Kyle Busch’s introduction to Oxford Plains Speedway came in the passenger seat of Mike Rowe’s Cadillac. It was 2005, and the Maine racing legend was giving the up-and-coming NASCAR driver a quick lesson on the track he’d soon run in the Oxford 250.

Rowe said he didn’t need to explain the track’s nuances much. Busch was already formulating a race-day plan.

“He just knew what to do. You didn’t have to tell him a lot. The kid was good,” Rowe recalled Monday morning.

Busch died last week at 41 after a sudden, severe illness. Busch raced at Oxford Plains multiple times, including twice last year, in the Memorial Day Clash and the Celebration of America 300 in July. Busch won the Oxford 250 in 2011, his third time taking part in the race.

“This is great. It’s everything I thought it would be. It’s one I always had on my list. There were a lot of cheers, and the booers, you get to go home crying,” Busch said 15 years ago after winning the Oxford 250.

Those who got to know Busch during his trips to Maine remembered him as a fierce competitor who was dedicated to giving his best effort no matter the race.

“He took these races very serious. He came to win,” said Steve Perry, who owned the cars Busch drove in the Oxford 250 in 2005 and 2006.

After taking those initial spins around the track as Rowe’s passenger, Busch tested the car he’d be driving. Perry and Rowe noticed he wasn’t running the race groove, and in a break told Busch that. Turns out, Busch had paid attention earlier and was formulating his plan for the race.

“He said to us, ‘Didn’t you guys tell me the outside groove this year isn’t really working because of the new pavement? This is the way you’re going to pass cars today, on the bottom,'” Perry said.

Rowe, Busch’s teammate for the weekend, won the Oxford 250 that year. A miscue during Busch’s final pit stop led to a loose lug nut getting in his brake calipers and causing him trouble down the stretch. Had that not happened, Perry has no doubt Busch would’ve won the race. Busch returned the next year, and mechanical issues and a crash kept him out of Victory Lane.

Busch returned to the race in 2011 and won it. Austin Theriault was an up-and-coming a 17-year-old driver and got to spend time before the race with Busch. What stuck with Theriault was how dedicated Busch was to every little detail. Busch didn’t just show up and drive the car. He got under it and worked on it alongside his crew.

“After that, I personally started to take that way more seriously,” said Theriault, who entered politics when his racing days were complete, serving in the Maine House and running for Congress in 2024. “I started optimizing my car the same way I saw (Busch) do to his. It took me from being a driver who maybe just knew how to drive to being one who knows the ins and outs of the entire car.”

Another thing Theriault learned from Busch was you have to push the limits. That’s what made Busch a top driver, Theriault said.

“But you know, part of pushing the limit is sometimes you go over the limit,” Theriault said. “That taught me, too, you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable in the race car. If you’re always comfortable, you’re not going fast enough.”

Years after Busch’s debut at Oxford Plains Speedway, Perry and his daughter found a die-cast model of the car Busch drove in his first Oxford 250. Perry brought it along on a trip to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, thinking maybe he could get Busch to sign it.

Perry waited in a throng of autograph seekers. When he got the chance, he held out the car to Busch. The now-veteran driver stopped, looked at the car, and looked up to see who could possibly be holding it. He lit up.

“‘Hey Perry!'” Perry said, recalling the moment. It was obvious Oxford Plains Speedway held fond memories for Busch.

“He loved that place, you know?” Perry said. “Loved it.”