OXFORD — Jeff Taylor has endured worse nights in the TD Bank 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway than Sunday.

He has been involved in wrecks and had equipment fail while leading. In the mixed-emotions category, Taylor cashed a check for $24,000 but only walked away with a second-place trophy after chasing Dave Whitlock to the finish line in 1995.

And it was only eight days ago that Taylor loaded his green machine into the figurative basket after a grinding crash, wondering all 90 minutes home if he’d even have a car ready to drive in the showcase race.

So he wasn’t kicking tires or cursing at the twilight sky after taking the lead from Kyle Busch with 25 laps remaining, only to fade to sixth at night’s end.

Steaming on the inside? That’s a safe bet.

“Another one down the tubes,” Taylor said. “We had a good day. They knew we were here. Not good enough, but oh well.”

Taylor, a North Chesterville native and owner of Distance Racing of Norridgewock, was a factor at the finish for the first time since 2006 — the last time the 250 was a Pro Stock race.

He moved from his 10th starting position to the top five in a caution-free segment of 61 laps to start the race.

Even the pit strategy that has foiled Taylor and so many other would-be champions seemed to play into his hands. Taylor stopped with all but four of the lead-lap cars on Lap 113 after a spin by Tommy Ricker.

Taylor was the first of those drivers to escape the middle of the pack. He overtook a fading Nick Sweet — a Vermonter driving a Distance car adorned with the same No. 88 — for the lead on lap 124.

Turns out he was only keeping it warm for Busch, who made the first of his two visits to the front on the 181st circuit.

“Hey, we beat Kyle Busch on a restart,” Taylor said. “Not many people do that.”

That’s the short version. The more daunting detail was that Busch only needed a second pass after that lap 179 resumption to take over the lead.

Taylor used the knowledge and guile that led him to a record nine speedway championships and the good graces of lapped traffic to stay within two to four car lengths of Busch.

He even had one final shot at glory. Busch went high and Taylor went low around a slower car with 24 laps to go, putting Taylor atop the board once again.

That advantage lasted one lap. And after the fifth and final caution on lap 234, Sweet, 17-year-old Austin Theriault, two-time defending race winner Eddie MacDonald and ACT champion Brian Hoar all drove past and drove off.

Busch changed four tires during his pit stop. Taylor had taken on two.

“If I could do it again,” Taylor said, “but we just didn’t know what was going to happen with tires. They don’t let you have very many. “

This year’s rules limited all teams to eight racing tires, not counting practice.

“We bought five rights and three lefts, just because the rights are more important. And with our left rear on 250 laps, there wasn’t much left,” Taylor said.

Taylor needed the entire week to rebuild his ride after he crashed into a rookie driver’s spinning car while leading the July 16 weekly race at OPS.

Customers come first. Some cancelled or didn’t need service in the week leading up to the race, giving the boss a break.

“As of Monday, we weren’t even going to come do this,” Taylor said. “Obviously with leading laps and finishing sixth or whatever, it probably paid for our week.”

Taylor won $8,800, including his lap-leader bonus.

It was only his fourth start of the season at the track he once dominated.

“I don’t expect you can come race three races and win the biggest race in New England in reality,” Taylor said. “I’d like to think we’re that good. But I know I’m obviously not in the best shape. It’s the mental part for me. And we had to fix the car.”

He laughed.

“I’ve got all kinds of excuses.”

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