Annett comes home to familiar race track

NEWTON - Nobody has sped around Iowa Speedway more often than Michael Annett.

The 23-year-old Des Moines native actually holds the record for most laps of competitive racing at the race track. That should give him an edge on the competition this weekend.

Annett returns to central Iowa to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 Saturday, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Annett, who now lives in Mooresville, N.C., has one top 10 finish under his belt and is 14th in the points standings.

“It's definitely better to be real familiar with the track,” Annett said. “The fact that I do have so many laps here I know kind of the tendency of what the track's going to do.”

Annett seemed dialed in on what to expect for the evening race. He anticipates the track to provide a lot of grip, allowing to maneuver and not be "committed to one line" around the track.

“There's going to be room to work with,” Annett said. “It seems like when we go to tracks like that we run a little bit better.”

While promoting the race in his home state, Annett was able to reconnect with some familiar faces. he still gets a thrill coming back to the track he first ran in an ASA event.

“It's been fun, catching up with nieces and nephews and family and friends," Annett said. "Just looking forward to tomorrow and everyone being out here.

“It's still is by far the top 3 tracks we go to all year. To come here and the fact that we have such a nice race track and it's 30 minutes from home it's definitely special to come back here.”

This weekend is more than racing to Annett. He will be raffling off a specially designed helmet to help raise awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training in honor of a Des Moines youth. The 6-year-old son of a family friend, Will Krueger, was diagnosed with Leukemia two years ago. This is the second year he's held the raffle, raising more than $10,000 last year.

“This is the one chance to get to use what I do for a living to come back and give back,” Annett said. “I'm looking forward to it, because last year was our first time doing something like that and we were able to learn from the things we did right and ways we can improve on it.”