RPW Exclusive Column: Oxford Plains Speedway Super Late Model championship heats up for 2nd half of 2026 Season

RPW EXCLUSIVE COLUMN BY: Stephen Durham / RACE PRO WEEKLY – OXFORD , ME – It has been a busy couple of weeks at the historic 3/8 mile asphalt oval of Oxford Plains Speedway. The Pro All-Star Series visited just under two weeks ago for the Celebration of America 300 during the week leading up to Fourth of July. With the two-day special, it gave the weekly regulars off, but things are about to heat up as we head through July and towards the prestigious Oxford 250 in late August.

Heading into the July 11th regular show at Oxford Plains, 7x super late model champion Mike Rowe or “The King”, was leading the championship fight by a narrow margin of 9 points over the young hot-shoe of Evan Roy. In third it was Brandon Barker, 34 points behind Roy, fourth was Brandon Varney, 3 points behind Barker, and rounding out the top 5 is Scott McDaniel, the 2025 super late model champion at Oxford, trailing by 19 points.

During practice Saturday afternoon, I caught up with the drivers currently battling within the top 5 in the championship standings and chatted about the weeks ahead as we head deeper into summer, with big races looming, including the 53rd Annual Oxford 250.

TOP 5 SUPER LATE MODEL STANDINGS:

Mike Rowe:

For the all-time winningest driver in a super late model at Oxford and 3-time Oxford 250 winner, Mike Rowe is enjoying his 2026 season so far.

“Feeling pretty lucky, I’d say,” an appreciative Rowe says, “my crew has done a great job for me. We got a great car, and we’ve been lucky so far. Last week we were a little bit loose, but hopefully this week we can get it back on track.”

With the season now in July, and August looming, that means one thing, the Oxford 250 is right around the corner. For Mike Rowe, he will look to bounce back from 2025’s 52nd running, where a mishap on pit-road ruined his chances.

“I hope to get another 250 win. Last year, we made a mistake, gas can got caught, I took off, we got put to the rear, and that cost us,” Rowe explains “you can’t make mistakes in the 250, and we did. If we can get a clean shot at it, we got a good shot as anybody else this year.”

Rowe is extra appreciative of his team around him and keeping him going, and says they deserve all the credit for where they are right now.

Rowe was caught up in a late race incident while battling within the top 10, coming home with a 14th place finish.

Evan Roy

For Evan Roy, coming off a very strong 2025 season where he finished 3rd in the championship standings, with a win to his credit. Heading into the weekend, Roy, who turns 19 this week, isn’t trying to pay too much attention to the championship fight.

“I try not to focus on it as much as I want a championship. I try not to let that stuff bother me. It seems like every time we focus on points, it makes things just more stressful and puts more on my shoulders,” Roy says “I’m trying to get as many points as I can. Then I can just let it play out and take what I can get. So we’ll just see what happens.”

In 2026, Roy currently has 1 win to his credit and knows his team has been running well so far at Oxford Plains.

“I think we’ve been really, really consistent on speed week after week. Oxford is just one of those tracks where it’s different every week and you never know what to expect with the weather or track changes every week and to have the consistent speed we have, I’m really happy. I’ve had some pretty crappy draws for the heat race, and that usually sets us back pretty good,” a happy Evan Roy says “it’s really hard to get around the top here, and really hard to make ground in such a short time. So I’ve been really happy and, of course, the win a couple of weeks ago and a couple other podiums, so I’m really happy with how the season’s been going.”

For the young driver out of Turner, Maine, he is especially thankful for the help of his dad.

“My dad has been a huge help. I get home from work at 10 o’clock at night. I work at Dale Shaw’s, and he busts his ass all week to get this (car) ready and clean, and does all the maintenance, and then thankful for everyone at Dale Shaw race cars, just for all their help and support,” an appreciative Evan Roy says.

Roy would have early struggles in the feature, briefly falling out of the top 10, but would rebound to come home with a 6th place finish.

Brandon Barker

Brandon Barker of Westbrook, Maine has been off to a steady start in 2026, with one win to his credit coming into the July 11th weekend, then picking up his 2nd win on the season later that night.

Despite winning earlier in the 2026 season, Barker feels the season is turning a new page and feels he and his team are ready for it.

“I feel like we’re headed hopefully in the right direction, has definitely been a struggle. It doesn’t help me when we win early on and then they handicap you, but, you know, the rest of the season, the other guys are racing and won races now, so hopefully that’ll help us,” a positive Brandon Barker explains.

Barker kicks off the later part of the season with a strong run, coming from the sixth row, working his way into the top 5 with 15 to go. Others with stout speed like Evan Roy and Scott McDaniel were on the move as well within the top 10 and top 5. Barker found himself near the front with late race cautions, which came down to a battle with the 2025 defending champion of McDaniel, where Barker would edge out McDaniel at the line for the win.

Barker feels him and his team needed this win.

“It’s always good to win, the past month/month and half has been a struggle for us on the 2-tires program. We always are good in practice then seem to struggle to get a top 10,” Barker explains, “hopefully we hit on something to carry us through out the summer.”

With such a close finish with McDaniel, Barker enjoyed the hard run at the end, even with the flurry of cautions.

“Scott (McDaniel) is a class act. He had every chance to use me up and he didn’t. Not many of them would do that, but he did. I have a ton of respect for him for that,” an appreciative Brandon Barker says “if he was to rough me up there, there’s no way I could’ve been mad, we were racing for the win and that’s a chance you take when you try the top with not many laps to go.”

Brandon Varney

Brandon Varney has made gains since joining the super late models at Oxford Plains in 2024. Varney has one win on the 2026 season, totalling now 3 career super late model wins. Varney currently sits 4th in the championship standings and feels the season has been strong so far.

“We started off pretty good and we’ve struggled around the last 3 or 4 weeks, but we have changed some stuff this week,” Varney says, “I think we are headed back in the right direction, and I’m excited to see where we end up moving forward.”

For Varney, he has been through the ranks of different divisions and winning in those divisions through the years. Being that Varney is local, the Oxford 250 Weekend holds a special place for him.

“250 weekend is always the best. I’m a hometown guy here, so I have a soft spot for the 250. It’s always a great atmosphere, great energy, and I just always can’t wait for that race,” Varney says.

Varney started deep in the field and was making his way into the top 10 before mechanical problem would end their night early, resulting in a 16th place finish.

Scott McDaniel

For the defending super late model champion at Oxford Plains Speedway, it has been a steady start, but finds himself sitting 5th in the championship standings, 65 points back from Mike Rowe.

“Unfortunate that we finished 34th a couple of weeks ago in that 125 lap race 250 qualifier, I feel that pretty much took us out of the points deal,” McDaniel explains, “so I think we are going to kind of switch up our tire game and hoping to just go for wins and get a couple more trophies.”

McDaniel has been a regular at Oxford Plains for the last several years and like everyone else in New England, knows Mike Rowe’s name is etched in history forever at Oxford, and its quite special seeing Rowe leading the points currently.

“Kind of unexpected, but Mike doesn’t seem to go away. So yeah, it kind of throws a different mix into the weekly racing for everyone,” McDaniel says.

Heading down the stretch, with long distance races ahead, including the Oxford 250, McDaniel feels they can be competitive if they can just put together stronger qualifying runs.

“We will be competitive and I always feel like we’re capable of winning those races. I just feel I never have the right tire strategy,” McDaniel explains, “it always seems I’m trying to come from deep in the field because I didn’t have a good qualifying race, then I end up doing something different for a tire strategy. So we just need to get qualified better, and I think it be okay.”

McDaniel had a solid Saturday night, coming from the fifth row in the 50 lap feature event with a chance to win it at the end. McDaniel would get the lead for a few laps under 10 laps to go, but multiple cautions and restarts would spoil the victory. It would come down to a photo-finish with Brandon Barker at the line, but came up short finishing 2nd.

“It’s a little disappointing to get to the lead and lose it, but a good run overall. I think if the cautions hadn’t come out, the race would have been mine,” McDaniel says, “it took my car 2-3 laps to come in and I think the tire pressures had dropped a bit too much. Next week I’ll have two new rights, so I should be in good shape.”

Oxford Plains Speedway races every Saturday night at 6PM, with the Mid Coast Excavation Inc. Super Late Models, Dow Excavating Inc Limited Sportsman, Street Stocks, Green Lawn Solutions Mad Bombers, Kyle Hewins Motorsports Thunder Stocks, 207 Flight School Runnin’ Rebels, and Aroma Joe’s Coffee Rookies.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE:

Sat. July 18th – OCS Weekly Divisions
Sat. July 25th – Maine Machine Night – OCS Weekly Divisions
Sat. Aug 1st – Maine Air National Guard Night – OCS Weekly Divisions
Sat. Aug 8th – OCS Weekly Divisions (SLM 100 Lap – 250 Qualifier)
Sun. Aug 9th – Pro All-Star Series 150, PASS Mods, Crown Vic 50
Sat. Aug 15th – OCS Weekly Divisions + Annual Backpack Giveaway
Fri. Aug 28th – 53rd Nitro Trailers Oxford 250 Weekend Day 1
Sat. Aug 29th – 53rd Nitro Trailers Oxford 250 Weekend Day 2
Sun. Aug 30th – 53rd Nitro Trailers Oxford 250 Weekend Day 3