Kiski Area grad Sye Lynch living dream running full time on All Star Circuit of Champions

In May, Sye Lynch got a phone call from Logan McCandless that provided him with an opportunity for which he’s been waiting.

McCandless Motorsports recently parted ways with full-time driver Parker Price-Miller and was in need of a replacement for their car in the All Star Circuit of Champions series.

Lynch agreed to take over, and since then, he has been traveling around and racing full time as a touring driver for the first time.

On Tuesday, Lynch, a Kiski Area grad, had an opportunity to come home and race at Lernerville Speedway for the first time this season for the $25,000-to-win Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup. The race ended too late for this edition.

“It’s always been my goal,” Lynch said about racing on the All Stars tour. “I feel like I’ve won at every track in Western Pa., and I’ve always said that there’s a very quick ceiling to hit here and you have to break out of it. I’m not saying you have to follow a tour by any means, but my team and I take a lot of pride in the fact that we go to the marquee events throughout the year and feel competitive when we go. We’re building and building every single time and when there’s a marquee event in Western Pa., we want to do well, but we also want to represent Western Pa. well.”

Lynch was eighth in the All-Stars points standings entering Tuesday.

This is the first year that McCandless Motorsports has committed to running the full All Stars tour. The team is based in Mercer County.

It’s also the first time Lynch has seen many of the tracks on the All-Stars tour, and it has been a positive learning experience.

“(Lernerville) is one of maybe five tracks that I’ve been to so far that we’ve been to this year with the 29,” Lynch said.

“It’s been good. It’s always nice to get out and get seat time in new places. For everyone involved, I think the goal is to build the notebook and get comfortable as fast as possible. The team has a new motor program, and there’s a lot of different variables here. We’re just coming together on a middle ground and erasing those variables to try and find consistent speed.”

Lynch entered the Silver Cup with momentum after qualifying for the Kings Royal feature Saturday at Eldora. He was running his family-owned 42 in that race because of prior sponsorship obligations.

He’s had success in the Silver Cup in the past. In 2021, when the race was sanctioned by the World of Outlaws, Lynch led the first 12 laps before Brad Sweet got by. He finished 15th that night but showed he had the speed to compete with the top teams.

Because of his schedule traveling with the All Stars, Lynch had not raced at Lernerville this year prior to Tuesday.

He still has a lot of home track knowledge and hoped to use that to his advantage to try to win a race his dad Ed Lynch Jr. won in 2002.

“Any other year, coming into the Silver Cup I would have raced at least seven to 10 times at Lernerville, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing,” Lynch said. “I’ve got seat time at other tracks, and I can come in here and treat it like another race. There isn’t as much pressure as I normally would put on myself any other year because I know I can win here. I’ve won high-paying shows here before. This one is a marquee one that I want to win, but I have a bit of a different mindset. We are still competing for points, and it’s a normal points night for the All Stars.”