Andy Lally

Andrew Lally
Born	(1975-02-11) February 11, 1975 Northport, New York, United States
Achievements	1994 WKA Gold Cup Champion 1996 NESCCA RoadRally Series Champion 2001 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series SRPII class Champion 2004, 2006 Grand Am GT class Champion Three time Rolex 24 at Daytona class winner
Awards	1997 US F2000 Rookie of the Year 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
38 race(s) run over 3 year(s)
2011 position	33rd
Best finish	33rd (2011)
First race	2009 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen (Watkins Glen)
Last race	2011 AAA Texas 500 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
3 race(s) run over 2 year(s)
Best finish	102nd – 2007
First race	2007 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Last race	2009 NAPA Auto Parts 200 (Montreal)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 1 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
14 race(s) run over 4 year(s)
2011 position	1st
Best finish	32nd – 2008
First race	2007 Silverado 350K (Texas)
Last race	2010 Mountain Dew 250 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of November 26, 2011.

Andrew Lally (born on February 11, 1975, in Northport, New York) is an American race car driver and Street Luge racer. Although Lally won the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year, he is best known for his road racing expertise in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series as well as the American Le Mans Series. 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 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. Andy owns Grand Am records for most GT wins, most podiums and most top five finishes in Rolex Series history. With the Daytona win Lally has broken a tie with Scott Pruett for consecutive years with a race win (nine) in Grand Am and the only driver in Grand Am history to win the 24 Hours of Daytona with three different teams.

Early career

Lally began his career in karting, culminating with 2 WKA National Gold Cup Championships. Andy first got into sports cars 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.

Road racing

Lally is a 3 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 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 May 13, 2012, racing with the Magnus Racing team in the No. 44, Andy 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.

Lally's 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.

NASCAR

In 2007, Lally made his NASCAR debut in both the Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) and the Craftsman Truck Series (now Camping World 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 Craftsman Truck Series with TRG Motorsports, driving the No. 00 Toyota Tundra.

Lally also raced in the Inaugural ARCA New Jersey 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 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. 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.

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

2012

Lally's 2012 Magnus Racing Porsche

After winning Sunoco Rookie of the Year in the Sprint Cup Series, Lally returned to sports car racing for the 2012 season with 30 races planned across three series. He drove in the Grand-Am Road Racing Rolex Sports Car Series for Magnus Racing in the GT class, as well as a partial schedule in the ALMS and full schedule in the Continental Tire Series.

Lally won the 2012 24 Hours of Daytona GT division in a Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup with co-drivers Richard Lietz, Rene Rast and team owner John Potter. It marked Lally's fourth Rolex 24 class win and second consecutive.

Personal life

Outside of auto racing, Lally also competes in cross-country mountain bike racing. In 2009 he was part of a four-man team that won the 24 Hours of Big Bear in the Men's Sport division. Andy is also a World Championship street luge racer. After being No. 1 qualifier on two classes Lally ended up winning the 2012 IGSA World Championships in both Street Luge and Classic Luge that took place in Calgary, Canada. In 2009 he was again No. 1 qualifier for both luge classes at the IGSA World Championships in Bathurst, Australia and went on to his win the World Championship in Classic luge and finish 2nd in Street Luge. Lally also trains in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and is currently a Blue Belt.

Andy is also a vegan, meaning he does not eat any products that come from an animal, including dairy products, eggs or honey. During a visit to the Farm Sanctuary in August of 2011, Andy was quoted, “I do it for ethical reasons. By this point in human evolution, we should be smart enough and kind enough to live without torturing other living beings just so we can enjoy lunch, especially when there are so many delicious plant-based options available.”

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold - Pole position awarded by time. Italics - Pole position earned by points standings. * – Most laps led.)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Points
2009	TRG Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	DAY	CAL	LSV	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RIC	DAR	LOW	DOV	POC	MIC	INF	NHA	DY2	CHI	IND	PO2	GLN 27	MI2	BR2	AT2	RI2	NH2	DV2	KAN	CA2	LO2	MA2	TL2	TX2	PH2	HOM	60th	82
2010				DAY	CAL	LSV	ATL	BRI	MAR	PHO	TEX	TAL	RIC	DAR	DOV	CHA	POC	MIC	INF	NHA 37	DY2	CHI	IND	PO2	GLN 18	MI2	BR2	AT2	RI2	NH2 37	DV2	KAN	CA2 36	CH2 34	MA2	TL2	TX2 34	PH2	HOM 29	51st	471
2011				DAY 33	PHO 31	LSV 32	BRI 32	CAL 32	MAR																															33rd	398
			Ford							TEX 32	TAL 19	RIC 26	DAR DNQ	DOV 33	CHA DNQ	KAN 31	POC 32	MIC 36	INF 35	DY2 27	KEN 32	NHA 28	IND 26	PO2 29	GLN 24	MI2 29	BR2 25	ATL 30	RI2 32	CHI 28	NH2 34	DV2 33	KA2 37		TL2 39	MA2	TX2 29	PH2 DNQ	HOM
		77																																CH2 421

• ¹ – Post entry, driver and owner did not score points.

External links

• Official website
• Andy Lally driver statistics at Racing Reference
• Andy Lally on Twitter

Achievements
Preceded by Kevin Conway	NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year 2011	Succeeded by Stephen Leicht