OXFORD – Kevin Harvick has seen his share of races where he’d show up and compete in somebody else’s car. That wasn’t the scenario that appealed to him for Sunday’s TD Banknorth 250.

“I’ve done some of these deals where you sit in the seat and hope for the best when you get there,” said Harvick. “There’s too many cars to hope for the best.”

Harvick will be racing his own wheels Sunday in a field of more than 100 entries. The No. 29 Chevy built by Port City Racing had only been tested in solitary practice runs prior to Saturday morning. Harvick matched motors with other 250 contenders during Saturday’s practice sessions at Oxford Plains Speedway.

“I haven’t been passed by anybody,” said Harvick. “That’s OK. We’ve been able to pass some people.”

Harvick, a native of Bakersfield, Calif., had a private testing session Friday and then ran it Saturday with other racers. He appeared to be among the faster cars on the track during the morning session.

“It’s running OK,” he said. “These cars aren’t the fastest cars by quite a bit, but we’re competitive. We’re just making a few changes here or there.”

These Late Models are a little less potent than the cars that Harvick is accustomed to driving, but he says it doesn’t take long to get acclimated.

“I don’t think it’s so much a driving adjustment but just learning what the car needs to turn and not turn, and to grip,” said Harvick, who is currently ranked ninth in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup standings. “It’s more just playing with the car to see what it needs and what it doesn’t need.”

Harvick’s team had the car in the pits for much of the final hour of practice during the morning session. He discussed adjustments with crew chief Shane Wilson prior to the afternoon practice runs.

Wilson said after Friday’s test that he wanted to get the car another tenth of a second quicker, maybe even a tenth-and-a-half.

“It’s whether we can pick up the corners quick enough and get him what he needs,” said Wilson, a native of South Royalton, Vt. “He’s such a good short-track racer that the pressure is more on us now. He can help us help him. That’s why we always work good together. I have a lot of respect for him because he helps his guys get the car ready.”

Wilson has experience competing in the 250 when he worked on crews in the mid 1990s that had little success at Oxford. Now that he’s more experienced in prepping race cars, he wanted to build one just for the 250.

“The ACT touring car, what it does is race 150- to 250-lap races,” Wilson said. “The way the rules are, there’s not a whole lot of difference. We can do little subtle things to make it as light as you can.”

Harvick says its more convenient and comfortable to have his own car, one built by his own people.

“It’s a long race,” he said. “It’s got my own seat in it. Everything’s comfortable for me to sit in. That makes it easier to deal with.”

Wilson said nothing has been determined about the car’s future after Sunday’s race.

“These cars are pretty resaleable,” Wilson said. “Depending on how much fun we have, we might do it again. We haven’t decided that part yet.”

Harvick is the 10th former Daytona 500 winner to compete in the 250. Having the chance to drive Friday and Saturday, Harvick says he’s getting used to the track. Now it’s a matter of whether he’s got a car that can match the best of them Sunday.

“I’ve always been one of those people that likes to run on the bottom of the race track,” Harvick said. “They say in order to be able to pass somebody (at OPS), you’ve got to learn how to run in the middle.”

Harvick has raced in overcast conditions, rain and hot sun in the last two days. He’s learned a lot about the track and about his car during that time. His goal was to come to Maine and be competitive. So far, signs point to that, but Sunday night will provide the proof.

“I don’t know if we exactly know what to expect at night,” said Harvick. “Obviously, the weather is going to be a lot different. This will be a good practice for the heat races. It’ll be good practice for us for tomorrow afternoon. It’ll kind of be a guess after that.”