MADISON, Ill. - Short-track racing has been the strength of Warsaw-based ML Motorsports and 23-year-old Greenwood driver Shelby Howard.
That trend continued Saturday, as Howard piloted Mary Louise Miller's and Stephany Mullen's No. 70 Chevy to a 13th-place finish in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway.Kyle Busch scored his sixth Nationwide Series win of the season, while Reed Sorenson, Carl Edwards, Mike Bliss and Brad Coleman rounded out the top five.
Stephen Leicht finished sixth, followed in the top 10 by Michael Annett, Brad Keselowski, Jason Keller and Erik Darnell.
Saturday's race was a homecoming for ML Motorsports Team President Ed Mullen, who grew up in St. Louis and later met his wife while he was a standout baseball player at Missouri Valley College.
This weekend will be a homecoming for the team and Howard, as the Nationwide Series steers for O'Reilly Raceway Park near Indianapolis.
ML Motorsports is Indiana's only NASCAR team.
Running a part-time schedule, Howard and ML Motorsports have teamed up for nine Nationwide Series event this season. Saturday's 13th-place finish was their fourth top-15 effort of the season.
Howard has also finished 12th and 14th in a pair of races at Nashville Superspeedway and 13th at Richmond.
Fans will be able to meet Howard Wednesday at Lakeside Chevrolet in Warsaw, where he will be signing autographs from 4-6 p.m. The team's transporter and one of its racecars will also be on display.
ML Motorsports and Lakeside Chevrolet are also joining forces to help Combined Community Services collect school supplies. The first 25 fans to bring a backpack to the dealership Wednesday will receive an ML Motorsports hat.
