Fast Facts Redux: Michael Annett

credit: NASCAR Media

Michael Annett, driver of the No. 46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet SS for HScott Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series, had another sports career in mind before making it to NASCAR’s top tier. Learn more about Annett in this week’s “Fast Facts,” originally published in July 2012.

• Michael Annett was born June 23, 1986 in Des Moines, Iowa. His family has a long history in auto racing:  for many years, they served as the owner and main sponsor for World of Outlaws champ Sammy Swindell. Annett attended his first auto race, the prestigious Knoxville Nationals, only a few days after his birth.
• Annett’s sport of choice for many years was ice hockey. At age 16, he helped the Team Illinois AAA team to the 2002 Calgary Mac’s AAA Hockey Tournament Championship. He later moved up to the United States Hockey League (USHL), playing for the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks and was named the Most Improved Player in the league in 2004.
• After another successful season with the Black Hawks, Annett hung up his skates in favor of four wheels in 2005. Annett competed in the America Speed Association and the ARCA Racing Series in 2007, winning his first ARCA race at Talladega in October of that year; in February 2008, he followed that up with a win at Daytona in the series.
• Annett made his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series in 2008, and moved up to the Nationwide (now Xfinity) Series with Germain Racing in 2009 and 2010. He spent 2011 with Rusty Wallace Racing, then signed on with Richard Petty Motorsports for 2012 after Wallace’s team shut down. In 2013, he missed eight races with a dislocated and fractured sternum after a hard crash at Daytona to open the season.
• In 2014, Annett moved to the Cup Series with Tommy Baldwin Racing, then to HScott Motorsports in 2015, where he remains for 2016.
• Find out more about Annett at www.michaelannett.com.