Turner’s Ben Rowe will seek to become just the second driver to win three consecutive Banknorth Oxford 250s Sunday evening at Oxford Plains Speedway.

The heat races leading up to the 32nd annual race start at 2 p.m., with the main event to start about 6:30.

But one of the drivers who will be out to prevent that from happening will be the only man who has won three straight: Unity’s Ralph Nason.

Nason took the checkered flag in 1998, ’99 and 2000 and was third in 2001 before skipping the race the next three years.

The 65-year-old Nason has decided to return to the Oxford 250 and an encouraging practice session at OPS on Tuesday has supplied him with some optimism.

“We practiced down there last Thursday [July 21] and we were no good at all. We were trying to make a decision on whether or not we were even going to go,” said Nason. “But we went down on Tuesday with a totally different set-up and we got a pretty good bite. We were consistent. Maybe we weren’t the fastest [individual lap] but, as far as consistency was concerned, we were the fastest.”

Nason will be driving a Hight Chevrolet with a rebuilt engine salvaged from a fire at Steve Benner’s Performance Automotive Machine shop in Farmingdale in April.

“We were pretty lucky [not to lose the engine completely]. But we did lose a month,” said Nason. “The car is coming good now.”

He said he feels his chances “are as good as anybody’s.

“I don’t really know who the favorites are,” said Nason. “The way the racetrack is, there aren’t any favorites. There’s no outside groove. What that’s going to do is stack the cars up. It’s going to be a crapshoot. I raced there last Saturday night and Jeff Taylor won. He never moved off the first [low] groove.”

Rowe also feels he has as good a shot as any other driver but his optimism was more cautious.

“I don’t know how successful we’re going to be. Hopefully, the car will be good,” said Rowe. “We’re going to have to change some stuff. I haven’t really been happy with the car all year. My father’s [Mike] car is the same as ours but he seems to be a little bit better every week. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Still, Rowe has three wins on the Pro All-Stars Series tour although one came in a borrowed car. He is leading the points chase.

Then there’s Nextel Cup drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch.

Kenseth made his Banknorth Oxford 250 debut last year and finished third after starting last (41st). Busch will be driving in his first Banknorth Oxford 250 after older brother Kurt came home 13th after starting 35th a year ago.

Kurt Busch had a prior commitment and couldn’t run Sunday’s race.

The younger Busch, who turned 20 on May 2, has been one of the busiest drivers in NASCAR this season.

In addition to his 20 Nextel Cup races, Kyle Busch has run eight Busch Series races and three Craftsman Truck Series events. He is 20th in points in the Nextel Cup series but has a comfortable lead in the rookie standings. He has five top-five finishes and seven top-10s.

Kenseth, who won the Nextel Cup championship two years ago, is 17th in the points with six top-10s and two top-fives. He also has run eight Busch races and has a win, three top-fives and eight top-10s.

Ben Rowe thinks his father and Kyle Busch, who will be teammates for the SP2 Motorsports team, should be considered the favorites.

“If I were a betting man, I’d say the winner is coming out of that shop,” said Ben Rowe.

Hallowell’s Johnny Clark, who started on the pole last year and led the first 119 laps and a total of 128 laps, is another driver to watch. A wreck on lap 167 took him out of contention and he finished 24th.

“We feel pretty good about our chances. The team is ready. We’ve been practicing our pit stops. We won the last extra-distance race at Oxford [Firecracker 150 on July 3],” said Clark, the defending PASS points champion.

“Our race strategy messed with us a little bit last year. We wanted to make $100 a lap [for each lap led] for as long as we could,” added Clark. “Ben was smart. He was the one with the most patience and that got him to victory lane. You didn’t even know he was in the race for the first half of it. But he waited for the right time to get to the front and that’s exactly what he did.”

Clark said he intends to be more patient Sunday “and make sure we’re in position to get to the front at the end of the race.”

Clark said one of the drivers to watch is Hebron’s Alan Wilson, a rookie on the PASS tour.

Wilson was leading the Banknorth 250 with 11 laps to go last year but his car sailed up the track and hit the wall, resulting in a fifth-place finish.

Taylor, Busch North driver Ryan Moore of Scarborough, who made his Busch Series debut at New Hampshire International Speedway two weeks ago, and Farmington’s Cassius Clark also could be in the mix.

“I talked to a bunch of drivers and the feeling is that 20 guys could win this race. And you could always have a sleeper,” said OPS owner Bill Ryan.

There will be six heat races and four consolation races to determine the field.

Canton’s Travis Adams won a 100-lap late model feature at OPS last weekend to earn a spot in the field. There also will be provisionals like the one Kenseth earned a year ago.

“You’ve got to keep your nose clean, stay out of trouble and get to the bottom,” said Nason.

That also would apply to the heat races.

“You’ve got to protect the bottom and hope people respect you enough to not try to go through you,” said Ben Rowe. “But anything can happen.”

Oxford 250 Champions

Year Driver Earnings

1974 – Joey Kourafas, $4,500

1975 – Dave Dion, $4,500

1976 – Butch Lindley, $6,375

1977 – Don Biederman, $6,000

1978 – Bob Pressley, $7,050

1979 – Tom Rosati, $10,000

1980 – Geoff Bodine, $11,200

1981 – Geoff Bodine, $21,400

1982 – Mike Barry, $16,000

1983 – Tommy Ellis, $21,150

1984 – Mike Rowe, $26,475

1985 – Dave Dion $26,600

1986 – Chuck Bown, $28,950

1987 – Jamie Aube, $31,100

1988 – Dick McCabe, $34,100

1989 – Jamie Aube, $35,075

1990 – Chuck Bown, $51,872

1991 – Ricky Craven, $50,025

1992 – Dave Dion, $37,150

1993 – Junior Hanley, $40,475

1994 – Derek Lynch, $33,975

1995 – Dave Whitlock, $52,150

1996 – Larry Gelinas, $50,000

1997 – Mike Rowe, $39,800

1998 – Ralph Nason, $46,400

1999 – Ralph Nason, $42,700

2000 – Ralph Nason, $31,900

2001 – Gary Drew, $35,400

2002 – Scott Robbins, $36,900

2003 – Ben Rowe, $34,700

2004 – Ben Rowe, $29,600