BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY RACE PREVIEW
Michael Annett • No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang
Annett has seven career starts in the Nationwide Series at Bristol
Annett enters this weekend’s event in sixth place in the Nationwide point standings
Annett’s best finish (sixth) at the Tennessee track came in 2011
Michael Annett on Going to Bristol Motor Speedway: “I’m excited to go to Bristol this weekend. We had a tough time in Montreal, and I’m looking forward to putting that behind us and getting our momentum back on Friday night in Thunder Valley. We need to get back our streak of top-five finishes so we can gain some ground in the point standings. We know we are good on oval tracks, and we had a strong car in Bristol earlier this year. We are bringing back that same car this weekend and I know the crew has been working really hard this week to give me a great setup. Friday night under the lights at Bristol always makes for an exciting night, and hopefully when all the sparks are done flying at the end of the night our Pilot Flying J Ford is in Victory Lane.”
Crew Chief Philippe Lopez’s Thoughts on Bristol: “We went to Bristol earlier in the year and it was just our fourth race of the season. We were still in the building process of this No. 43 Pilot Flying J team and we still come out of the weekend with an 11th-place finish. We are looking to improve upon our earlier performance at Bristol this time around because we are no longer building race cars, we are now racing race cars.”
Lopez on Challenges at Bristol: “We may face some challenges this weekend since they have made some changed to the track surface since we raced there in March. They shaved the top of the race track and got rid of the variable banking. From everything we have heard it sounds like we better have our Pilot Flying J Ford handling well on the bottom of the track. That may pose a problem for us because last time we were there we ran really good on the top of the track. That’s not going to be available to us anymore, so we are going to have to use all of practice to run the bottom and learn how to make our car work well on the bottom. I believe that we are going to see the winner of the race run on the bottom of the track all night and hopefully that can be Michael and our Pilot Flying J Ford.”
Chassis History: The No. 43 RPM NASCAR Nationwide Series team has prepared chassis No. 621 for the 250-lap race in Bristol, Tenn. This Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang was run previously this season at Bristol and Dover.
Notes: Annett has seven NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway. His best finish (sixth) came in 2011 and his best start (13th) came in 2009 at the .533-mile short track. Annett heads to Thunder Valley in the sixth position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series driver point standings. The Iowa native has completed 1,944 of 1,954 laps attempted at the track. His average start is 22.1 and his average finish is 15.3.
Looking for a Pilot or Flying J store near Bristol? There are eight Pilot or Flying J stores within 100 miles of Bristol Motor Speedway. The nearest store is 40 miles away from the race track (Pilot Travel Center (I-81 Exit 36) 11190 Baileyton Rd, Greenville, TN 37745). There are 90 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? Michael will visit the Ford Display at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday at 2 p.m. for a 15 minute Q-and-A session.
Race Information
Track: Bristol Motor Speedway
Laps: 250 Laps/133.24 Miles
Track Size: .533-Miles
TV Information: 7 p.m. ET on ESPN
Radio Information: 7 p.m. ET on PRN
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