Des Moines native Michael Annett is back in Iowa preparing to race in the Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 this Saturday at the Iowa Speedway in Newton.

Annett appeared at an event in Des Moines Wednesday where he talked about the dangers of distracted driving and then signed autographs.

He spoke with Radio Iowa as he signed autographs, and said he is happy to get a chance to race in his home state. Annett says it’s a “huge deal” and he circled the race on his schedule when he heard that there would be a race in Newton. He says it’s pretty incredible the Iowa Speedway is already hosting a Nationwide race after only being in existence for such a short time.

“And the fact that I’m going to be a part of it is pretty special.” Annett says growing up he expected a race in Iowa would be on a dirt track, not asphalt. Annett says, “It definitely was a dream, but growing up you always pictured yourself racing down at Knoxville, or in Oskaloosa, so the fact that we were able to get a premiere racing facility is pretty cool, and the fact that your track is a Nationwide race is pretty unbelievable.”

Annett is 22-years-old and says he likes his chances in Saturday’s race. He says their cars have taken a turn for the better this summer and despite some bad luck, have been running well lately, and he’s excited to get out on the track. Annett says he’s heard a lot of good things about the Iowa Speedway.

Annett says anyone who has been to the track says good things about it, and says designer Rusty Wallace designed it as a track he’like to race on. He says it mimics the Richmond track for short racing, but also is like the Chicago and Kansas tracks, so you have the best of both worlds.

Annett says the afternoon race will make for a lot of slipping and sliding a good race. Annett now lives in North Carolina.

Iowa Speedway president Jerry Jauron says there were 200 regular tickets left as of Wednesday morning for Saturday’s race, but he expects them to sell quickly. Jauron says once all the regular tickets sell, they will sell standing room only tickets, but cautions those might not last long either.

Jauron says he wants to caution fans that the standing room tickets will be limited as the standing room area used for the Indy 250 race is now covered with grandstands. The race is set to start at 3:30 Saturday.

Professional race car drivers visited the Des Moines campus of the Nationwide Insurance company today as part of a safety campaign to highlight problems with distracted driving.

NASCAR driver, Kyle Petty, says distracted driving is a problem that’s gone beyond kids with cellphones.

Petty says when Nationwide started its driving while distracted program, it was targeted at high school kids. But he says recent studies on truck drivers, and bus drivers and recent accidents with commuter trains have shown the need for an expanded message.

"This is an important message to get out,I don’t care if you’re driving a bobcat or a lawnmower around your yard, you need to pay attention. That’s how simple it is," Petty says.

Petty was joined by Des Moines native Michael Annett and Brad Keselowski who both will drive in the Nationwide NASCAR race at Newton Saturday. He says it’s important to have the younger race car drivers talking about distracted driving too.

Petty says a big deal is made of the "Swine Flu" epidemic, but he says distracted driving is an epidemic too, and it’s important to have younger drivers to talk to teens about distracted driving, as it has a huge impact on the teens.

Petty says professional racing is totally different from everyday driving which should be "defensive" driving — while professional racers have to drive offensively. "We have to make things happen, that’s why you see guys running so close together and some of the things that happen on the racetrack, is because of being overly aggressive. On the highway you have to be incredibly passive, you have to be the other way. You need to pay attention," Petty says.

He says on the road you have to be aware if a person is going to step onto the road, if kid on a bike is going to pull out, or if someone ahead of you is going to stop. Petty says if you are tuning the radio, talking on your phone, or texting, you can have that full attention.

"If you’ve looked down for a second to type ‘hi how are you?,’ and you look up and the car stopped in front of you, then what do you do? Then it causes a chain reaction," Petty says.

Petty says the issue hit home personally with him last year when a woman talking on a cellphone pulled out and hit and killed one of his friends who was riding a motorcycle.