things first. Davis shattered that record by finishing third to Derek Kneeland and Kelly Moore in the second consolation race. Davis finished ahead of multi-time OPS track champion Ricky Rolfe and 2002 ‘250’ winner Scott Robbins to earn the nod.
Until this season, Davis’ achievement would have been impossible. New speedway owner and race promoter Tom Mayberry lowered the previous minimum age from 16, allowing three teenage drivers to make a bid.
Neither Tate Fogleman, 13, of Durham, N.H., nor Reid Lanpher, 15, of Manchester, made the cut through three rounds of qualifying.
But Fogleman then received one of seven provisional starting spots in the race, thanks to his PASS National point standing, and put his name into the record book.
Fogleman’s father, Jay, qualified ninth.
Davis also earned the unofficial title of driver making the longest haul to the race. In addition to being 22 hours of highway time from Oxford, Dawsonville also is famous as the home of NASCAR champion Bill Elliott.
The most recent high school-aged students to figure prominently in the 250 were Johnny Clark in 1997 and Austin Theriault in 2011. Each was 17.
Cup representative, indirectly
There were no NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers in the field this July after a nine-year, but Derek Kneeland took advantage of the final off week on the elite circuit’s schedule to make the show.
Kneeland, of Mooresville, N.C., by way of Windham, works for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing as spotter for Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
Preliminary winners
They didn’t get to start what is billed as the richest one-day short track race in America, but four other drivers enjoyed the opportunity to take a victory lap in front of the packed grandstand in accompanying feature events.
Dana Reed of Shapleigh took the 40-lap PASS Modified feature over Evan Armington of Lovell and Scott McDaniel of Livermore Falls, who also finished third Saturday night.
Lisbon’s Zach Bowie scored his second win in three weekend tries in Strictly Stock. Shawn Kimball topped the Mini Stock event, and Mike Haynes led the Outlaw Sportsman field.
koakes@sunjournal.com
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