Howard finishes 33rd at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Howard will start 12th at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Final Practice

Homestead, FL - Howard's quickest lap time was 32.828 seconds (164.494 mph) during the final practice session at Homestead- Miami Speedway which again put him 26th on the leaderboard.

Quickest on the board was Carl Edwards followed by Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Scott Speed in the top five.

Qualifying will be broadcast live on Speed TV at 11:30 with the race scheduled to broadcast at 4:30 pm on ESPN2 Saturday, November 22nd.

First Practice

Homestead, FL - Howard ran a lap time of 33.10 seconds (163.117 mph) in the #70 Chevrolet during the first practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway which puts him 26th quickest on the board.

Jeff Burton was quickest followed in the top five by Carol Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Scott Speed, and Kyle Busch.  

Homestead-Miami Speedway

WARSAW, Ind. - Shelby Howard and ML Motorsports are departing chilly northern Indiana and headed for sunny south Florida in hopes of a strong finish to the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season.

Howard and Team 70 are scheduled to compete in their 17th NNS race of the season Saturday in the Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Since taking over the wheel of the No. 70 Biomet/Foretravel Motorcoach Chevrolet, Howard and the Warsaw, Indiana-based team have continued to improve its program. In 16 NNS races, Howard has an average starting position of 25th and an average finishing position of 21st. Howard and Team 70's best finishes of the season came at Nashville and Memphis, where they finished 12th. The talented 24-year-old driver from Greenwood, Indiana and ML Motorsports also finished 13th at both Richmond and Gateway and 14th at Nashville.

Not only would the team like to finish the 2009 season on a good note, but also take some momentum into the 2010 season.

Howard and ML Motorsports are tentatively planning to run 22 Nationwide Series events together next season.

TEAM 70 FOCUSED ON STRONG FINISH TO 2009 SEASON

Shelby Howard and ML Motorsports are committed to a strong final stretch of the season. Scheduled to run 20 Nationwide races this season, Team 70 has qualified for 11 races, with a best-finish of 12th at Nashville by Howard.

Howard and Team 70 are scheduled for six more NNS races during 2009, with the next being September 5th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. When the team rolls into the Peach State, it will be trying to qualify for its first race under new crew chief Chris Rice.

Rice, who has previously worked with Howard in the Truck Series and Hooters ProCup Series, replaces Brian Ross. Ross will still work for ML Motorsports, but will also continue his own driving career.

Following the race at Atlanta, Team 70 is also scheduled to compete at Richmond, Kansas, Memphis, Texas and Homestead.