By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

Mike Rowe already knows that Sunday’s TD Banknorth 250 should be a little easier than last year.

He just doesn’t know whether it will be as lucrative.

Rowe won his third 250 last year, doing the improbable. After winning the last-chance race, he came from the 37th position to win his 150th career race.

“We’ve got a guaranteed spot this year being a past champion,” Rowe said. “So that’s a little easier, knowing that if we draw a bad number, we don’t have to get carried away.”

With his place in the main event secured, all Rowe has to worry about is how his car runs. He feels pretty good about that, as well.

“This car here, I’ve got a lot of confidence in it,” said Rowe, who has five top-three finishes at the 250. “Brian Burgess is with us. He was (son) Benji’s old crew chief. I’ve got a good feeling that we’re going to have a good showing.”

Burgess will work with Seth Holbrook as Rowe’s crew chief. Much of Rowe’s team will be the same as last year. The only significant change is the car.

Rowe won’t be driving the car he raced to victory last year. Kyle Busch will be driving that. The car Busch drove a year ago is a spare. Rowe will be driving a brand new car with a new color. The three-time champion and second all-time money leader with $182,659, won’t be hard to spot in his bright yellow No. 24.

“It’s a different color for me,” Rowe said.

The car, which was originally going to be used by Ben Rowe, has been driven once in a race. Jeff Taylor had the luxury earlier in the year.

“They’re basically all the same, but this one only has one race on it,” Rowe said. “Our other cars have quite a few races on them. The one Kyle has is the one I won with last year. It’s a good car. He was turning some real good times with it. That’s as good a car as I’ve got, but we just thought we’d try something different.”

Rowe has qualified a record 29 times. The last time he missed competing was in 1987. Last year, he came pretty close to altering that successful streak.

He was in position in his first qualifying heat, but dropped from the third spot and out of the running for one of the four qualifying positions. In the consolation race, he made a move to get into the top four, but was spun out. He had to come from behind in the last-chance race to qualify.

“That was awful,” Rowe said. “What are you going to do? That’s racing.”

With his place secured in today’s race, his biggest concern will be improving his starting spot.

“This year, it’s a little different ballgame,” Rowe said. “I don’t have to stick my nose in there and have someone chop me off like last year. I’ll just wait and see where the cars fall.”

What won’t change, says Rowe, is the kind of talent he’ll face in his quest to be the only four-time winner of the state’s premier race.

“Them guys are going to be good,” Rowe said of the big names like Busch, Ricky Craven, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley. “Coming to our track, Ricky is going to be tough and Kyle should have won last year. They’ll all be tough.

“There are about 20 guys that could win that race. You’ve got to have your crap together and have a good showing.”