If anyone can be accused of going through the motions at the TD Banknorth 250 practice on Saturday morning, it’s Ricky Rolfe.

Since he’ll be rolling onto the 3/8 mile oval as perhaps the hottest driver to enter the summer classic in its 35-year history, Rolfe wouldn’t mind such an accusation.

“No matter what happens Saturday at practice, I won’t be changin’ nothin’,” he said.

And when he says “nothin,'” the superstitious Rolfe means it.

“I wear the same shirt to the races every week, the same pair of shorts, try to do the same routine. Even the crew guys are starting to wear the same thing every week,” he said.

“I really can’t believe it’s happening,” Rolfe added. “A lot of it is luck. I’m in the right lane at the right time. The wrecks are right behind me or far enough ahead so I don’t get into them. A lot of it is luck in this business.”

With five wins in the last six Late Model races, Rolfe is the favorite heading into Sunday’s race. He was the consensus pick among the drivers at Monday’s news conference touting the event, so much so that at least one of the competitors admitted, tongue firmly planted in his cheek, to trying to jinx him.

“I’m hoping if we all pick Ricky, he won’t win it,” joked Eddie MacDonald, who is expected to be one of Rolfe’s biggest threats.

Rolfe, whose best finish was second in 2004, already has one hex to battle on Sunday. Rolfe’s Race Basics shop has built cars for competitors such as Travis Adams, Jean-Paul Cyr and Scott Payea for Sunday’s race, but if he takes anything but the checkered flag, he will draw comparisons to Jeff Taylor, another fabricator who has had a history of hard luck on the 250 stage.

“Hopefully, we can break the jinx of car builders crashing or whatever,” Rolfe said. “I’ve had my share of crashes in the 250.”

He pointed to last year, when he led 52 laps of the race before getting involved in a crash about mid-race. He finished seventh.

“Last year, we had a car capable of winning,” he said. “That (crash) comes back to the luck factor.”

Luck wasn’t a factor in finding a new spring combination that he credits for much of his success this year,” Rolfe said.

“It’s nothing exotic or strange. It’s just common sense,” he said. “It gives the car really good bite up off the corner. You can get into the corner and through the corner really good.”

“We were pretty close to this set-up towards the end of last year, when we won two out of the last five races,” he added. “Over the winter, I just thought about it a little more and did a little bit of testing in the spring and it worked.”

The set-up isn’t a magic formula. He said he’s shared his findings with his Race Basics customers but has to tweak it to each one’s liking.

Rolfe took the points lead at Oxford with last week’s victory, thus earning himself a provisional berth should he fail to earn a spot in his qualifying heat.

But aside from guaranteeing himself a shot at his first 250 title, Rolfe said he is not chasing points this year. In fact, he delivered what might have been the best news his competitors have heard all season.

“We’re going to go on vacation after the 250, for two weeks, so we’ll miss two races,” said Rolfe, who will be happy to share the wheel when he and his family take a sight-seeing cross country trip.