OXFORD -- There are more drivers already entered for Sunday's TD Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway than ever before.

How many of those teams will actually show up in the tiny oval's pit area this weekend remains to be determined, but one thing is certain. The guys who will be there are backed by some pretty impressive resumes.

The record 177 drivers entered for the 34th annual Oxford tradition boast among them a total of 145 track, series and Oxford 250 championships.

"Well, it's pretty hard to argue with those kind of numbers," said Farmington's Cassius Clark, a two-time feature winner at the track. "I mean, that's a pretty impressive list."

Mike Rowe of Turner, dubbed the "King of Oxford," headlines the list with 14 titles to his credit. The winner of 150 career features on the flat .375-mile track is a three-time Oxford 250 winner, a three-time touring series champ (ACT, PASS South Series and the now-defunct Northeast Pro Stock Association) and seven-time Oxford Plains track champ.

Rowe -- the 1984, 1997 and 2005 Oxford 250 champ -- is joined by some equally impressive company on the entry list.

Two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Terry Labonte is entered in a car owned by Richard Moody Racing, which will also field a car for two-time 250 winner Ben Rowe. Current Nextel Cup Series driver Kevin Lepage is also in, one of 17 drivers entered with at least one career start in Nextel Cup, the Busch Series, a Craftsman Truck, Hooters Pro Cup or the Busch East.

Exactly 50 of the drivers entered have accounted for at least one track championship somewhere.

"Combine the (track champions) with the guys that have experience at the Nextel Cup level, the Busch Series level, the Craftsman Truck level, the Busch East level, it's just amazing," Oxford Plains owner Bill Ryan said. "The talent pool is as deep as -- and you could argue it's probably deeper -- any other 250 we've had before."

With the race being run under a Late Model rules package that includes narrow tires, sealed crate engines and spec shocks, it is open to more drivers competing weekly at short tracks across the Northeast and Canada. That has helped fuel interest in the race.

So, too, did a promotion on behalf of the track that waived the $75 entry fee for teams that entered prior to last Nov. 1 and offered teams a chance to win eight free race tires.

Of course, despite the long list of entries, only 44 will make it to the starting field. And certainly not all 177 cars pre-entered in the event will make it to the race. All that championship hardware won't matter when qualifying gets underway at 2 p.m. Sunday.

"We have seven, eight, nine guys I know of who race here every week who still haven't entered," Ryan said. "I know that we won't have 177 cars here, but we won't really know until Saturday. All I can hope for is that Saturday morning, driving to the track, there's a traffic jam of haulers out on Route 26.

For an updated entry list, visit www.oxfordplains.com/results_250_073105.htm.

Travis Barrett -- 621-5648

tbarrett@centralmaine.com