Jordan Russell shows off the checkered flag after winning a Limiteds division heat race at Oxford Plains Speedway on May 26. Oriana Lovell photo

Winning one division championship in a season is hard enough at Oxford Plains Speedway, letting alone trying to win two. Still, Jordan Russell thought it was a challenge worth pursuing, and it might just pay off.

The Norway native is the rare driver double-dipping in divisions at Oxford Plains this season, racing in both the Limiteds and Street Stocks divisions.

“It’s a little bit unusual, there’s not anybody else that I know that does it that regularly at Oxford,” Russell said. “I know at Wiscassett Speedway, Josh St. Clair was running just about every division that they had at one point. I don’t know of anybody else that races at least every week, double duty every week.”

With four races left on the calendar, Russell is leading the points standings in Limiteds (1170) with a 28-point margin over Kyle Treadwell. In the Street Stocks division, Brandon Johnson holds a three-point lead over Russell, with Russell sitting at 1164 points. Russell has three feature wins in each division, including dual victories on May 25.

Jordan Russell celebrates in victory lane after winning the Street Stocks feature race at Oxford Plains Speedway on May 25. Oriana Lovell photo

Russell said the Street Stocks division is his favorite, as that’s where he’s found success on the track. He’s the defending champion in the division.

“They’re both really fun to drive,” Russell said. “I mean, really, when you’re driving a race car at all, it’s fun.”

The main difference between the two races is the build of the car, Russell said.

According to the Oxford Plains Speedway rule book, the Limiteds-eligible chassis can be “Any American branded, four passengers, V-8 front engine, rear wheel drive, full frame, or Uni-body car originally mass produced. Engine and body must be of the same manufacturer as the chassis used.” The rule book for Street Stocks states that races “are open to eligible 1972-2002 models of American made passenger production cars; 3rd & 4th Generation Camaro, Firebird, Mustang, Cougar, GM Metric, and Johnson Metric Chassis Models permitted.”

The tires also vary between the two vehicles.

“That’s the big difference in the car, the race itself, the cars are on a lot different tires so the cars drive a lot different,” Russell said. “It’s a little bit of an adjustment, going from one car to the other. You drive into the corner quite a bit deeper (in one car) than the other and they do drive quite a bit different.

“I enjoy that, I enjoy adapting to that and trying to figure out exactly what I need to do different in each car to have a good run.”

Russell also said he doesn’t focus too hard on the points he accumulates during the season, because he doesn’t want it to affect his performance. He added that with four races left to collect points this season, it’s still anyone’s season to win.

“People look at the top two guys when it comes down to a points battle,” Russell said. “They kind of overlook who’s lingering there, and all it takes is those top two guys having a bad night for that third guy to be able to capitalize on it. … You never know, it could be anybody’s game there at the end of the day.”

Jordan Russell (4) and Tyson Jordan (29) battle for position during Street Stocks action at Oxford Plains Speedway on June 16. Oriana Lovell photo

Sitting close to Johnson in the Street Stocks division is good competition, Russell said, especially after a bad finish earlier in the season. Russell said he had a week where he “got caught up in somebody else’s mishap and finished last,” whereas Johnson has consistently finished on the podium.

“I feel like when we haven’t won, or finished on the podium, we finished just outside of the top five,” Russell said. “We have that one night we finished last. … I don’t really consider anybody a rival; if Brandon won the championship, I would be 100% happy for him and I think he’s very deserving of that run.”

Russell added that in both championships, there’s at least eight drivers competing and able to win the feature race on any given weekend.

“Obviously, you’re going to have a good car, but a little bit of luck goes a long ways in that class (Limiteds),” Russell said. “I’ve had a couple of nights where we’ve had that luck on our side, so that division is really tough.”

Russell said he decided to also race Limiteds this season, because he wanted to further challenge himself, as he’s found repetitive success in the Street Stocks car.

Russell’s father, Johnny Russell, was the first in the family to try racing Street Stock cars in the early 2000s. Russell said (with a laugh) that his dad only raced a handful of times, and was not very good.

“I kind of stumbled into the racing world, because I always wanted to do it, but then I bought a race car and my first race car was a Street Stock, and I tried it and I was just instantly hooked right from day one,” Russell said. “I kind of got a later start to it, I think I started when I was 25 years old, so I started a lot later than probably most guys do.”

Russell said it took him a few years to figure out how to race, repair the car and master the racing techniques but he’s had several people helping him along the way. His automotive and mechanic experience started at Central Maine Community College, to study automative technology. He also worked at Lee Dodge for a few years, giving him more experience working on cars.

“It’s one of those deals where it took me a few years to figure out how to do it,” Russell said. “We had a few guys help us along the way, as far as trying to get the cars figured out, but for the last five or six years, I have essentially done all my own setup stuff. I continue to do that, basically, every week. I do all of my own maintenance and any repairs that the car might need, I typically do myself.”

Russell sports No. 4 on both cars. Four’s his favorite number, which he said he took from watching NASCAR great Kevin Harvick — who won the 2008 Oxford 250 at the track.

“Really long before he was in the (number) four I became a Kevin Harvick fan, when he was in the 29 car, and then when I started racing, he was in the four car and I just, I love it,” Russell said.

Looking at the season as a whole, Russell said he’s most proud of the team’s success during the race, working to quickly mitigate any mechanical issues in the pit area. One race that specifically came to mind for Russell was in the middle of the season, when he was racing with the Limiteds and he moved from the 12th position to seventh. After he worked his way up the grid, he got caught in the crossfire of a large pack and suffered several damages, including losing his brakes.

“I caught them when a wreck happened in front of me and I couldn’t avoid it, and I kind of tore the nose off of (the car),” Russell said. “So, I tore the car up pretty good and then doing that, I lost the brakes, broke a brake hose. The crew guys duct-taped the car back together and duct-taped the hood, the back on, and the car just looked mangled.”

Russell re-entered the track in last place after the collision and worked his way back for a seventh-place finish, which he called a feat after the damage his vehicle endured.

“It was such a huge team effort just to get back out there, when a lot of guys would have just thrown in the towel and finished 14th or 15th on the night,” Russell said. “We went out there and we made what could have been a really bad night a lot better by going out and still passing cars and finishing as good as we possibly could.”