Morrill’s Travis Benjamin has joined the list of drivers who have left the Busch North Series to return to pro stock racing.

The prestigious Coastal 200 at Wiscasset Raceway is next on the radar screen for Benjamin and the Pro All-Stars Series on Sunday afternoon at Wiscasset.

Benjamin said Irving Oil, which had been his primary sponsor, has “backed out of it to spread the money around.

“They’re giving some to Brad Leighton, they’re doing six Busch North races with him. They’re sponsoring me for the [Busch North] race in August at Beech Ridge [in Scarborough] and they’re sponsoring [pro stock] cars at Oxford Plains and Beech Ridge.”

Benjamin finished 20th in points in Busch North last season and 21st the previous year. He didn’t have a top-10 finish either year.

Despite Irving’s sponsorship, Benjamin said he simply didn’t have the necessary equipment to run in the top 10.

“That was my biggest problem. I had one car last year and two engines. You really need 3-4 cars and 3-4 engines,” said Benjamin. “I made up my mind that if I didn’t have enough money to be competitive, I didn’t want to do it.”

“I was sick of running 15th to 20th,” added Benjamin.

He intends to run “most of the PASS races in Maine and New Hampshire; I’ll probably do a lot of local stuff at Wiscasset and Unity, and I’m going to do four Busch North races: the two at Loudon [N.H.] and the ones at Dover [Del.] and Beech Ridge.”

Beech Ridge has two Busch races, but Benjamin intends to run just the Aug. 23 race. The other is on June 7.

He said he has enjoyed being competitive again and qualifying in the top 10, although he has been plagued by car problems including bent valves, a broken axle, a malfunctioning transmission, and a faulty ignition box. He has also been in a wreck.

“I’m real excited about this year. We’ve had fast cars, but they keep breaking. It has been frustrating,” said Benjamin. “Still, it’s nice when you look at the time sheet [after time trials] and you’re at the top of the sheet. It’s a lot more fun when you’re competitive.”

He feels he could be competitive in his four Busch races “because I took all of my money and put it into one engine. We have a lot of Penske stuff because they made the move from Ford to Dodge and they sold off their Ford stuff.”

“I’m real excited about that. We ended up with new heads, rods, cranks. We have the whole Penske engine. We just have to put it together. The Penske heads are one year old and the best set of heads I had were nine years old.”

He said the technological gains over the last nine years have been significant.

He hopes he can have four good showings in the Busch races so he can attract a sponsor and run the full series again.

Benjamin said the PASS tour is “just as competitive as Busch North. It’s a very tough series. You have to be on your game to be competitive.”

In addition, he said it is “a lot cheaper financially.”

There will be plenty of competition for him on Sunday as Benjamin and the rest of the field will vie for the winner’s check of $5,500.

Included in the field are the winners of the first three PASS races: Scarborough’s Joe Bessey and Turner’s father and son tandem of Mike and Ben Rowe.

Ben Rowe is the points leader with 683, 24 more than 1994 Busch North points champion Dale Shaw of Center Conway, N.H., and Dave Gorveatt of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

“I think our chances are real good if I can stay out of trouble and nothing breaks on the car,” said Benjamin, who is 18th in the PASS points. “At Wiscasset, you’ve got to be able to stay on the bottom and turn in the middle of the corner. Turn four is rough. The biggest thing is you have to stay out of trouble.”

Time trials begin at 1.