Annett, Cassill making big impact in cameo truck roles

The tight points battle in the Craftsman Truck Series is dominated by veteran drivers, but young newcomers Michael Annett and Landon Cassill have made their presence felt in a big way halfway through the season.

Annett, 22, was second last week at Kentucky and Cassill, 19, third in his most recent CTS start at Milwaukee. They'll continue their partial seasons Friday in the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park in suburban Indianapolis.

Fast Facts

What	Power Stroke Diesel 200
When	8 p.m. ET Friday
TV	SPEED, 7:30 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 7:30 ET

• Track Page | Tickets | Travel
• By the Numbers: ORP

Annett was sixth in his debut at Milwaukee and 11th at Memphis. He was signed as a development driver by Bill Davis Racing last winter and is splitting seat time with Scott Speed in the No. 22 Toyota. Speed won at Dover with the team.

Annett credits crew chief Doug Wolcott's strategy and ability to provide a competitive truck for his success.

"It's just this equipment I'm in and the guys I'm surrounded with," Annett said. "The crew chief made a great call [at Kentucky] by taking two tires on the last stop and got us the track position we needed. It was pretty cool to finish second. It shows all the hard work the team does pays off."

The Davis team has been sufficiently impressed by Annett that it expects him to move up to a full-time Nationwide Series schedule in 2009.

"We're pretty close to signing a sponsor for the Nationwide Series," Annett said.

Cassill's has five starts in the Truck Series, all for Morgan-Dollar Motorsports. He also was ninth at Lowe's Motor Speedway, his other top-10. A development driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Cassill has been driving for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series and has 11 starts this year and 17 in the past two. He'll also be in Saturday's Nationwide race at ORP.

Cassill will drive a Chevrolet at ORP for the same team under its new name, Randy Moss Motorsports. The NFL star purchased 50 percent of the team from David Dollar.

Cassill started 23rd at Milwaukee and steadily made progress. He was third for the final 56 laps.

"This is just awesome," Cassill said following Milwaukee. "I am real proud of my guys. I am real proud of myself. I am just happy. We just worked really hard on the truck and passed a lot of people all night."

News & Notes:

• With his victory at Kentucky, Johnny Benson, Annett's teammate, took a one-point lead over Matt Crafton in the standings. Ron Hornaday Jr., last year's winner at ORP, is five points behind in third going into the 14th of 25 races.
• The top five and top 10 in the standings are the closest in history at this point of the season. Benson and fifth-place Mike Skinner are 101 points apart, and Dennis Setzer is 227 back in 10th.