OXFORD – It was, as Scott Robbins put it, “the opposite end of the spectrum” from last year’s TD Banknorth 250.

The Dixfield driver drew the prime spot on the grid for the first qualifying race, then held off a late charge from Patrick Laperle to earn pole position in the 35th edition of the short track jewel.

It was a marked contrast from last year, when Robbins had to win the last chance qualifier to get into the feature.

“We had to race all day long and didn’t get in until the end,” said Robbins, who finished 15th in last year’s feature. “You race long enough, it comes back around.”

Robbins was hoping he’d come full circle Sunday night and become just the second driver to win a second 250 this decade, joining Ben Rowe (2003-04). The 2002 champion wasn’t taking any chances after rain delayed the start of qualifying for 3 hours.

“We’ve known all along that we should have a pretty decent car for the 250, so we kind of played it safe there and just stayed on the bottom and won the heat race,” Robbins said. “Now who knows when we’re going to run the feature, by the looks of the clouds? But we’re sitting pretty good.”

Robbins’ heat saw two wrecks in the first two laps on the slick surface, but his No. 71 car was well ahead of the carnage. Thinning out the field helped Laperle advance from 13th and challenge the leader, who nipped him by a little less than a car length at the line.

“After the first (caution), I figured it’d settle down, but it looked like they had a pretty good wreck (in Turn 1),” he said. “It was a long wait with the rain, so people were getting antsy, I guess.”

Robbins tried to keep himself from getting antsy during the delay by ordering a coffee run, eating a light meal and joking around with his crew. He said he was glad to get his heat out of the way early, before yet another rain delay was called during the third qualifying heat. He had his wife, Jessica, to thank for that.

“She had never drawn for me. We had this elaborate plan for how she was going to draw the pole for me and it worked. And it had nothing to do with anything but dumb luck,” said Robbins, who had never won a qualifying race before at the 250.

Winning the pole didn’t bring any extra pressure to win the coveted 250 title, he insisted.

“It might sound kind of stupid because I’ve won this race, but our goal was just to qualify because of this new format with the late models and having so many cars that could win this race,” he said. “There were a couple of guys in our heat race that were just as fast if not faster than us, so we’ve got some work to do tonight. But at least the pressure’s off. We know we’re in.”

Which is why if the feature ended up getting pushed back to Monday, he wasn’t worried about getting a good night’s sleep.

“I don’t mind it. I’m a racer,” Robbins said. “There will be a lot of people calling in sick (Monday), I guess.”