Marco Andretti
Marco Michael Andretti is an American retired auto racing driver who competed in the IndyCar Series from 2006 to 2025. He is the grandson of racing legend Mario Andretti and the son of CART champion Michael Andretti.
After coming up through the ranks of junior open-wheel racing series, Andretti competed in the IndyCar Series for 15 years with his family's team Andretti Herta Autosport. During his time in IndyCar, Andretti won two races and finished a career-high fifth in points in 2013 and was the 2006 IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year. In addition to IndyCar, he also has raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Formula E, IMSA SportsCar Championship, and raced in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. From 2021 to 2023, Andretti raced in the Superstar Racing Experience, in which he was named the 2022 SRX Series champion. In 2024, he competed in selected NASCAR Craftsman Truck and ARCA Menards events
Though his racing career was winding down, Andretti was still primarily focused on competing in the Indianapolis 500. In total, he has competed in 253 IndyCar races. On October 29, 2025, the 20-time Indianapolis 500 starter, 2020 Indy 500 pole winner, and two-time IndyCar Series race winner announced the decision to retire on social media.
Early life and education
Andretti was born in Nazareth, Pennsylvania on March 13, 1987, to Sandra Spinozzi and eventual IndyCar champion Michael Andretti. His paternal grandfather is Mario Andretti, a highly successful racing driver who raced professionally for four decades and won the Formula One Drivers' Championship in. Other members of the extended Andretti family have also had success in various categories of racing.Andretti attended Notre Dame High School in Easton, Pennsylvania, graduating in 2005.
Career
Andretti won eight races in the 2003 Barber Formula Dodge Eastern Championship, and was champion in the Barber National and Southern class the following year.Image:MarcoAndrettiIPS.jpg|thumb|left|Andretti making his Indy Pro Series debut in 2005 on the Streets of St. Petersburg, where he finished first
In 2005, Andretti raced in the Star Mazda series and made six starts in the Indy Pro Series. He won three times – at St. Petersburg, the Liberty Challenge, and Sonoma – and finished 10th in points despite only starting half the races.
Motorsports journalist Gordon Kirby suggested at the Champ Car finale in Mexico City that the youngest Andretti would be replacing Dan Wheldon in his No. 26 Jim Beam Dallara-Honda for 2006 with Michael Andretti coming out of retirement to run a fifth car for his Andretti Green Racing team at the Indianapolis 500. Though a novel proposition to some, it was later confirmed in a December 15 press conference that he would move up to the Indy Racing League full-time as the youngest driver in series history and would trade sponsors – the New York Stock Exchange and Motorola – with Dario Franchitti, as Andretti was not old enough to run an alcohol-sponsored car.
IndyCar Series
2006
In his rookie start on March 26, 2006, at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the No. 26 New York Stock Exchange Dallara Honda, Andretti started 13th but broke a half shaft in his first pitstop, eliminating him from the race.With his Rookie of the Year performance in May at the Indianapolis 500, he became the third Andretti to finish in the top five in his first Indianapolis 500 appearance, after father Michael and grandfather Mario, who finished third in 1965. Andretti finished second to Sam Hornish Jr. in the second-closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history at a margin of 0.0635 seconds.
On August 27, 2006, Andretti became the youngest winner – at the age of – of a major open-wheel racing event as he scored his first career Indy Racing League victory at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. He held the record until April 2008, when Graham Rahal won the 2008 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg aged 74 days younger. Andretti's win established him as the 2006 Bombardier Rookie of the Year.
2007
The 2007 season was not as successful for Andretti. He failed to finish ten times and only completed seven races. The team struggled to find balance on ovals, with accidents eliminating him from the races in Japan, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Chicago, as well as the Mid Ohio road course. After finishing second at Michigan, Andretti finished eleventh place overall with 350 points.2008
Andretti ran his first night race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the first race of the 2008 season, with a 2nd-place finish behind Scott Dixon. He also led the most laps of the race – leading 85 – and received an additional three points. At St. Petersburg, Andretti snapped a half-shaft on his car trying to leave the pits, causing him to retire. In the third race of the season at Motegi, Japan, Andretti spun out on the first lap of the race. At the 2008 Indianapolis 500, Andretti finished third, after leading several laps. During the race, he passed teammate, Tony Kanaan, who then crashed into the wall, blaming Andretti.A week later, Andretti captured his first IndyCar Series pole at the Milwaukee Mile and became the youngest IndyCar pole winner at the time – at the age of – but crashed out with three laps to go in the race. His car slipped up the track, collecting Ed Carpenter, which in turn caused Vítor Meira to go airborne as he drove over Andretti's tire. The eventual winner, Ryan Briscoe just missed the wreckage, as Andretti finished 21st. At Texas Motor Speedway, Andretti had one of the best cars and was able to drive the high line all night, but Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti made contact with just a few laps to go.
Andretti finished third at Iowa, and then ran a strong race at Richmond but lost position when he pitted under green and a subsequent caution allowed the race leaders to pit under yellow; he finished ninth. Andretti finished fifth at Watkins Glen before mechanical failure caused his car to crash out at Nashville. He also raced earlier the same day in the American Le Mans Series race at Lime Rock Park. At Mid-Ohio, Andretti got caught up in a four-car wreck on a restart on lap 42 which ended his race, before a seventeenth place finish at Edmonton after contact with his teammate Danica Patrick. At Kentucky, Andretti took the lead from Scott Dixon, but as the race neared its end, all drivers had to pit for more fuel and Dixon took the win, while Andretti finished third. Andretti failed to finish higher than eighth in the final three races, as he finished seventh in points.
2009
The 2009 season began on two street circuits, allowing Andretti to show the benefits of his A1 Grand Prix experience. At St. Petersburg he tangled late in the race with veteran Alex Tagliani, finishing thirteenth, but overcame a nineteenth place start in Long Beach to finish 6th due to a different pitting sequence. This was Andretti's first time at Long Beach, a circuit at which both his father and grandfather won multiple times. After a sixth place finish at Kansas. Andretti looked to Indianapolis, where he had been second and third in two of his three starts. Starting eighth, Andretti attempted to pass KV Racing Technology's Mario Moraes on the outside of the South chute between turns 1 and 2. Moraes moved towards the wall, apparently unaware that Andretti was outside of him, and both cars collected the wall. Both Andretti and Moraes expressed their displeasure with each other in their on-air interviews. Andretti called the second-year driver "clueless" and said that "he doesn't get it and never will. I should have known who I was racing with."The remainder of the year did not yield much success, as Andretti's best finish of the year was fourth at Texas. He continued his improved form on the road and street courses, finishing fifth at Watkins Glen, eighth in his first race in Toronto – where his father won a record seven times – and sixth at Mid-Ohio before finishing eighth in the final standings.
2011 and 2012
In 2011, Andretti placed ninth at Indianapolis after starting 27th. On June 25, 2011, Andretti won his second IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway. It was his first win in 79 races since his win at Sonoma Raceway in 2006.In 2012, Andretti started the year with fourteenth place at St. Petersburg, eleventh at Alabama, 25th at Long Beach, and fourteenth at São Paulo. He led the most laps at Indianapolis but hit the turn 1 wall on Lap 188. Andretti continued the season with eleventh at Detroit, seventeenth at Texas, fifteenth at Milwaukee, and a best finish of the season at Iowa, where he finished second. Following his runner-up at Iowa, he had sixteenth at Toronto, fourteenth at Edmonton, eighth at Mid-Ohio, and 25th place at Sonoma. At Baltimore, Andretti made another finish in the back of the field, finishing fourteenth. Just as the season was about to end, he achieved the second pole position of his career at Fontana, finishing the race eighth. Andretti finished sixteenth in the point standings.
2013
Andretti started the 2013 season with a third-place finish at St. Petersburg. This was followed by two seventh place finishes at Barber and Long Beach, matching his top-ten tally from the 2012 season. In the fourth race of the season at São Paulo, Andretti finished third and was able to move to second in the championship thirteen points behind Takuma Sato. He also led his first seven laps of the season. At the Indy 500, Andretti qualified third and was consistently in the top-five throughout the race. He led 31 laps and finished fourth after two late yellow flags that prevented him from moving forward in the field. After the race, Andretti said he was "frustrated" with the finish because he had not been below fourth all race. However, after the 500 he took the points lead by eleven points over Sato.Andretti continued his season with the first doubleheader at Detroit, finishing twentieth in the first race – his lowest finish of the season – and 6th in the second race, marking improvement between the two. At Texas, he performed relatively well, staying within the top-ten for most of the race, and later finishing fifth. He claimed his third pole position at Milwaukee, but despite his success in qualifying, his engine blew after the first pit stop, leaving him with a twentieth place finish, before he finished ninth at Iowa. At Pocono, where his grandfather and father had once raced, he was at the top of his game, setting the track record for the fastest lap, and gaining a fourth career pole. Despite leading early in the race, he faded to a tenth place finish in the end. At the Toronto doubleheader, he qualified and finished in the top-ten, staying consistently well during the race. He finished fourth in race one, and finished ninth in the other race at Toronto, without any other events altering his finish. At Mid-Ohio, he finished ninth, without having many eventful occurrences throughout the race. He finished the season fifth in points.