Michael Annett on racing at Texas Motor Speedway: “I’m ready to get back to racing. After having two weeks off, I’m itching to get back in the driver’s seat of my Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang. I enjoy going to Texas Motor Speedway, it’s a fast 1.5-mile track and I led some laps there in both races last season. I can’t say enough about my crew, they have all worked really hard to give me good equipment each weekend and that’s one of the reasons we are sitting in the top-10 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series point standings. I’ll be in a car I haven’t raced in yet this year, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team has put together for me on this weekend.”
Crew Chief Philippe Lopez’s Thoughts on Racing in Texas: “I love going to Texas. I’m a native of a Lone Star State so I’m partial to Texas Motor Speedway, since I consider it my home track. It’s going to be important that the Pilot Flying J car qualifies well on Friday, since track position is key at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth track. We have had consistent top-15 finishes the past several weeks to put us in a good position in the point standings, so I’m confident going into this weekend we will get another stellar finish.
Lopez’s Thoughts on Michael’s Progress Thus Far: “I’ve been really impressed with Michael so far this season, he’s done a great job of racing and that’s the bottom line. He has done a phenomenal job of getting the car to the end of the race in great shape and not all torn up, thus allowing him to be fast late in the race. Michael has far exceeded my expectations to date, now we just have to concentrate on crossing ’t’s’ and dotting ’i’s’ to figure out what Michael needs to go fast other than a nice looking car at the end of the race.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM NASCAR Nationwide Series team has prepared chassis No. 648 for the 200-lap race at Texas Motor Speedway. This Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang is brand new to Richard Petty Motorsports this season.
Notes: Annett has six NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway. His best finish (11th) came in 2009 and his best start (18th) at the 1.5-mile track came in 2011. Annett heads to Texas in the seventh position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings. His average finish at the Fort Worth track is 17.5.
RPM
