Truck stop: Michael Annett shows appreciation for America's truckers
Before hitting the high banks of Daytona International Speedway for the annual Coke Zero 400 this Sunday night, HScott Motorsports' driver Michael Annett spent some time showing appreciation for America's trucking industry.
The driver of the No. 46 Chevrolet and his crew members spent Thursday at the Flying J Travel Plaza in St. Augustine, Fla., pumping gas, cleaning windshields and greeting travelers who dropped by the truck stop.
Annett, 29, grew up in a trucking family and understands what they go through as they spend most of the week away from their families. To help show his appreciation and support, Annett was happy to take time on Thursday to serve them and give a smile along the way.
As Annett and the crew worked on the trucks and vehicles of passengers stopping by, the sophomore driver said there were plenty of cell phone pictures and videos being taken.
In addition, HScott Motorsports brought the team's hauler and actual race car for Sunday's Coke Zero 400, not a show car. Annett said having the actual car and hauler on location led to a lot of big eyes and happy fans.
Working with Pilot Flying J, Annett is also helping raise awareness for the Road Warrior Program, which rewards a professional truck driver with the opportunity to win a $1,000 regional prize and a $10,000 grand prize. Fans can nominate any professional truck driver and the grand prize winner will be selected from a group of five regional winners.
In addition to promoting the Road Warrior Program, Annett is also running a special camouflage paint scheme during the Fourth of July Weekend event to raise awareness for the Fisher House Foundation.
"I've been begging for one and I finally got a camouflage paint scheme," Annett said proudly of his ride for the weekend.
Heading into the weekend's race, Annett is coming off a series of struggles that have plagued the team throughout the first half of the 2015 season. However, Annett is returning to the site of the year's best finish, a 13th in the Daytona 500.
While they face challenges to keep up with the big teams on most tracks, Annett said they have had the July Daytona race circled on their calendar for quite some time.
If they can't pull off the upset and score the victory, Annett at least hopes for a solid run to rejuvenate the team for the second half of the season and to, in his words, restart the year.
So far this season, Annett believes the team has struggled to make changes to the car throughout the weekend.
"What we unload off the truck is what we have for the weekend," he said. "We're fighting to get the car to react to the changes."
However, Annett is eager to see how the team responds to the new rules package next weekend at Kentucky Speedway. Since his days in the ARCA Racing Series, Annett has run well at Kentucky, with that success carrying over into the Camping World Truck and XFINITY Series as well.
Annett stressed that HScott Motorsports has a "really good" alliance with Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, which he hopes will pay off as they work with the new rules package.
"We're going to lean hard on them and take anything we can from them," he said.
Still, with Kentucky a week away, Annett remains focused at the task at hand and making the most of Sunday's race at Daytona.
"A small team like ours has a chance to win the race," he said optimistically.
Special thanks to the crew at @flyingjtravel 626 for having us out today! pic.twitter.com/UYyGFRRii4
— PFJRacing (@PFJRacing) July 2, 2015
Pre practice inspection. #CokeZero400 pic.twitter.com/aP48hpd1TT
— HSM Team 46 (@TeamHSM46) July 3, 2015
