ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa.: Gerard McIntyre Jr. wasn’t pleased with how he, along with his team, started off the 2019 Sprint Car season.

So, a change was in order for 2020. Instead of jumping into the Ollie’s Bargain All Star Circuit of Champions season in April, McIntyre wanted to shake off the rust and get a few laps under his belt.

The perfect place to do that was at his hometown track, Lincoln Speedway. And not only did McIntyre make quality laps on a sun-soaked Sunday afternoon, he came away with a respectable fifth-place showing.

“Last year, we kind of started late, and I think it kind of hurt us at the beginning of the year,” McIntyre said. “If you get off to a rough start, it kind of sets the tone for how the whole year is going to go.

“This is my home track. I wanted to get down here last week, but we had some truck problems, and I couldn’t make it. So, Mark [Coldren] gave me the OK to come down, and we basically put a couple of tires and fuel in [the trailer] and came down. We don’t have everything we normally do, but I wanted to try some stuff and see how the car was going to be.”

Continued McIntyre, “This race doesn’t really mean anything to us. We are just trying to shake the rust off, and all and all, it was a good night. We got some money back, and we will move on to the next week or whenever we come back.”

It might be sooner rather than later. Especially with plenty of dates on tap in central Pennsylvania before the All Star season gets back underway.

McIntyre and Co. made some tweaks coming into this year. The 29-year-old driver went back to Triple X Chassis and instituted a couple of other changes, including his dad turning the wrenches, to gain speed and be more competitive.

It worked Sunday. McIntyre wasn’t quite as fast as Brian Montieth, Danny Dietrich, or eventual winner Dylan Cisney, but he was quick enough to run in the top five throughout the 25-lap affair.

“It’s not bad,” McIntyre said. “I’m a little disappointed, because I feel like I had a shot. I just got going there, and my tires went away. I rolled my wing back to get some drive, and I ended up getting too tight in four.

“I knew I was a sitting duck, at that point, especially when you’ve got Brian Montieth and Danny behind you. They slid me, and that was the end of that.”

McIntyre could’ve forced the issue on Cisney after Montieth gave up the lead on Lap 14 by doing a 360 in Turn 2. But, the former Lincoln regular wasn’t about to bend his car up at a race that didn’t matter.

Instead, McIntyre is looking at the big picture. The real season begins when the calendar flips over to April, and the All Star season gets into full swing.

“This car feels really good,” McIntyre said. “We have another one in the shop and hope it feels the same. We lost our crew chief at the end of last year, and we kind of struggled. We didn’t know what we had or who was doing what.

“This year, we are more organized with the parts in our trailer. Mark has done a good job giving us what we need to go the whole year, and we just need to stay organized, stay focused, and get a couple of good runs here at the beginning of the year to keep us on the right track.”

So, McIntyre settled. And even though he didn’t get a victory, he showed that the team is heading in the right direction heading into what will be a grueling season on the road.

“The last two years, we had the stuff in place to do what we needed to do,” said McIntyre, who is headed into his second full-time season with the All Stars.

“I do feel good this year. I think I have the stuff we need to run the way we think we can. I think tonight we showed that. We could’ve been a little better, but I think we will be alright.”

MONTIETH’S MISSTEP: Brian Montieth appeared to have Sunday’s Lincoln Speedway in the bag with just over 10 laps to go in the main event.

Things changed on Lap 14, when Montieth was trying to make something happen in lapped traffic. He got into the left rear of Tim Glatfelter and did a 360 at the exit of Turn 2. Montieth fell back to sixth in the running order, but no caution came out.

Montieth admitted to, “getting rammy” and charged back through the top five. He got back to third and battled Danny Dietrich for the runner-up position before finishing third.

SOLID CAR COUNT: It was a bit chilly Sunday afternoon, but 31 cars checked into the Lincoln Speedway pit area for the second race of the season.

There were 30 cars last week. Trey Hivner, Lucas Wolfe, Gerard McIntyre Jr., and Zach Hampton were making their first appearances of the season. Adam Wilt, Landon Myers, and Bradley Howard were no-shows from Week 1.

SPEAKING OF WOLFE: Lucas Wolfe was back behind the wheel of the Michael Barshinger No. 24 after missing last week’s Icebreaker 30 because of his racing commitments in Australia.

It wasn’t a bad outing for Wolfe and his team. After finishing fourth in the second heat race, he started 11th in the A-Main and got up to eighth in the final rundown.

SCHUCHART’S DAY CUT SHORT: A week ago, Logan Schuchart had a respectable second-place run in the Icebreaker 30 at Lincoln Speedway.

Things didn’t go as well Sunday. Schuchart started eighth in the opening heat race and got up to seventh before rolling to a stop on Lap 7.

Schuchart suffered a broken rocker. He didn’t return for the consolation and scratched from afternoon competition.