John Andretti has driven just about everything with four wheels, but he is set to expand his NASCAR résumé by tackling the NASCAR Busch Series in 2006. Andretti will pilot the No. 10 ppc Racing Ford Fusion as a teammate to Kenny Wallace, creating a formidable one-two punch for the organization that captured the Busch Series title in ‘00 with a historic one-two finish in the final point standings.
The son of Aldo and nephew of Hall of Famer Mario Andretti, John has carved out a solid career that has been primarily dominated by NASCAR Cup racing for the past 10 years. In that time, he has two series wins and four poles while driving for some of the top car owners in the sport.
Andretti and ppc Racing debuted in ‘04 in the NASCAR Cup Series, but a lack of sponsorship forced the team to cease operations with just three races into ‘05 season. In his first race with ppc Racing, Andretti has a successful weekend as he qualified 20th and finished 22nd at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Andretti had his best finish with ppc Racing in the ‘04 season finale at Homestead-Miami when he placed 20th. Overall, Andretti competed in nine Cup races in ‘04 with the other five being with Dale Earnhardt Inc. His highlight during that stint came in the season-opening Daytona 500 when he led one lap and finished 13th.
Competing on NASCAR’s biggest and brightest stage is something Andretti has been doing on a full-time basis since 1994 when he ran for Petty Enterprises and Billy Hagan. After splitting 29 races between those two operations, Andretti was hired by Michael Kranefuss, where he spent the next season-and-a-half before flopping rides with Jeremy Mayfield and moving to car owner Cale Yarborough.
Andretti realized success with the NASCAR legend, posting his first series win by capturing the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in July of ‘97. After three top-10s and three top-5s that season, Andretti went back home to Petty Enterprises for the next five-plus seasons. He won at Martinsville in ‘99 and finished as high as 11th in the point standings (‘98) before leaving the organization midway through the ‘03 season.
Prior to embarking on a stock car career, Andretti was a fixture in open-wheel racing. He made his Championship Auto Racing Teams debut in ‘87 with a sixth-place finish at Elkhart Lake and captured one win (Australia, ‘91) and 61 top-10s in 74 career races.
In addition to CART and NASCAR, Andretti raced in the 24 Hours of Lemans with Mario and cousin Michael Andretti in ‘88. That year also marked the first time he competed in the Indianapolis 500 and he finished 21st. Other Andretti highlights include co-piloting his entry to a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in ‘89 and reaching the semi-finals in his NHRA Top Fuel drag racing debut in ‘93.
Andretti, who is the godson of racing legend A.J. Foyt, began racing go-karts when he was 11 years old and began his open-wheel racing career five years later after attending the Andre Pilette driving school in Belgium. He won the USAC Midget Rookie of the Year in ‘83 and became the first driver to run the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day. Andretti fared well in the 500 as he finished 10th, but posted a 36th-place effort in the 600-mile night race.
Andretti is a graduate of Moravian College with a degree in business management.
After 14 years of racing in the Cup series, Andretti finished 49th in Cup Championship standings and raced only 15 of the 36 races in 2007.
