Nextel Cup stars Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch will be driving cars capable of winning the Banknorth Oxford 250 on Sunday evening, according to the men who are supplying the cars for them.

“He [Kenseth] will definitely be a contender if he doesn’t get into an accident. The car is really fast,” said Billy Whorff Jr. of Topsham, who is providing the defending Nextel Cup points champion with a Chevy Monte Carlo.

“But he’s got to beat us first,” chided Whorff, who will also be driving a Monte Carlo as will his 20-year-old son, Jeremie.

Buckfield’s Tim Brackett teamed up with Dave Smith of Race Basics in Andover and others to build a Ford Taurus for Busch.

“I was all set to let him take mine but Dave said, ‘Man, you’re going good enough to win the race. Why not build another car for him? We’ll figure out the money after it’s over. None of us will get hurt bad [financially] and you’ll get to race,” said Brackett.

“His car is every bit as good as mine. It might even be better than mine,” said Brackett.

Busch finished third in points in 2002 and is currently ninth while Kenseth is fifth. Both have nine career Nextel Cup wins.

Whorff said Kenseth’s Monte Carlo had been his back-up car but it has been “completely rebuilt.

“It’s like a brand new car,” said Whorff. “I ran it for the first time the third week of the season. I started 25th and finished second with it. And it was overheating a little bit.”

Whorff said Boothbay’s Steve Reny has been racing Kenseth’s car at Oxford Plains Speedway the last three weeks because “we wanted to make sure it was OK. We wanted to make sure there were no leaks.

“It cracked a head and we put two new heads on it and it ran fine this week. It broke a rocker in the engine and we got that fixed,” said Whorff.

“It’s all set to go right now,” he added.

Kenseth hasn’t tested the car yet and isn’t scheduled to come to Oxford until Sunday morning.

“I talked to him on the phone and he just wanted to know a little about the racetrack and what to expect. I gave him some information about what the track is like,” said Whorff. “We also talked about the setup.”

Whorff provided the car after OPS owner Bill Ryan called him and asked him if he knew of anybody who would have a car that Kenseth could drive.

“We were 50 percent done [rebuilding the car] when we got the call and we just hurried it up,” said Whorff.

“We’re excited about him driving one of our cars. It’s an honor as it will be to race against him,” said Whorff.

Brackett said Busch’s business manager, Scott St. John, is “one of my best friends and worked on my car at Oxford before he went south.”

He said St. John had been talking to Busch about entering the race for quite a while.

“Scott called me to see if we had a car [Busch could use]. Since the Cup cars had this [coming] weekend off, Kurt was going to come up and spend some time in Bar Harbor and stuff,” said Brackett, who had just sold his backup car.

Brackett talked to Smith and they decided to build Busch a new car.

“I had a bunch of parts,” said Brackett.

The car made its debut during a testing session at OPS last Saturday afternoon with T.J. Brackett behind the wheel.

“Scott wanted us to give Kurt a good piece to run and we’ve done that,” said Brackett.

Brackett is receiving financial compensation from the primary sponsor, Crown Royal, but didn’t want to divulge the figure.

Whorff said he isn’t receiving any money from Kenseth but he isn’t concerned about it.

The car is for sale.

Busch tested the car Brackett will drive three weeks ago at Oxford to get a feel for the track.

Reny and Danny Boobar are working on Kenseth’s car and will be among his local crew members.

Busch is bringing his IROC (International Race of Champions) crew to work with him Sunday.

“Win, lose or draw, it’s going to be a great time Sunday,” said Brackett, who met Busch several years ago at a Cup race in Atlanta and considers him a “real nice guy.”