TALLADEGA, Ala. - Like a number of drivers and crew chiefs, ML Motorsports Team Manager Tony Barnes is opposed to restrictor-plate racing.
"I hate plate-racing," Barnes said of NASCAR races at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway where power-sapping restrictor plates are put on the engines, and where drivers race in two- and three-wide packs the majority of the event."When we go to Daytona or come here to Talladega, you just hope you can survive," Barnes added. "Luckily we survived today."
Greenwood native Shelby Howard, making his third start for the Warsaw-based Nationwide Series team, qualified 26th and finished 27th in Saturday's Aaron's 312 at Talladega.
Howard had competed at the high-banked, 2.66-mile oval twice in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and once in the NASCAR Truck Series.
In his first Nationwide Series start at the widely-popular track, the 23-year-old was able to steer clear of any major accidents and "survived" as Barnes said.
"We didn't get caught up in anyone's mess, and Shelby brought the car home in one piece," said Barnes. "That's a good day at Talladega."
Other drivers weren't as fortunate. Like Matt Kenseth, whose car flipped down the backstretch, slid on its roof and caught fire after teammate David Ragan made contact with him.
Ragan went on to win the race, making a thrilling last-lap pass to take the checkered flag in his No. 6 Roush-Fenway Racing Ford.
South Bend native Ryan Newman finished second, followed in the top five by Joey Logano, LaPorte native Tony Raines and fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jason Leffler finished sixth, while Jason Keller, Scott Lagasse Jr., Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
"The first half of the race, we were just riding around, waiting until the end," said ML Motorsports crew chief Brian Ross. "Late in the race we picked up a vibration. We bolted a new set of tires on it, but we couldn't get rid of the vibration and Shelby did a great job hanging on and staying out of trouble. He'd never been here in a Nationwide car before. He did a pretty good job. You never know how things are going to turn out here, and Shelby did a great job staying out of trouble. We just need to get ready to go to the next one."
Next on the schedule for Howard and ML Motorsports is a short-track battle Friday night at Richmond International Raceway.
Short-track racing is where Ross thinks Howard and the team will fare the best, and there's a certain excitment heading into the race this week and for the July race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis.
"Shelby's got a lot of experience at places like ORP," said Ross. "And I think we've got a pretty good package for Richmond. It's a fun race track, and it's under the lights, the way racing should be."
For last year's spring race at Richmond, Mary Louise Miller's No. 70 Chevy turned the fastest lap time in practice and then qualified fourth.
Notes: Indiana natives Newman, Raines and Howard weren't the only Hoosiers involved in Saturday's Nationwide Series race. Warsaw Community High School graduate Todd Clem, more commonly known as radio personality Bubba The Love Sponge, was the race's Grand Marshal. Clem greeted drivers during introductions and then gave the command to start engines. Prior to the start of the race, Clem visited in the garage area with members of the ML Motorsports team.
