OXFORD — He has won NASCAR’s biggest event. Now, Trevor Bayne will try to tackle the short track.

Oxford Plains Speedway owner Bill Ryan announced Monday morning that Bayne, the 21-year-old Sprint Cup up-and-comer who shocked everyone in racing by winning the Daytona 500 in 2011, will enter this year’s 39th annual TD Bank 250 at OPS on Sunday, July 22.

“Trevor is a driver who’s had some success early in his career,” Ryan said during a live interview on 96.3 The Big Jab on Monday morning. “We’re excited for it. We hope the fans will be, too.”

“I am excited to run the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway,” Bayne said in a news release Monday. “It is one of those events that every short-track racer from around the country knows about and hopes to get a chance to run one day. The race is super competitive, but I feel like I have a good shot. Kevin (Harvick) and Kyle (Busch) have set a high standard the past few years and I will definitely check in with them to get some advice.”

Bayne’s NASCAR racing career begin in 2009, when he began racing in the Nationwide Series for Michael Waltrip Racing. After about two years with the team, he moved to Roush Fenway Racing.

In 2010, Bayne picked up a ride on a limited basis in Sprint Cup with Wood Brothers Racing, the legendary team that achieved its greatest success with David Pearson in the 1970s.

The new combination clicked immediately. Bayne won the Daytona 500 in 2011, becoming the youngest driver to win the race at an age of 20 years and 1 day.

It was a season of extreme highs and lows. Bayne was hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic in April 2011 with a mysterious illness.

With the Wood Brothers already struggling to find full-time sponsors for Bayne’s No. 21, he ran a limited schedule the remainder of the season.

He’s had a hard time maintaining a ride in 2012, as well. Bayne has run six Sprint Cup races this season, and is slated for nine more for Wood Brothers, and one more for Roush in the Nationwide series.

Bayne has taken to running dirt tracks in his spare time.

“It’s tough; I’ve raced my whole life, and I don’t know what else to do,” Bayne told USA Today in June. “I’m going to start putting together a dirt late-model program to go race in my spare time when I’m not running Cup or Nationwide to keep a little more sharp. There’s nothing like seat time. No matter what kind of car, there’s nothing like it.”

In his Sprint Cup career, Bayne has only two other top-10 finishes aside from the Daytona 500 win. On the Nationwide circuit, Bayne has one victory, nine top fives and 20 top 10s.

Bayne becomes the 13th different driver with NASCAR ties to compete at Oxford since 2004.

The tradition was revived that year with NASCAR champions Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch. Kenseth finished third in a race won by Ben Rowe.

Kyle Busch has made three appearances in the 250, punctuated by his win in 2011.

Kevin Harvick also outlasted a weekend of rain to win on a Monday night in 2008.

Others to tackle the race in recent years are Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Craven, Terry Labonte, J.J. Yeley, Steve Wallace, Rusty Wallace and Kevin Lepage.

“It is a thrill for our fans to see the best NASCAR has to offer right here on a short track in Maine,” Ryan said. “Trevor is a great driver and I am sure he will be in the mix all race.”

In its heyday of the 1970s and ’80s, the 250 was a NASCAR national touring event and part of what is now the Nationwide Series.

Nine NASCAR Sprint Cup champions have competed in the event. Bayne is the 12th Daytona 500 winner to try.

Staff Writer Kalle Oakes contributed to this report.

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