OXFORD — Corey Morgan knew Sunday was the biggest night of his stock car racing life. He wasn’t sure it was the richest.

“I don’t know. What’s it pay for third?” Morgan said, standing next to a third-place trophy taller than a sprouting child, answering a query with a question.

Seventy-five. As in hundred.

“Really? Nice. I always come into this race just wanting to get my tire money back, so $1,000,” he said. “This is way above that right now. Maybe we’ll go out to dinner tomorrow night.”

Sure. Maybe take the day off from work, while he’s at it.

This was the TD Bank 250 at Morgan’s home track, Oxford Plains Speedway. This was the 37th annual edition, meaning it’s been around longer than Morgan, 33, himself.

It’s the race where dark horses and first-timers say taking the green flag is a greater accomplishment than any checkered flag of their careers.

Makes you wonder how many run-of-the-mill victories finishing third is worth. Only don’t ask Morgan. He hasn’t yet been roused from his dream race.

“This is only the second one I’ve finished,” Morgan said. “Last year was the first one I finished, so yes, it’s a big surprise.”

Surprising and historic, in that Morgan is one of the few drivers ever to reach the 250 podium to climb those steps after falling a lap down early in the race.

Then again, so did just about everyone else, thanks to Brad Leighton’s blistering pace and an unthinkable 98-lap stretch of green flag racing.

Joey Polewarczyk and Travis Stearns’ tandem spin on lap 140 gave the entire field the opportunity to make a necessary fuel-and-tires stop under caution.

Morgan emerged from pit lane first among the cars one lap down. Remarkably, he slipped underneath Leighton on a short run before a tangle between Eric Williams and Dave Pembroke brought out the next yellow at lap 147.

The underdog had his bark back. While the pace car picked up Leighton, Morgan had earned the privilege of driving around to catch the tail of the field.

“It was hard to think that I‘d have a chance to win, because open track was all they had to deal with, and I had to come all the way back up through,” Morgan said. “I didn’t really think I’d make it that far. I didn’t think I would be able to lead laps, but I thought I could make it into the top five by riding.”

He did more than that, inheriting third when heartbreak struck Leighton in the form of a flat right front tire.

Morgan and Brent Dragon battled for the duration. The Lewiston driver was runner-up until Brian Hoar took command of that spot in the closing laps.

“You should have seen the flatbed shaking,” said Morgan’s wife, Missy, gesturing with every word, “because I was standing on it jumping up and down like this.”

To those who have been following Morgan’s progress in longer races the last two years, the result was an eye-opener but not a jaw-dropper.

Twice, he’s raced into the top five at the conclusion of American-Canadian Tour 150s at Oxford. But the lore, the lucre and the depth of the field are different in a 250.

Morgan’s maturity level has grown into an asset, even during a six-year winless streak in Saturday night racing.

“There was a point in the first heat when I said, ‘I’m going to go home. This isn’t looking very good.’ Then the second heat I said, ‘Well, who knows?’ It actually worked out well,“ Morgan said.

He drew the fourth starting position for the final first-round heat — good enough to qualify for the main event if he didn’t lose ground. Morgan moved up to third before going backward after a caution.

Morgan didn’t sulk. Instead, he rallied in the consolation race and passed home track rival Ricky Rolfe for the victory. Rolfe publicly chided Morgan for what he called a “bonehead move” in a race two weeks ago.

“When we drove around Ricky in the consi, I had a good feeling, because I knew the first set of tires we had in the first heat were bad,” said Morgan‘s spotter, Ricky Drew. “So when we drove around him in the consi … I mean, you can never say that you expected this, but I knew he was capable of it.”

Drew similarly pep-talked his brother, Gary, to a TD Bank 250 victory in 2001.

The year before? Yup, Drew finished third behind Ralph Nason.

Morgan knows some will see his run as the shocker of the century. He hopes it’s a springboard, instead.

“Our good runs before could have been a fluke, though. Anything can happen,” Morgan said. “It could have been a good set of tires, you know? Now we know we’ve got something and can do something.”

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