OXFORD — The front was no place to be Saturday night. Even after the checkered flag flew, DJ Shaw still wasn’t sure it was where he wanted to be.

“I’m in a bad mood at the moment for a win,” said Shaw, of Center Conway, N.H.

Shaw spun leader Joey Doiron out of the way with 11 laps remaining, inheriting the top spot and the win in the Spencer Paving Group 150 at Oxford Plains Speedway. It was the third win of the season for the five-time Pro All Stars Series champion, but it was clearly his least favorite.

“I thought I crossed him over and thought I had the lane,” Shaw said of the incident in turn three. “I guess we just came together there. He didn’t give way, and it was for the lead. I should have been more ready. I just hate it.”

Doiron, who rocketed to the front from the outside of the front row on a lap 96 restart, finished 21st in the 32-car field after the spin.

Following the race, he was still processing what had transpired.

“DJ’s one of my best friends, so I don’t really want to say something if it’s not true,” Doiron said. “Looking back at it, even if he got a run inside of me, I thought he could have a least given me a lift to catch it. He was going to get by me if he got me off the bottom.

“It just seemed like he lifted when he lifted for the corner, and I didn’t really have any chance to hold onto it.”

After collecting some left-front damage when clipped by a spinning car early in the race, Doiron wasn’t sure he’d have had enough to win even if there had been no contact between he and Shaw.

“From then on out, I was shocked we even had a shot to contend,” said Doiron, who won a Granite State Pro Stock Series race Friday night in Claremont, N.H. “The car was not the same. We were super, super tight. We still had a good car in the long run.”

Pittston native Ben Ashline — who had himself been granted the lead when an electrical malfunction stopped polesitter Trevor Sanborn’s car after leading the first 95 laps — finished second. Gabe Brown, Max Cookson and Johnny Clark completed the top five.

Shaw started 12th in the final tuneup ahead of the 49th annual Oxford 250 on Aug. 28. Making just his second start in a brand new race car, he rallied to the front after being dragged as low as 18th in the running order by a slow car ahead of him in the outside lane.

“It took a while to recover,” Shaw said. “I had a really good car. I think it was the best car, and I got the team what it deserved. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”

For Ashline, it was a productive night. In 2019, Ashline won a 100-lap qualifying race to earn a starting spot in the Oxford 250 that season. Saturday’s runner-up run was similar to that in that it gave the team some confidence heading into the biggest race of the season in two weeks.

“It’s good momentum into the 250, but it’s a totally different ballgame,” Ashline said. “The first goal is still to qualify for it.”

Dave Farrington Jr., Jimmy Renfrew, Dan Winter, Joey Polewarczyk and Ryan Kuhn finished sixth through 10th, respectively.

Making his first start of the season, Turner’s Mike Rowe appeared poised to have a shot at extending his career wins record at Oxford after driving from 17th to fifth. His bid for win No. 153 ended with a flat tire 20 laps from the finish.

Rowe ended up 12th.