Nobody had any great intuition, no strategic notion that Oxford Plains Speedway possessed a third groove race teams had yet to discover.

In fact, it wasn't until one year ago this week that Late Model drivers figured out that the outside groove was the potential path to victory lane in the region's most prestigious race. With the 35th annual TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford slated for this Sunday, the word is out -- so much so that the track might see a veritable traffic jam in its third groove.

 The drivers know that, with nearly 100 cars expected to attempt to qualify, they're going to have to go to the outside at some point to get through the traffic. Maybe way outside.

"Oh, absolutely," said Shawn Martin, the 2004 Late Model champion at OPS. "You can't just run the bottom. You're going to be passing a lot of cars.

"I don't know if the bottom groove is starting to wear out a little bit, or if that third groove hasn't been run much so it still has a lot of grip up there, I don't know if it's the traction compound moving up. I don't know, but it's working."

Most credit drivers Ricky Rolfe and Eddie MacDonald with being the first to show that the third groove could be run, and both drivers admit they first used it during last year's TD Banknorth 250. Defending track champion Travis Adams made regular appearances out there en route to his third Late Model title last summer.

But with so many people looking to the guys that have had success running three-wide at Oxford, there's now the risk that there could be more drivers trying to run there than down in the traditional low groove. It's something Rolfe has found himself pondering this week.

"I'm thinking I'm going to have to run a different groove," said Rolfe, winner of five of the last six Oxford Championship Series races and current division points leader. "If they all get used to it -- and they'll all be practicing out there Saturday figuring out what they've got to do out there.

"Now, I've got to go with it or not. Hopefully, I've got a car than can run all three grooves. That's the goal."

Rolfe said that there was a day at Oxford, many years ago, when he first tried the third groove. Of course, back then it seemed everybody was racing three-wide in a 40-car Street Stock field.

"That was the groove to be in," Rolfe said. "As soon as they threw the green flag, we all just set out into the third groove. The guys that were fast were in the rear, and you had to go to the outside."

He returned to that groove with an ill-handling race car during last year's '250,' perhaps taking advantage of traction compound sprayed a bit higher than the second groove.

"I don't know (why)," he said. "You can feel it. You're doing it by feeling, changing grooves, and you can tell what the car likes."

Not everyone was so quick to rush to the far outside, though.

Martin admits that he has long preferred the bottom groove, and still does to some extent. He's begun to see the success -- particularly in long-distance races -- that other drivers are have by drifting into the third groove. He's spent the last few races testing the waters and has been surprised at how well his car worked.

Still, Martin sounds like a driver who will gladly watch everybody else run the third groove.

"Fine with me, because it will free up the bottom," he said. "Whichever, you know. The way Oxford's been lately, it makes it real neat. It makes for a different race. Guys can run the bottom and pass, run the two-groove and pass, run the third groove and pass. It makes it a lot of fun to drive."

Posted at 10:45 p.m. by TBarrett