DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY RACE PREVIEW
Michael Annett • No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang
Annett has seven career starts in the Nationwide Series at Dover
Annett enters this weekend’s event in sixth place in the Nationwide point standings
Annett’s best finish (11th) at “The Monster Mile” came earlier this season
Michael Annett on Going to Dover: “I enjoy visiting ‘Miles the Monster.’ Dover is a fun little short track and it’s fast. I like short-track racing and Dover fits my driving style. The short tracks always make for exciting racing with a lot of beating and banging. We are going to have to focus on keeping all the fenders on our Pilot Flying J Ford and coming home with a good finish. We are so close to a win this season and I still feel like we’ve got a shot before the year is over. We’ve really improved our qualifying effort the past two weeks and that ‘s been a big step in the right direction for us. The closer we can start to the front of the field, the less ground we have to make up during the race, and that gives us a better shot at winning. My team works really hard every week to give me the best car they can and I’m just looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the No. 43 this weekend to see what kind of car I’ve got.“
Crew Chief Philippe Lopez’s Thoughts on “The Monster Mile”: It’s going to be important that we keep our momentum going this weekend in Dover. We’ve had a bunch of top-10 finishes here lately and we need to convert those into top-five finishes. One of the biggest challenges we will face this weekend at the ‘Monster Mile’ is being able to keep the car’s momentum going as we travel up the high banking of the track. The banking really compresses the car and sometimes the adjustments we need to make to keep the car off the track are not good for the handling. All in all Dover is a fun track, we are just going to have to be really careful that we keep the fenders intact and don’t get caught up in someone else’s mess. Michael ran well in Bristol earlier this year and we are taking that same Pilot Flying J Ford to Delaware this weekend, so we should be in good shape.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM NASCAR Nationwide Series team has prepared chassis No. 621 for the 200-lap race at Dover. This Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang was run previously this season at Bristol and Dover.
Notes: Annett has seven NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at Dover International Speedway. His best finish (11th) came earlier this season and his best start (11th) came in 2010 at the one-mile track. Annett heads to Dover in the sixth position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings. The Iowa native has completed 1,407 of 1,414 laps attempted at the track, leading one of them. His average start is 26.6 and his average finish is 15.0.
Last Saturday night’s seventh-place finish at Kentucky Speedway marked Annett’s fifth-consecutive top-10 finish. His fifth-place starting spot also marked his season-best qualifying effort.
Looking for a Pilot or Flying J store near Dover? There are six Pilot or Flying J stores within 100 miles of Dover International Speedway. The nearest store is 43 miles away from the race track. (Flying J (I-95 Exit 109A) 221 Belle Hill Rd., Elkton, MD, 21921.) There are 36 stores within 250 miles of the track. Go to http://www.pilotflyingj.com/locations to find the nearest locations.
Can’t get enough of Annett? Tune into Sirius XM Radio on Channel 90, Saturday, at 9 a.m. ET for “The Morning Drive” to listen to Michael talk about the upcoming race weekend at Dover International Speedway.
Race Information
Track: Dover International Speedway
Laps: 200 Laps/200 Miles
Track Size: One-Mile
TV Information: 3 p.m. ET on ESPN2
Radio Information: 3 p.m. ET on MRN
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