No. 43 Team Looks to Continue to Improve Mile-and-a-Half Program
CONCORD, N.C. (October 1, 2013) – The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Kansas Speedway this weekend for the first time in 2013. It will be the third mile-and-a-half track the series visited in the last month.
While the Flying J Travel Plaza team didn’t finish as well as they would’ve liked at Chicagoland Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway earlier this month, the team reverted back to their old notes and earned at top-10 finish at Kansas Speedway two weeks ago.
Annett has four starts at the mile-and-a-half track and earned a top-10 finish last year with an eighth-place finish. This weekend, he looks to improve his average finish of 17.5.
Comments from the No. 43 Flying J Travel Plaza Ford Mustang driver Michael Annett:
“I’m looking forward to getting on the track in Kansas. It’s no secret that we haven’t gotten the results we wanted at mile-and-a-half tracks this year since we’ve been trying some new things. We went back to our old set-ups in Kentucky, had a good car and earned a top-10.
“We were really loose during the race last year, but talking about it with the team, I think we have a really good starting point and some really good ideas to combat the loose conditions during the race. We’ve got a good foundation to improve on that eighth-place finish from last year.”
Comments from Crew Chief Philippe Lopez on Kansas:
“We’re going to unload exactly the way we were last year, but we’ve gotten together with the engineers, the Cup teams and with some of the Roush Nationwide teams and I think we’re going to try some different stuff. Not saying that we will race it, but it might be better.
“We’ll need to keep the car tight enough throughout the race. Last year, it was hard to get the car to turn in practice, and when they dropped the green flag, everyone was loose. Some guys spun out multiple times, and it was just hard to get a hold of the racetrack during the race. We have some really good post race notes from last year, so we know what we need to do. Once we get the race going and everyone is hanging onto their cars, fuel mileage will be very important, and fortunately, that’s one thing we won’t have to worry about. ”
Chassis History:
Lopez and the No. 43 Flying J Travel Plaza team have prepared chassis No. 754 for Kansas. They previously ran the chassis at Las Vegas, Darlington, Kentucky and Atlanta earlier this year.
About Richard Petty Motorsports
A performance and marketing driven company, Richard Petty Motorsports, co-owned by NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty and successful business entrepreneurs Andrew Murstein and Douglas Bergeron, is one of the most recognized brands in all of motorsports. With a history of over 200 wins and business partnerships with national and global leaders, today the race operation fields two teams in competition in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Aric Almirola pilots the famous No. 43 Ford Fusion with primary partners Smithfield Foods, U.S. Air Force and STP and Marcos Ambrose drives the No. 9 machine with primary partners Stanley and DEWALT. In addition, Michael Annett wheels the No. 43 Pilot Flying J Ford Mustang full-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The team is headquartered in Concord, N.C.
