FORT WORTH, Texas. – With the uncertain future with his current Sprint Cup Series team HScott Motorsports, Michael Annett has set his future in the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
JR Motorsports, the team owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced Friday morning that Annett will join the organization in a fourth full-time car next season joining already announced drivers Justin Allgaier, William Byron and Elliott Sadler. On occasion, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team will run a fifth part-time entry with drivers Earnhardt and Sprint Cup racer Kasey Kahne.
While Annett is taking a step back to XFINITY Series for the first time since 2013, sometimes with anything you have to take a step backwards to eventually take two forward.
The move should be a winning one for Des Moines, Iowa native, but the 30-year-old has to make most of the opportunity.
No ifs, ands or buts.
Despite three years in Sprint Cup, one with Tommy Baldwin Racing and two with HScott Motorsports, Annett hasn’t seen a top-10 across all three of NASCAR’s national series since a 10th at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October 2013 driving for Richard Petty Motorsports.
Without a doubt, that statistic should change.
Often dubbed as a quiet keep to yourself type figure around the garage, Annett will now be paired with Allgaier and Sadler – two of the most colorful drivers on that side of the fence – while newcomer Byron has a similar intense focus like Annett. Nonetheless, the surroundings that Annett is flying into should be a circle that reignites his flame.
He has to.
After dabbling in ARCA from 2007-2009, Annett shifted his focus directly to XFINITY with Germain Racing for two seasons. 70 races resulted in just six top-10 finishes.
Jumping ship to Rusty Wallace Inc. in 2011 yielded slightly better results before aligning with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2012, the team he’s seen the most success with.
Although getting hurt in the season-opener in 2013 at Daytona, Annett missed nine races but overall still produced solid results driving for The King. In 58 starts, he tallied seven top-five and 21 top-10 finishes and finished a career-high fifth in the championship standings in 2012.
Not too shabby.
No disrespect to TBR and HScott, but Annett’s move to Sprint Cup hasn’t produced the type of on-track performances they hoped. Blame it on equipment, blame it on driver, blame it on combination, it just hasn’t worked.
It has worked before for Annett though in XFINITY and it can work again.
While JR Motorsports hasn’t announced a crew chief for their newest driver, the search will be keen around chemistry. The pairing of Annett with Philippe Lopez at RPM proved beneficial, JRM will keep that in mind moving ahead.
And don’t expect the crew chief decision to be quick – expect it to be methodical and someone that can gel with Annett both on and off the track.
JR Motorsports can resurrect Annett’s career and put the two-time ARCA winner back on the map, but Annett will have to do his part too.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
