 After a four-year absence from the Verizon IndyCar Series, Howard made his return to the series during the 101st running of the Indy 500 in a car financed by Tony Stewart and Sam Schmidt.Jay returned to Sam Schmidt Motorsports and competed in the 2018 Indy 500 for the second consecutive time in the race and for the team.In 2012, Howard founded Jay Howard's Motorsports Driver Development (MDD) in hopes of creating a unique program capable of taking drivers from karts to cars and then up the motorsports ladder.