Andy Lally

Lally finished a respectable 27th in his first Cup start after being involved in a crash with Sam Hornish Jr.., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton.

Andrew J. Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American professional auto racing driver.

He competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R8 for Magnus Racing.

Lally first got into sports car racing in 1993 with his first sponsor Tyrolean Motors with car owner Walter Simendinger running SCCA regional events.

In 1997 Lally won the US F2000 Rookie of the Year in his first full year in a professional series.

Lally is a three-time Grand-Am Rolex Series Champion.

He holds series records for most all-time top 3 and top 5 finishes and leads the all-time GT class win list with 26 victories.

In 2007, Lally made his NASCAR debut in both the Busch Series (now NASCAR Xfinity Series) and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (now NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series).

Lally had one top ten finish in two starts with the No. 47 Wood Brothers/JTG Racing Ford Fusion and made three starts in the Truck Series with TRG Motorsports, driving the No. 00 Toyota Tundra.

His prototype results include a 1st in class at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, 2nd in class at the Petit Le Mans, 3rd in Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and a 2nd overall and in class at the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring.

Lally raced in the Inaugural ARCA Racing Series Loud Energy Drink 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park in September 2008.

He was fastest in every practice session, started on the pole, and led the most laps, but lost the race on pit strategy when the race was called due to weather with eventual series champion Justin Allgaier winning the race.

In 2009, he started 15th driving the No. 71 Chevrolet for TRG in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen International.

He ran as a teammate to David Gilliland, the usual driver of the No. 71, who unsuccessfully attempted to qualify in the No. 70.

In May 2010 Andy became only the second driver in the history of the Grand-Am Rolex Series to make 100 starts, winning at Virginia International Raceway on April 24, 2010.

In 2010, Lally ran seven races for TRG, finishing 18th at Watkins Glen.

Lally qualified 10th and finished 7th.

Although Lally won the 2011 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year, he is best known for his road racing expertise in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series (Now IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) as well as the American Le Mans Series.

In January 2011 Lally won the 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT class, giving him the record for most consecutive Grand-Am Rolex seasons with at least one victory (8), spanning from 2004 to 2011.

In January 2011 Lally finished first place in the GT class in the 24 Hours of Daytona giving him the most podium finishes of any driver at the famed 24 race (7) since the Grand-Am Rolex series started in 2000.

His victory at Daytona International Speedway on January 29, 2011, made him the all-time winningest GT driver in the Grand-Am Series.

On February 17, 2011, he filed paperwork to run the full Sprint Cup season and campaign for series Rookie of the Year honors (A driver may maintain his rookie eligibility provided he runs seven or fewer races in a season before declaring).

Running the full 2011 season for TRG in the No. 71 and No. 77 cars, Lally clinched the 2011 Rookie of the Year honor in early September, his competitors for the honor, Brian Keselowski and T. J. Bell, having failed to make the minimum number of starts in the series to be eligible for the award.

In January 2012 Andy extended and broke records in the Grand-Am Rolex Series by winning his fourth Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in the GT class.

On May 13, 2012, racing with the Magnus Racing team in the No. 44, Lally yet again made history in sports car racing as he became the first driver in Grand-Am history to achieve his 100th podium finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park as he and his teammate John Potter finished the race in 3rd place.

Lally scored podium 101 when he and Potter went on to win the first-ever endurance sports car race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 7, 2012, which also locked up the 2012 North American Endurance Championship.

In 2014, Lally made a return to the Nationwide Series at Road America to race the No. 55 for Bobby Dotter.

2015 saw Lally run a partial schedule in the Xfinity Series in the No. 90 for King Autosport while maintaining his full-time ride with Magnus Racing in the No. 44 Porsche in the IMSA Series.

Lally won his fifth class victory at Daytona International Speedway on January 31, 2016, tying him for fourth on the all-time win list at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

In 2016 Lally would return to the Xfinity Series at Mid Ohio driving the No. 90 in place of Mario Gosselin.

It was a wet and rainy race where cars were sliding all over the place, going off the track, and spinning out.

Lally was running well and then was hit from behind and spun in a multi-car accident with Brendan Gaughan and Erik Jones.

Lally would recover and finish 7th, getting his third top ten in the Xfinity series.

In 2017, after 5 years of being with Magnus Racing, Lally signed with Acura and Michael Shank Racing to debut the brand new 2017 Acura NSX.

Lally teamed with Katherine Legge and together they scored the first and second win worldwide for the brand at the Detroit Grand Prix and Watkins Glen International.

Lally also scored the first pole position for the car worldwide at Watkins Glen for the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.

Lally has scored three top10 finishes in his last four starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with a 5th-place finish at the 2017 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course race being a career-best.

Lally owns Grand Am records for most GT wins, most podiums, and most top-five finishes in Rolex Series history.

He began his career in karting, culminating with 2 WKA National Gold Cup Championships.

For 2018 Lally, re-joined Magnus Racing in an Audi R8 LMS and will start the season at The Rolex 24 at Daytona.