By alley - Feb 11, 2017, 2:42 PM ET

Howard linked to Tony Stewart Indy 500 entry

Above: Jay Howard after qualifying for the 2011 Indy 500.

Open-wheel veteran Jay Howard could be in the frame for a seat at the Indy 500 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Sources have placed Howard in the third Honda-powered SPM seat

sponsored by the Tony Stewart Foundation

for the 101st running of the Indy 500; team co-owner Sam Schmidt said Howard was "definitely on the short list [of drivers] I submitted" when asked by RACER. Multiple calls to Howard were not immediately returned.

A native of England, Howard has made two attempts to qualify for the Indy 500 and earned a place in the 2011 race driving an entry run in a partnership between Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and SPM. Howard's last IndyCar outings took place while driving for SPM at the Texas Motor Speedway doubleheader in 2011, and the ill-fated season finale at Las Vegas.

The 35-year-old, who won the 2006 Infiniti Pro Series championship while driving for Schmidt, has been close to making an Indy 500 return on multiple occasions since 2011. A partnership with Michael Shank Racing to contest the 2012 race was scuttled when MSR was unable to acquire a competitive engine, and in 2015, an alliance with Bryan Herta Autosport and Green1 Oil was announced, but the entry was eventually scrubbed when the company's sponsorship payments failed to appear. Despite the setbacks, Howard's determination to race at Indianapolis has never wavered.

In the years following his lone Indy 500 run, the Indiana-based veteran has concentrated on coaching and managing young drivers in everything from karts to the SCCA's United States F4 Championship.

If confirmed, Howard would partner with 2016 Indy 500 polesitter James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin in May. Beyond the long-running relationship between Howard and SPM, sponsor Tony Stewart has also been a fixture in the life of co-owner Sam Schmidt and has made numerous donations to the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation.