Howard, ML Motorsports Qualifies For Race In Texas
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Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
FORT WORTH, Texas - Shelby Howard said he's never gone to the track worried about not making the race.
The confident 23-year-old from Greenwood certainly didn't disappointment his new team Thursday, qualifying the ML Motorsports No. 70 Chevy 27th for Saturday's O'Reilly 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
"I'm definitely happy for every body," said Howard, who was hired last week after the team released Mark Green. "These guys put in a lot of hard work to get this thing ready. We weren't that great when we unloaded, but they got it good enough to get it in the show."
Howard was the 48th of 49 cars to attempt qualify for the 43-car field and circled the 1.5-mile track in 29.595 seconds, a speed of 182.463 miles per hour.
Thursday's qualifying runs were dominated by Sprint Cup Series drivers, as Kyle Busch took the top spot. He will be joined in the front row by Matt Kenseth. Paul Menard, David Ragan and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five.
Not only was it Howard's first qualifying attempt in a car prepared by the Warsaw-based team, strong winds were certainly another element the teams had to deal with.
"We're very excited," said ML Motorsports Team President Ed Mullen. "For Shelby to be in one of our cars for the first time, and the fact that he had to deal with this wind and qualified in against such a strong field, we're very excited to have Shelby Howard in our car."
Carl Edwards, Terry Cook, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano qualified sixth through 10th.
During Thursday's first and second practice sessions, Howard struggled to find speed, finishing 35th and 37th, respectively.
When it came time for the two-lap qualifying session, however, and it was either go faster or go home, Howard accelerated his way into the field.
"Shelby did a great job today," said ML Motorsports crew chief Brian Ross. "We've had trouble at these mile-and-a-half tracks. He gave us good feedback and made a heck of a qualifying run. He did a great job for this being the first time we've worked together."
Saturday's race will air live on ESPN2 at 2:30 p.m.
