Call it the home track disadvantage.

With the exception of a six-year stretch in the triple-zeroes decade when Gary Drew, Scott Robbins and Jeremie Whorff won the TD Bank 250, Oxford Plains Speedway weekly competitors have been shut out of victory lane.

Factors in the finish, yes. Holding the trophy, no.

Tim Brackett hopes to quench his personal drought of 20-plus years with a change in strategy. The Buckfield driver will try to act like a tourist.

“I am going to practice a whole lot more than I usually do,” said Brackett, an OPS champion in both Pro Stock and Late Model competition. “You think you’re pretty good on Saturday night and you put some (practice) tires on and go out and run some fast laps and you think you’re OK, but then the track isn’t the same. I seem to get complacent and not try to keep up with it and I’ve got to make an effort to do that this year to have a good piece at the end.”

Brackett finished fifth in the 1999 race. In the late model era he has finished 34th, 43rd (last), 15th and 17th.

He is fifth in OPS late model points this season, one spot behind his son, T.J. His daughter, Vanna, also will attempt to qualify Sunday.

NASCAR drivers — Sprint Cup stars Kevin Harvick (2008) and Kyle Busch (2011) and K&N Pro Series East regular Eddie MacDonald (2009, 2010) — have won the past four 250s.

MacDonald occasionally turns a practice lap or two at OPS during the spring, but Brackett believes the two-time winner’s relative lack of preconceived notions is an asset.

“I don’t think he drives it any different,” Brackett said. “It’s just he works on what’s happening that day instead of what you think is going to happen after last weekend.”

Shawn Martin was the top full-time OPS driver to complete the 2011 race. He finished eighth.

Corey Morgan ran third in 2010. Martin was in the top five in both 2008 and 2009 after Dale Verrill’s runner-up effort in 2007.

Brackett said that the local drivers often struggle to adapt to the traction aid that OPS applies to the turns in separate doses in May and July.

“They’ll put it on for the ACT race. Then you start doing your Saturday night deal with the one tire (a week) and all that. Then they put it on again last week,” Brackett said. :“So it’s not really a home track advantage. It’s really probably better off if you don’t know. I guess that’s kind of the attitude I’m taking this year as opposed to thinking I know what’s going to happen.”

Coolidge heating up

Every TD Bank 250 has a dark horse that exceeds all expectations, hangs around all day and celebrates a better finish and a bigger payday than anyone expected.

Sometimes, that driver even wins. Look no further than Don Biederman in 1977, Tom Rosati in 1979, Larry Gelinas in 1996 or Jeremie Whorff in 2006 for your proof.

Don’t be surprised, then, if a hometown hero such as Chris Coolidge wakes up this morning, wanders to the nearest mirror and wonders, “Why not me?”

“I’m confident, but I’m not like, ‘I’m going down there and I’m going to kick some ass.’ I’m confident that the car feels good and that the car’s comfortable and fast,” Coolidge said. “Is it the fastest car down there? Probably not, but every time I go out it gets more comfortable.”

Coolidge is typical of the local driver that has been the lifeblood of the 250 since its inception.

This is his second year driving a Late Model after 15 years of winning features in Oxford’s Strictly Stock and Outlaw divisions. He failed to qualify for the 250 in his rookie effort but reaped a wealth of knowledge from the experience.

“I’m not going to say when we’re lined up and ready to roll out my stomach isn’t going to be turning, because it will be,” Coolidge said. “Usually once you roll through the gate that kind of goes away.”

In his sophomore season, Coolidge has turned heads with a pair of second-place finishes in Saturday night competition.

“The first night I finished second I was racing Shawn Martin, and I think it was a little bit of he had more experience than I did. I think I had enough car to go around the outside, but it was the first time I had been up in the top three and I was being cautious,” Coolidge said. “The second time the car was going good but Ben (Ashline) had four new tires, and that makes a big difference.”

Coolidge won’t show up on anyone’s list of 8 to 10 rock-solid favorites to win tonight’s race. That’s fine with him. He wouldn’t put himself there, either.

And as the old sales pitch about the lottery goes, you can’t win unless you’re first holding a ticket.

“If I can just make it (qualify) this year, that will be like a win. Make it and finish the race in one piece,” Coolidge said.

He’s locked in

Every year three drivers arrive at OPS knowing that no matter what pitfalls crop up in the unpredictable heat races, they’ll be in the main event.

Yes, one is the NASCAR ringer du jour, which today is Trevor Bayne. But promoter Bill Ryan also reserves two promoter’s option spots, if needed, for both the most recent 250 champion not to qualify by traditional means and for the top driver in Oxford’s late model point standings who doesn’t make the cut.

The two drivers who would be in the line for those get-into-the-grid-free-cards are MacDonald, and perhaps to some people’s surprise, Travis Stearns.

Stearns has paced the OPS point parade most of the season. He holds a 31-point edge over Martin.

“I’ve felt pretty good before, but I’ve had nothing to show for it,” Stearns said. “The car’s just a lot better now. We have a good car, period. It’s something I’m not really used to coming into this race.”

Stearns has qualified the past three years, winning a heat race in 2009, when he finished 10th. He ran 11th in 2010 and 29th in 2011.

koakes@sunjournal.com

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