It's 95 in the sun

There are 95 cars entered in today's TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway.

It would have been 96, but Patrick Laperle gave up the ride in his own car to drive the No. 24 usually driven by Mike Rowe. In other Rowe news, Ben Rowe did not return to Oxford today, staying in Nova Scotia for the PASS North Series race there. Jeff Taylor is in that car today, which obviously makes for an interesting story line.

Though cheering is discouraged among the media throng, I'm pulling for Taylor to get his 1st 250 win in a race he'd never thought he'd be competing in. That would be truly great stuff.

Should note that the car count falls short of the more than 100 many of us expected. I'm not sure what that means, but maybe it's true that Late Model teams just aren't prepared to travel and spend thousands of dollars on one weekend, knowing that it's going to be hard just to make the race today.

Maybe it means nothing. I mean, 95 cars is still 95 cars -- anytime more go home than make the grid, it's a big-time event.