Sprint Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick, left, and Oxford Plains Speedway Late Model points leader Ricky Rolfe share information on Saturday afternoon in Oxford./Photo by Shawn Courchesne
Kevin Harvick, Ricky Rolfe team up
Travis Adams, Scott Payea still lurking in shadows
By TRAVIS BARRETT
GWC Staff
07.19.08
OXFORD, Maine -- When Kevin Harvick needed to know what there was to know about Oxford Plains Speedway, he turned to Ricky Rolfe. "No better guy to talk to than the one that's beating everybody here," Harvick said during a break in practice for Sunday's 35th annual TD Banknorth 250. "(Rolfe's) given me a bunch of good ideas." Rolfe has won five of the last six Late Model features at Oxford to take over the points lead. He also proved to be the fastest car in Saturday's three-hour morning practice. Unofficially, reports had Rolfe running as quick as a 15.7-second lap around the .375-mile oval.
On his way out of the track after completing all of the practice he wanted to complete, Rolfe was stopped by Harvick's pit for a final time. The two drivers talked for several minutes, before smiling and shaking hands.
"We're just talking about setups and what to expect (Sunday), both in the heat races and in the feature," Rolfe said. "We've been talking back and forth all day. I'd come down here (to Harvick's pit), and he'd come down and see me. They had heard who to go see. They'd been asking who to go see, and now I guess I'm the guy."
That's very true. And Rolfe said he hoped to send a message to the 82 Late Model teams at Oxford for practice on the day before the '250,' one just as loud as his six wins this season -- including a 150-lap American-Canadian Tour win at the track.
"We wanted to go out in the first practice and prove a point, and we did from what I'm hearing," Rolfe said. "I just wanted everybody to see that we are fast, that's all. It's (head games) pretty much. Whenever somebody goes out and beats you, then you've got to start working a little bit harder. Maybe some of these guys will go and tune themselves right out of it -- that's what we hope, anyway."
Once Rolfe went out and set his pace on new tires, he set about helping out some other drivers at the track. As a fabricator at Race Basics in Andover, he counts guys like three-time track champion Travis Adams of Canton among his clients. Adams said he likes the fact that no one has mentioned him as a contender this weekend -- despite the fact he feels as good about his car as he has all season long.
"No one's said anything about this green monster. It's actually a good thing," Adams said of his familiar green-and-pink No. 03. "It takes all the pressure off. All the hype's gone, and this race usually lends itself to a winner that comes from unexpected territory."
Scott Payea, like Adams, enjoys staying out of the spotlight. But as the ACT points leader entering '250' weekend, it's been hard to do that. Payea, of Milton, Vt., struggled through most of Saturday's practice sessions in the team's secondary car before hitting on something he liked in the final hour of practice.
"My whole career has kind of been under the radar and we've always seemed to just be there at the end of the race," said Payea, who finished third in last year's Oxford 250. "Leading the points -- there's nothing we can be sad about with that. You take everything that comes with it, because it just means you're having a good year. Hopefully, we can live up to these expectations that have maybe been put on us now.
"With everything going on with tour, being in the points hunt, it's tough to bring (the primary) car here. Sure, this is a prestigious race, but we're really in the points race. But this is still a good car... It's no slouch."
Posted at 11:59 p.m. by TBarrett
