Annett Drives to a 14th Place Finish at Chicagoland

2010-07-12

Joliet, Ill. (July 10, 2010) - In his second career start at Chicagoland Speedway's 1.5 mile oval, Germain Racing driver Michael Annett drove to a 14th place finish at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, securing his second consecutive top-15 finish after a 12th place run last week at Daytona International Speedway.

Following his 14th place finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola, the 24-year-old racer remains 12th in the Nationwide Series championship point standings, just 151 markers outside of the top-10.

Annett started the 200 lap race 36th, but gained valuable track position by driving his way into the top-20 by lap 47. Racing caution free, the No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry made its first pit stop of the night under green on lap 56 for four tires and fuel before the first of four yellow flags was thrown on lap 69. Crew chief Ryan Fugle elected to stay out under caution and restarted 19th.

Although he was battling a free handling condition, Annett's lap times were comparable to the cars running in the top-10 during long green flag runs.

The No. 15 Germain Racing pit crew made their second stop of the night on lap 126, again under green. A second caution on lap 141 for debris allowed the No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Camry to return to pit road to refuel and get another set of tires. Caution number three of the night was brought out on lap 185. Once again Annett opted to stay out and restart 19th when the race returned to green on lap 190.

The final caution flag waved on lap 196 bringing the No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry to pit road for one last yellow flag stop. Annett restarted 18th for a green, white, checkered flag finish to the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola. Annett raced hard to gain four spots in the last three laps, bringing the Pilot Travel Centers Toyota home in 14th place.

Up next, the Nationwide Series will return to the state of Illinois for the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway. Watch live coverage of the 200 lap race on ESPN 2 at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.

For more information on Michael Annett and Germain Racing's No. 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series team, check out www.MichaelAnnett.com and www.GermainRacing.com. Get live updates on Twitter @MichaelAnnett.

About Pilot Flying J:
Pilot Flying J is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and has more than 550 locations in North America. The company employs more than 20,000 people and is the largest retail operator of travel centers in North America.