DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – In what seemed like an impossible mission early in the Thursday night’s Budweiser Duel at Daytona International Speedway, HScott Motorsports’ newest driver Michael Annett wrestled to a transfer spot, earning a position in Sunday’s Daytona 500.
“Yeah, that is awesome I can finally maybe get a night of sleep, breathe a little bit,” said Annett. “It was funny we took the checkered and the spotter said ‘I’ve got you 14th on my view.’ They said ‘we have 14 on the monitor’. I was like ‘alright what is confirmed?’ We are in. That is awesome. These guys they had a heck of a month putting a team together in about two weeks, coming down here and then have to go to a back-up car yesterday. It is a testament to HScott Motorsports, Hendrick engines and this is awesome.”
The late race challenge came with the help from his drafting partners, but it might have been help from his teammate Justin Allgaier – not in his duel that may have made all the difference in the world.
Without the satisfaction of a strong qualifying performance this past Sunday and no owner points to boot for his attempt in the “Great American Race”, the Des Moines, Iowa native would have to rely on more than just drafting help to earn a starting position in his second Daytona 500.
Annett found himself a victim in Wednesday’s first practice session when Danica Patrick and Denny Hamlin collided, setting off a four-car crash that included Annett and Jeb Burton. With a mangled No. 46 Chevrolet, the HScott Motorsports team elected to revert to a back-up for Thursday night’s duel. But, the backup would not roll off from Annett’s hauler, instead it came courtesy of teammate Allgaier.
Despite having a second car at their disposal, the team made the decision to use Allgaier’s second car knowing that his backup could better equip Annett earning one of the coveted transfer positions for the Daytona 500.
Despite hovering in the back of the field during much of the first duel race, Annett’s freshly wrapped No. 46 Chevrolet soared to life in the closing laps and with help from behind, Annett created his own safety net to keep his challengers at bay and give HScott Motorsports’ new second team some much needed relief with a 14th place finish in the first Budweiser Duel.
“I owe the No. 42 (Kyle Larson) a big thank you,” Annett added. “He gave me a big shot down the backstretch. I’m glad to see he got in too. I would have felt bad if that shot pushed him out of the top 15. It worked out great. Now let’s go watch our teammate the No. 51 (Justin Allgaier) get in.”
Surely Annett dodged major a bullet on Thursday night. Late into the offseason, the 28-year old jumped ship from Tommy Baldwin Racing to Harry Scott’s newly established second team.
Allgaier finished ninth in his qualifying race putting two HScott Motorsports entries into the Super Bowl event.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
