Post-Race Notes from the 52nd Annual Oxford 250

The 52nd Annual All That's Metal Oxford 250 is in the books, with Austin Teras joining the prestigious list of winners in the event. While Teras claimed top honors, it was a memorable race and weekend for several competitors.

Here is a look at some of the post-race notes from this year's Oxford 250.

Maine Kind: Austin Teras’ win at the 52nd annual Oxford 250 makes 23 wins for the home state of the Oxford 250. Those 23 wins have come from 16 different drivers. At the age of 22, Teras is one of the youngest winners in the race's history.

Big Money: The win by Austin Teras marks the largest payday at the Oxford 250 since 2012. Unofficially, the lap money pushes the victory purse up to $37,500. The base pay of victory is, of course, $25,000.

MacDonald Adds to Legacy: After a lucky draw, Eddie MacDonald won the pole for the first heat. He used that to win the first heat for the second time in his career. MacDonald would start P1 in the 250 thanks to his eighth-career heat win at the 250. From there, MacDonald led 40 laps to push his career lap leader total to over 400 laps in the event.

MacDonald then finished second to become only the second driver to have two wins and two seconds at the Oxford 250.

Shaw Factor: If nothing else ever happens to D.J. Shaw in the Oxford 250, he can walk away with a record. Shaw is the only driver to have five third-place finishes. The second-generation driver from Center Conway, New Hampshire finished third for the third-straight year. After this year's race, the best finish for the family was a second, by Dale Shaw back in 1992.

Pollard Snags Third Top Five: In his eighth trip to the Oxford 250, Bubba Pollard scores his third top-five finish. This is now back-to-back years in which he’s been in the top five. Pollard won the 2018 race, and had another top-10 in 2021.

Another Top 10 for Ben Rowe: With a 10th-place run, Ben Rowe scores his 12th top 10 finish at the Oxford 250. That ties him for third all-time with Jeff Taylor. The start puts Ben Rowe up to the second-most, behind only his dad, who has the record with 42.

42 and Counting: Mike Rowe made his 42nd Oxford 250 and was running in the top-15 in the late stages before finishing 32nd. This could be the final year for Rowe in the 250, but even at the age of 75, he’s better than most at the 250.

Rebound: Mike Hopkins had a nasty wreck on Friday night at Oxford in the Sunoco 150, but he was able to rebound to finish sixth on Sunday to post his fourth-career top 10.

Fast Facts

• 19 cars finished on the lead lap after the 250-lap race.

• Trevor Sanborn ran 40 laps of qualifying, pushing his weekend total to 674 laps between the Milton CAT American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series.

• Sylas Ripley followed his 2024 second-place run up with a seventh-place finish

• Brandon Barker scored a fifth-place run for his best finish in the Oxford 250.

  
  

-Story by: Elgin Traylor
-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan