NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: Rusty Wallace deserves phrase for his quick response to the Michael Annett situation

It’s a very safe bet to assume that Rusty Wallace had planned to spend last Sunday afternoon watching the Super Bowl along with the rest of his fellow Americans. Instead the former NASCAR champion, turned team owner and auto racing television broadcaster, found himself having to deal with some rather shocking news. That would be official notification regarding Michael Annett, his recently hired NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, who had been arrested for a quartet of charges including DWI, driving while intoxicated.

[media-credit name=”FMCM” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]According to reports from the Mooresville-North Carolina Police Department, as well as follow up reports from WCNC Channel 36 News in Charlotte, Annett was arrested following an auto accident that occurred sometime between 1:30 and 2 am last Sunday morning. An officer on the scene noticed Annett filling his mouth with a significant amount of breath mints and ordered a field sobriety test. The results of that tested turned up a blood alcohol count, (BAC), of .32 approximately four times the legal limit. The BAC limit for intoxication in North Carolina, like many other states, is .08.

According to the reports, Annett was alleged to have explained that the accident was caused while he was sending a text message on his cell phone. That resulted in additional citations for driving while texting as well as failure to reduce speed. The final charge was resisting arrest which allegedly stemmed from Annett’s initial refusal to be handcuffed by officers at the scene. He has been scheduled to appear in court sometime next month.

But one has to speculate that appearing before a judge pales in comparison to facing an angry Rusty Wallace. In a prepared team statement he said “Rusty Wallace Racing, (RWR), does not condone, nor tolerate, substance abuse by any of its employees.”

In fact, Wallace deserves high praise for his quick response by levying team sanctions on his new driver. Those sanctions include the successful completion of a comprehensive alcohol awareness program, a zero tolerance policy by Annett towards alcohol use and a mandatory participation in a year long community service program. Wallace also indicated that there was going to be additional “internal sanctions” against the errant driver but did not specify what those sanctions were going to be.

Wallace also noted that he was glad to see that Annett was not taking this incident lightly and truly believed that the public embarrassment that followed his arrest was a personal wake up call. Those sentiments were echoed in a prepared statement from the driver issued by RWR last Monday.

That statement said “I am deeply remorseful for my actions and my extreme lack of judgment. I let down my team, my sponsors, my fans and my family. I sincerely apologize to everyone that I hurt. This was truly a life changing moment for me. Despite all of the negativity that will undoubtedly arise from it, I am going to strive to use this incident as the impetus to make a lot of changes in my life.”

Whether or not Annett is going to face sanctions from NASCAR remains to be seen at this point in time. From a statement, issued last Monday, they said “NASCAR is in contact with Michael Annett’s owners at Rusty Wallace Racing to determine the facts of what happened. NASCAR will address the issue accordingly once we have a clear understanding of all the facts.”

Actually this incident is not the first time Annett found himself publicly apologizing for a moment of bad personal judgment while driving. Last Monday WCNC Channel 36 news produced a document, from the Charlotte area Department of Motor Vehicles, that indicated Annett triggered a three car accident, in July of last year that resulted in major damage to the vehicles as well as physical injury to one of the drivers. While this accident absolutely had nothing to do with alcohol, it was caused by Annett sending a text message while driving.

Last November 19th Michael Annett was practically jumping out of his driver’s uniform with joy. He had just been named to take over the wheel of RWR’s #62 Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Making the deal even sweeter was the fact that his long time sponsor, Pilot Travel Centers, was only too happy to make the move with their young driver.

The true shame of this matter is the fact that it somewhat negates Annett’s hard work over the past three years towards developing his racing career. The 24 year old Des Moines-Iowa native moved to the southeast where he joined the ARCA Racing Series in 2008. He made quick work there by winning two races including ARCA’s annual signature event at Daytona. The 2009 and 2010 seasons found Annett driving for Germain Racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series where he finished 10th and 13th in the points standings.

It was very easy to see how a young, up and coming, driver with his own sponsorship contract would attract the attention of a team owner like Rusty Wallace. Despite the team embarrassment, resulting from last Sunday morning, Wallace announced that he was going to allow Annett to drive his car in the February 19th NASCAR Nationwide season opener at Daytona.

Annett’s forward progress in this race will be most interesting to watch. If there ever was a time for a young driver to run the race of a lifetime this is it.