For the last five years, Shelby Howard has tried to put together a deal with ML Motorsports.
Things finally fell in place this week, as the 23-year-old driver from Greenwood and the Warsaw-based stock car team announced they will pair up in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this season for 19 races."We've been close to a deal for a while," said Howard, who was at the team's 40,000-square-foot shop Thursday afternoon. "They've got a top-notch program here and I'm very excited to be driving their car. I see a lot of potential here with ML Motorsports, and I really wanted to be a part of it. We've been talking on and off for the last five years or so. We finally got something put together. I'm very excited about it."
Howard's first race behind the wheel of Mary Louise Miller's No. 70 Chevy will be the O'Reilly 300 on April 4 at Texas Motor Speedway.
"I've tested there a couple times and I've raced there twice in the Truck Series," Howard said of the 1.5-mile track in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. "There's plenty of room to pass and it's a very fast track. I'm very excited about going there with these guys."
Howard replaces Mark Green, who drove 30 races for ML Motorsports, highlighted by a fifth-place finish at Talladega last spring.
The following week, Green sat atop the speed charts in practice at Richmond International Raceway and qualified fourth.
In the last three Nationwide Series races ML Motorsports has attempted, however, Green has qualified just once.
Green failed to qualify for the season-finale last year at Homestead, as well as last weekend's event at Bristol.
Green and ML Motorsports competed in one race together this year, qualifying 31st and finishing 18th in the season opener at Daytona.
"Mark (Green) has been around the series for 25 years and has a lot of knowledge," said ML Motorsports Team Manager Tony Barnes. "He really helped our program out, but we felt it was time to move on. Every body is really excited about the change, and we're excited to have Shelby Howard in our car."
The management at ML Motorsports has prided itself on being a hometown, family-oriented team.
They kept the shop in Warsaw, as opposed to relocating in the Charlotte, N.C. area.
The team is comprised of a number of Kosciusko County residents.
And now, Indiana's only Nationwide Series team has an Indiana driver.
"We're very excited to have an Indiana driver, especially one of Shelby Howard's caliber," said ML Motorsports Team President Ed Mullen. "With Brian Ross and Chad Blount, we had a lot of success in ARCA when we had Indiana drivers. We're very excited about this opportunity with Shelby Howard."
Ross drove for ML Motorsports in 2000 and was the ARCA Rookie of the Year, while Blount drove 12 ARCA races for the team in 2005, winning four races.
Ross is the crew chief for ML Motorsports, and is very familiar with Howard, having competed against him in the Kendall Late Model Series, as well as the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series.
"He's been racing quite a long time for his age," Ross said of Howard. "I raced against him in the Kendall Series and in the Hooters Pro Cup Series. He's quite a little racer. Shelby will take care of the equipment, he's not gonna get us in trouble there. He's the type of kid that races smart and clean. I'm looking forward to going racing with him."
Howard's racing career began in 1996 when he was 9 years old.
He has driven Junior Sprints on dirt, the ARCA RE/MAX Series, the Hooters Pro Cup Series for a team owned by Tony Stewart, the Nationwide Series and NASCAR's Truck Series for Bill Davis Racing.
"It started out as just a hobby," said Howard. "It was a way of having fun."
In 2000, Howard won his first Jasper Modified race at Winchester Speedway, becoming the youngest driver since Jeff Gordon to win a race in that series.
Howard is also the youngest driver to compete in the ARCA RE/Max Series, making his first start in 2001 at the age of 16.
When he was 17, Howard became the youngest driver in ARCA to win a race.
What was once his hobby has turned into a way of life.
And now Howard is focused on building strong relationships with his new team and being a success in the Nationwide Series with ML Motorsports.
"They've got a great group of guys here," said Howard. "They've had the same guys working here for a long time, and they work very well together. That's very important in this sport. I'm really excited about this opportunity."
