BUFFALO TWP— Step 1:Keep the car in one piece.

Step 2:Keep the car from getting lapped.

It's been a step-by-step process at Lernerville Speedway for second-year Sprint car driver Lindsay Enscoe of North Washington.

And Step 3 is coming.

"We only have a 660-horsepower engine in this car. Everyone else out there has 880-horsepower,"Enscoe said. "Next year, we'll have a new engine in the car and we won't have that disadvantage anymore.

"Even as it us, I'm feeling more comfortable in the car and I know I've gotten faster."

Enscoe, who turns 24 Tuesday, flipped her No. 96 car on her debut night in a Sprint last season. She spent seven years racing micro-sprints at Deerfield (Ohio)Raceway, winning a feature and the mid-season points championship there in 2006.

Her one victory that season remains her only career feature win in racing.

"I've won a few heat races along the way,"Enscoe said. "It was that 2006 season that convinced us I was ready to try a Sprint car. We knew it'd be a step-by-step process."

Enscoe's race team consists of her father Butch, older brother Ryan and family friend Troy Hughes.

"All I wanted to do last year was get the car around the track in one piece, not get wrecked or cause a wreck for someone else,"Enscoe said. "This year, I want a few top 15 finishes. I've already gotten one (14th).

And this year, she decided to hit the track with the World of Outlaws Sprint drivers for the first time. Enscoe made that debut Tuesday night at the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup event.

She had passed on competing with the Outlaws when the series appeared here in May.

"Lindsay wasn't as comfortable in the car then and the confidence wasn't there,"her father said. "She wanted to give it a try this time."

Enscoe started at the back of the field in a heat race Tuesday with all-time Lernerville Sprint feature victory leader Ed Lynch Jr. and all-time Outlaws win leader Steve Kinser.

She stayed at the back of the field, but never got lapped.

"I know it doesn't sound like much, but that was my goal,"Enscoe said. "I was out there with some of the fastest cars anywhere, with an inferior motor, and didn't get lapped.

"It was intimidating, being on the track with those guys, but last year, I don't even think about trying it. I know I'm coming along."

Enscoe recently turned her fastest lap in a Sprint car at 99.3 mph. When she's not racing, she's managing the Beer Garden, her family's business on Route 38.

Going to dirt track races with her father since she was 10, Enscoe always wanted to race. Her father always supported the idea.

"I think it's awesome and I think she can succeed at this,"Butch Enscoe said. "Not getting lapped by the Outlaws is a huge confidence boost for her."

Enscoe said she's followed the careers of former Sprint driver Erin Crocker, who moved on to the ARCAand NASCARCraftsman Truck Series, and IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, though not recently.

"I've been pretty involved with my own car," she said.

Enscoe had not talked with Sheila Rankin, the other regular female Sprint driver at Lernerville, until recently.

"They (Gary and Sheila Rankin) gave us a part we needed for the car,"she said. "They're very nice people.

"I'm in this for the long haul. My dream is to race with the Outlaw series, so why not come out here, line up with the best and see where you're at?"