Former NASCAR Driver Michael Annett Dead at 39

Former NASCAR driver Michael Annett has died at 39 years old, Team RSMG, who represented Annett, announced Friday (Dec. 5).

Annett ran 436 NASCAR national series races in his career, which spanned from 2008 until his retirement due to injuries in 2021.

His crowning achievement in the sport came in 2019 with a win at Daytona International Speedway for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. The team paid respects to the Annett family in an X post on Friday, saying Annett was “a key member of JRM from 2017 until he retired in 2021 and was an important part in turning us into the four-car organization we remain today.”

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Born in Des Moines, Iowa to father Harrold Annett, a World of Outlaws car owner, Michael’s sports career began in ice hockey. He won the Clark Cup in 2004 with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL before he began his racing career after high school.

After racing at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and briefly in ASA, Annett took the jump to the ARCA Menards Series in 2007. He won two races with Bill Davis Racing at Talladega Superspeedway in 2007 and again at Daytona in the 2008 season opener.

Annett made several starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2008 before making his O’Reilly’s debut with Germain Racing in the year’s final race, eventually going full time in 2009.

After two seasons with Germain and one with Rusty Wallace Racing, Annett’s breakout season came in 2012 with Richard Petty Motorsports. Annett recorded five top fives, including a new career-best finish of third on two occasions, and finished fifth in the driver’s standings.

Annett moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014 with Tommy Baldwin Racing, finishing 33rd in the standings before jumping to HScott Motorsports. He managed to race into the 2015 Daytona 500 and recorded his best Cup finish in 13th, but never managed a points finish better than 36th in two seasons.

The final five years of his career in NASCAR was spent with JRM, managing three playoff berths and three ninth-place finishes in the standings. In 2021, a stress fracture in his right femur led to him missing two races before returning and reaggravating the injury. On Oct. 6, he announced he’d retire from NASCAR at season’s end.

A cause of death was not announced.

James Krause joined Frontstretch in March 2024 as a contributor. Krause was born and raised in Illinois and graduated from Northern Illinois University. He currently works in Fort Wayne, Indiana covering minor league, college and high school sports. Outside of racing, Krause loves to keep up with football, music, anime and video games.