HOWARD, TEAM 70 FINISH 23rd

West Allis, WI - Short-track racing continued to be the success of the season Saturday night at The Milwaukee Mile for Shelby Howard and ML Motorsports. Driving the No. 70 Biomet/Foretravel Motorcoach Chevy owned by Mary Louise Miller and Stephany Mullen, Howard qualified 17th and finished 23rd in the NorthernTool.com 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.

In seven starts this season for the Warsaw-based team, Howard's best finishes have come at tracks less than a mile and a half in length. To go with his top-25 finish Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile, the Greenwood, Indiana native has finished 12th and 14th at Nashville Superspeedway and 13th at Richmond International Raceway.

Carl Edwards won Saturday's 250-lap event, followed in the top five by Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Erik Darnell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Next on the schedule for Howard and Team 70 is the July 10 event at Chicagoland Speedway.

TRACK UPDATE:

QUALIFYING:

West Allis, WI - Howard will start from the 17th position based on a qualifying laptime of 29.973 seconds (120.108 mph). 

Erik Darnell will start from the pole followed by Brad Coleman, Brendan Gaughan, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., and Brad Keselowski. The remaining top ten qualifiers are Stephen Leicht, Scott Wimmer, Jason Leffler, Trevor Bayne, and Johnny Sauter.

FINAL PRACTICE:

West Allis, WI - Howard posted a quick laptime of 30.28 seconds (118.906 mph) showing him 20th quick after final practice. Brad Coleman was fastest followed by Trevor Bayne, Scott Wimmer, Brendan Gaughan, and Ron Hornaday, Jr. Rounding out the top ten fastest drivers are Jason Leffler, Kenny Walace, Colin Braun, Jason Keller, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

FIRST PRACTICE:

West Allis, WI - Howard was 22nd in the first practice session at the Milwaukee Mile with a laptime of 30.42 seconds (118.343 mph). Jason Leffler was quickest followed by Brad Coleman, Ron Hornaday, Eric Darnell, and Stephen Leicht. Scott Wimmer, Aric Almirola, Jason Keller, Kyle Busch, and Mike Bliss round out the top ten quickest in the first practice.

MILWAUKEE PREVIEW

WARSAW, Ind. - Twenty-three year-old Shelby Howard would love nothing more than to celebrate Father’s Day weekend with a win. And he’d also love nothing more than for this Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Camping World RV Rental 250 at The Milwaukee Mile to be the first win for the mother-daughter ownership team of Mary Louise Miller and Stephany Mullen.

The Warsaw, Indiana-based ML Motorsports team enters this weekend’s event at the historic Milwaukee State Fairgrounds after a bit of a milestone in last week’s race at Kentucky, having competed in franchise’s 50th career Nationwide Series race. Running partial schedules now for four years, ML Motorsports has competed in 50 races with three different drivers.

In his six starts with the team, the Greenwood, Indiana native has a trio of top 15 finishes to his credit, having finished 12th and 14th at Nashville Superspeedway and 13th at Richmond International Raceway. Those three top 15s came at tracks under a mile-and-a-half in distance.

Like most NASCAR drivers, Howard cut his teeth in short-track racing, and the team is certainly excited about this weekend’s battle on Milwaukee’s one-mile oval. In two previous starts at The Milwaukee Mile, ML Motorsports posted finishes of 21st in 2007 and 13th in 2008.

Maybe the third trip to Milwaukee will be the charm for the team. Howard certainly hopes so.

photo courtesy of Jeff Nycz, Mid-South Images