BUFFALO TWP — Chasing points was not part of the plan for the Carl Bowser racing team this season.

Turns out, it's giving them something to do.

Bowser, 32, is in his 15th year of Sprint car racing. He won Lernerville Speedway points championships in 2011 and 2014.

“I'm usually not into going after points,” the Freeport graduate said of his purpose on the track these days. “We like to travel, go after some money.

“But this is a different year. There aren't too many places to go.”

Bowser's crew chief, Jeff Swartzlander, is also his father-in-law. The brother of legendary Modified driver Brian Swartzlander, Jeff was part of his brother's pit crew for years.

This is his fifth year running Bowser's program.

“It's a challenge going from working on a Modified to a Sprint,” Swartzlander said. “But he (Bowser) is my son-in-law and I want to see him win.”

Winning is something Bowser's done plenty of.

He has a feature win this season at Lernerville — his 27th, tying him with Ralph Spithaler for ninth on the track's all-time Sprint list — and owns a feature win at Tri-City Raceway Park in Franklin.

Friday night marked the first of six consecutive Fab 4 racing nights at Lernerville. Bowser has an 18-point lead in Sprint points over A.J. Flick.

He is in the early hunt for the points title at Tri-City as well.

“We're trying to win them both,” Bowser said. “Saturday nights, we're all over the place, running different tracks in the area. But we'll be here every Friday and at Tri-City on Sundays.”

When the Bowser race team was plotting its schedule in the preseason, it figured to do some traveling.

“We had 68 races on the schedule,” Swartzlander said. “By the time the season got started, we were down to 30.

“I'm not a big fan of going after points. You don't get a whole lot out of it. But that pretty much has to be our focus this year.”

The Bowser team has a new No. 11 car it is debuting this season. The idea was to have it broken in and figured out in time for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup World of Outlaws race at Lernerville recently.

That didn't work out.

“We waited too long to get the car out,” Swartzlander said. “We didn't get enough laps on the car going into that Outlaws race.

“The car is lighter than our other one. It takes some getting used to. Over the past week or so, we feel like we've got it honed in, figured out. We're anticipating a nice stretch coming up.”

When Bowser's not racing, he's not far from Lernerville. And he's still involved in racing.

Bowser works for Precise Racing — located a mile down the road from the speedway — and helps other dirt track drivers maintain their cars there.

“It's a racing parts store, but we do give advice and help out drivers with their race programs there,” Bowser said. “There's four cars I help out with, lending advice, offering suggestions.

“They're basically younger, less-experienced drivers.”

The car he's most involved with is Jeremy Hill's No. 14 Sprint car. Hill, of Donegal, is looking for his first career heat race win and top-five feature finish.

Bowser helps work on the car, keeps it at the shop and brings it to Lernerville on Friday nights.

“Having a guy with Carl's experience and knowledge working with us has been a big help,” Hill said. “He knows a lot about Sprint racing and he's making a big difference in our program.”

Hill was named Lernerville's Most Improved Driver in the Sprint division last year. He finished eighth in points.

“Jeremy winning that award meant a lot to us,” Bowser said. “It made me feel like we're doing some good for him. He's getting better and better.”

As is Bowser.

“But so is this (Sprint) division,” Bowser said. “There's six to eight cars here that can win on any night. We've had four different winners (Bowser, Michael Bauer, Jack Sodeman Jr., Flick) in the first four features this year.

“It's a competitive field. We need to keep improving if we're going to win.”

LERNERVILLE SPEEDWAY POINTS STANDINGS

(top 10 through July 31)

Sprints

Carl Bowser 142, A.J. Flick 124, Brandon Spithaler 119, Brandon Matus 116, Brent Matus 113, Dan Kuriger 110, Jack Sodeman Jr. 109, Dan Shetler 104, John Garvin Jr. 91, Michael Bauer 83

Late Models

Colton Flinner 104, Tyler Dietz 93, Will Thomas 80, Ken Schaltenbrand 72, Gary Lyle 70, Clate Copeman 66, Tommy Beck 63, Kelvin Kohan 62, Mike Miller 62, Jayme Beck 60

Modifieds

Garrett Krummert 140, John Mollick 128, Brian Swartzlander 128, Rex King Jr. 122, Dave Murdick 121, Jeremiah Shingledecker 111, Rex King 99, Steve Feder 95, Colton Walters 93, Tom Glenn 91

Pro Stocks

Tyler Dietz 179, Corey McPherson 170, Mike Miller 167, Joey Zambotti 155, Joe Kelley 116, Brett McDonald 111, Jason Fosnaught 107, Mike Bordt 100, Noah Brunell 94, Douglas Eck 93