Throughout his career, many have questioned whether Michael Annett has it. Saturday in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Drive for the Cure 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Annett proved he indeed has ‘it’ as he gutted out a top-15 finish with a car that looked like it belonged in his team owner’s (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) car graveyard.
Early in the race, Annett slammed into the rear of the car ahead of his No. 1 Chevrolet as the field stacked up in front of him.
It buckled the hood, destroyed his front clip, but miraculously it did not damage his radiator.
However, it killed the aerodynamics on his race car.
Yet, Annett would not surrender. He kept after it all race long, and as many in the field made mistakes, Annett capitalized.
When he crossed the stripe for the final time, Annett had worked his way to 15th. Sure, it’s not an impressive finish on the box score, but considering how bad things looked early in the race this has to be considered a win for the JR Motorsports driver.
This car finished top 15.
And in doing so, it kept @MichaelAnnett’s Round of 8 hopes intact. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/OGzB5FJnhT
— Aaron Bearden (@aaronbearden93) September 28, 2019
Annett, would have finished dead-last had the radiator been crushed in that early crash, but instead salvaged a decent day. Now, he stands in a great position to move toward Round 2 of the Playoffs as he approaches a cutoff race at Dover next weekend.
Annett sits in the final advancing position in the standings (eighth) and he has an 11-point cushion over John Hunter Nemechek. If Annett does indeed advance, his truly gritty performance at the Roval can be circled as the reason.
