Hopefuls Look Ahead to Sunday's 52nd Annual All That's Metal Oxford 250

Several of the competitors preparing for this Sunday’s 52nd Annual All That’s Metal Oxford 250 attended Media Day on Wednesday at the Maine facility, looking ahead to the big weekend of racing.

Perhaps no one is hotter at Oxford Plains than seven-time Pro All Stars Champion D.J. Shaw, coming off a sweep of two Super Late Model events at the track in August. Shaw has confidence in his platform entering the Oxford 250, his 15th attempt at the event.

“I don’t want to out-engineer myself, I guess,” said Shaw. “We’re not going to chase the racetrack too much in the heat Friday and Saturday. We’ll try to make small changes, try a few things we want to try, and ultimately put it back on Sunday morning and go from there.

“Hopefully, we’ll be close enough to make some small changes to adjust the car in as the track changes throughout the day, and hopefully complete all 250 and have a shot at the end.”

It will also be an especially busy weekend for Shaw. Not only will he compete in Friday’s Sunoco 150 and the Oxford 250, but he will also be racing in both Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour events on Friday and Saturday at Oxford Plains.

His plan is to let Friday and Saturday play out and not impact his mindset entering Sunday.

“I don’t know, try to remain focused on Sunday is the key,” said Shaw. “Don’t let the pressure get to you, and don’t let anything that happens Friday or Saturday affect how your Sunday morning wake-up goes.”

Another driver with momentum at Oxford Plains is Joey Doiron. Doiron won the Celebration of America 300 and PASS 400 in 2024, as well as this year’s Memorial Day Clash 200.

“We know we’ve got a good baseline,” said Doiron. “We’ll see what happens throughout the weekend. We’ll try to just tune, you can’t dial yourself out in practice. We have a chance. That’s all you can ask for at the end of the day, to have a good enough car to put yourself in position to win it.”

Like Shaw, Doiron is chasing his first Oxford 250 crown, and hopes to complete the full set of Oxford Crown jewel events on Sunday.

“It’s my favorite race of the year, probably because I haven’t won it yet and we’ve been so close. It would mean a lot. I feel like it’s the last one up here, as far as Super Late Models go, that I need to check off the list. We’ve been close, but it doesn’t count in racing, only horseshoes.”

Austin Teras has won more Super Late Model races at Oxford Plains than anyone else over the past three seasons. He hopes to add to that collection on Sunday with the big one.

“I think one of the important things is it’s the closest track to us, so we get to race here a lot,” said Teras. “You build a confidence and almost a muscle memory with a racetrack. I mean, Joey [Doiron] is as good, if not better than us. We’ve got to race him Sunday. It’ll be fun to race him, we’ll see.”

Eddie MacDonald has experienced the joy of winning this event, claiming back-to-back Oxford 250s in 2009 and 2010. He’s looking to recapture some of that past success this weekend.

“This race is the biggest one around for us,” said MacDonald. “Everybody gears up for this one. We haven’t been the best in the last couple of years. We’re hoping the little extra effort we’re putting in, hopefully it’ll have some results and we’ll at least have a shot at it. That’s all you can hope for.”

Last year, Trevor Sanborn claimed the Oxford Championship Series Super Late Model championship. In his eyes, adding an Oxford 250 title would complete his resume.

“If I could pull the Oxford 250 off, I would finish the end of the year and probably retire racing,” said Sanborn. “If I could win it. I’d probably retire.

“It couldn’t get any better than that. My little boy is coming up, and he’s going to start kart racing. My daughter races. I’ve got to put some focus on that. It’s a big statement, but I’m leaning towards that if we won it.”

There are very few guarantees in the Oxford 250. However, current Oxford Championship Series points leader Scott McDaniel knows that, provided he makes every possible attempt to qualify for the Oxford 250, he will be part of Sunday’s field thanks to the OCS provisional if necessary.

“It definitely feels good to know that you’re locked in,” says McDaniel. “Coming in, a lot of guys are going to be racing their way in. Obviously, you want to race hard in the heat race to have a good starting position. Coming into the race knowing, no matter what, we're going to be in it, feels really good.”

Of course, he hasn’t prepared all season just to make the field for the Oxford 250.

“I mean, winning the Oxford 250, obviously, with all the history in it, it’s like immortality,” he said. “People will know your name as an Oxford 250 winner forever. You think about the hundreds of people that have come before you and tried to win that race, come close and never could pull it off. It’s hard to put into words how much an Oxford 250 win would mean.”

Kate Re is second in the OCS points, trailing McDaniel by 57 points. Not only does she hope to contend for the Oxford 250, but she and Taylor Hoar are racing for a greater cause this weekend.

“We are raising money for Emma Treadwell, who is four years old and was diagnosed with Leukemia this winter,” said Re. “Me and Taylor [Hoar] are filling both of our cars with gold ribbons. They are $10 apiece. We accept cash, Venmo, things like that, and we are trying to raise as much money as possible for Emma and the family.”

Racing begins on Friday at Oxford Plains Speedway, and continues all the way through Sunday’s All That’s Metal Oxford 250. Fans can watch the event live on RacingAmerica.TV.

-Photo credit: Oxford Plains Speedway on Facebook