A new face, albeit a familiar one to local race fans, is joining the Warsaw-based ML Motorsports NASCAR Nationwide Series team. David Stremme, who was born in South Bend and grew up racing at short tracks like New Paris Speedway and Plymouth Speedway before moving to the center of the stock car world in North Carolina, will be behind the wheel of Mary Louise Miller’s No. 70 Chevy beginning April 23 at Nashville Superspeedway. The 33-year-old Stremme replaces Greenwood native Shelby Howard, who drove in 43 races for ML Motorsports, including five this season. Howard finished 22nd in the season opener at Daytona in February, followed by finishes of 28th at Phoenix, 29th at Las Vegas, 27th at Bristol and 30th earlier this month at Texas. Howard had a career-best finish of 12th while driving for ML Motorsports, doing so at Gateway, Iowa, Nashville and Memphis in previous seasons. Tuesday afternoon at the team’s shop, ML Motorsports President Ed Mullen said it was a mutual agreement between the team and Howard to part ways. Stremme, the 2003 Nationwide Series Rookie of the Year, brings plenty of experience to ML Motorsports. Stremme has 119 Sprint Cup Series starts to his credit, as well as 133 starts in the Nationwide Series. In the Nationwide Series, Stremme has driven to 20 top-five finishes and 49 top-10 finishes. Stremme made his first Nationwide Series start at Nashville Superspeedway – the very track at which he will make his ML Motorsports debut – in 2003. He qualified 15th for that race and finished seventh.
