Background and career
Marco Michael Andretti (born March 13, 1987) 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, the son of CART champion Michael Andretti, and the cousin of Trans-Am Series driver Adam 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.
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 1978. 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.
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.
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.
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 (fifth in 1984 Indianapolis 500) 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 19 years, 167 days – of a major open-wheel racing event (later to be replaced by Graham Rahal) 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.
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 1.5-mile (2.4 km) 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.
