He has been a bridesmaid two years in a row.

Now he figures it’s his time to step up to the altar and wear the ring.

Turner’s Ben Rowe has chased Unity’s Ralph Nason across the finish line at the Oxford True Value 250 the last two years.

But Rowe figures defending three-time champ Nason can’t continue his string on Sunday night when the 28th annual Oxford True Value 250 takes place at Oxford Plains Speedway beginning at approximately 7 p.m.

The heat races begin at 2 p.m. More than 100 cars will try to qualify for the event, which will pay the winner $25,000.

“They say you need luck to win the 250 and I think Ralph’s luck has to run out,” said Rowe, who hopes to take the checkered flag this year.

Rowe has a new Chevy Monte Carlo and, after working the kinks out early in the season, things appear to be rounding into shape.

The 26-year-oldRowe won the Pro All-Stars Series Pine Tree 150 at Hermon’s Speedway 95 two weekends ago, conquering a track he doesn’t like, and then qualified on the pole for the next PASS series race at White Mountain Motorsports Park (N.H.) on July 4 only to have the race rained out.

“We’re all happy with the car. We’ve tested at Oxford. We’ve changed a few things on it. We feel we have as good a shot as anybody,” said Rowe. “We definitely have the crew and we picked up a sponsor just for this race, Mechanical Services Inc.”

Mechanical Services Inc. has shops in Hermon and Portland.

Another threat to Nason’s four-peat aspirations will be Scarborough’s Kelly Moore, who is having an exceptional year on the Busch North series with two wins and six top-10 finishes through the first nine races. He is third in points.

Strong’s Tracy Gordon is fourth and will be another contender. Gordon has seven top-10s and one triumph.

Moore and Gordon will race on the Busch North circuit at Thompson International Speedway in Thompson, Conn., on Saturday night before loading up their transporters and returning to Maine.

Gordon has entered the last eight and has a pair of seconds and a third among his finishes.

Moore hasn’t run the Oxford 250 since 1993. He was second in 1988.

“We talked about running it last summer,” said Moore. “So we built a pro stock car and just finished it up a few weeks ago.

“We’ve never run it before. This will be its first race,” added Moore who will be driving a Monte Carlo.

Moore didn’t have a primary sponsor last year but NAPA Auto Care Centers became his primary sponsor this season and that provided him with the financial backing he needed to build the Oxford car.

So what was the primary incentive for ending his seven-year absence from Maine’s most prestigious auto race?

“I’ve never won it. That’s probably the biggest thing that prompted us to prepare a car for this year’s race,” said the 41-year-old Moore.

Moore may find himself racing his 17-year-old son Ryan. Ryan is leading the late model division at Oxford Plains and there will be a 50-lap race on Saturday night with the winner earning a spot in the 250.

And everybody will find themselves racing the 61-year-old Nason.

“I like our chances. We are about as ready as we ever will be. After winning three in a row, we’re more prepared this year than we’ve ever been,” said Nason.

He also said new tire policies being enforced this year will be advantageous to him.

Drivers will not be able to access their race tires until the morning of the race which means they won’t be able to doctor them.

Tire softeners have been applied in the past to soften the tires and make them faster.

“That will work in my behalf because I haven’t done anything to them,” said Nason.

The race itself has always been a matter of survival. The one-third of a mile oval and the number of cars (40) for this year’s race lend themselves to collisions.

Rowe, Nason and Rowe feel anybody can win the race.

“You’ve got to take care of your car and stay out of trouble,” said Nason.

Moore and Rowe take a different approach to the race than Nason.

“I run for 200 laps and race for the last 50 laps,” said Moore.

Rowe concurred.

“I like to sit back and wait for the car to come to me,” said Rowe.

But Nason said, “I run as hard as I can [for the entire 250 laps]. When you have guys like Sam Sessions, Kelly Moore and Tracy Gordon behind you, they don’t let you relax.”

Nason added that he likes the lap money. Drivers receive $100 for every lap they lead.

Rowe said Nason’s strategy forces them to abandon their plan.

“Ralph goes 110 percent for the whole race so he makes us run harder than we want to [to keep up with him],” said Rowe.

Nason isn’t sure which car he will drive. He has a Taurus that won the 1998 and ’99 Oxford 250 and the Taurus that won last year’s race.

“We’ll run both of them in practice and then make a decision,” said Nason.

The other top contenders include Dale Shaw of Center Conway, N.H.; Farmington’s Jeff Taylor; three-time winner Dave Dion; two-time champ Mike Rowe, Ben’s father, 1996 victor Larry Gelinas of Scarborough and 1994 winner Derek Lynch of Norwood, Ontario.