Andy Lally: Sports Car Champion, Rookie of the Year and Trans Am President

Andy Lally is an American former professional racing driver, best known for his road racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and its successor, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He won the 2011 NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year award, and he holds Grand-Am records for GT wins. Lally announced his retirement from driving in 2024 and then took over as president of the Trans Am Series.

How did Lally start racing?

Lally began in karting, where he earned two WKA National Gold Cup Championships. He first raced sports cars in 1993, when his first sponsor, Tyrolean Motors, backed him in SCCA regional events run by car owner Walter Simendinger. In 1997 he won the US F2000 Rookie of the Year award in his first full year in a professional series.

Those early years set up a long career in sports cars rather than single-seaters. Lally became much better known for endurance and GT racing.

A sports car career built on endurance records, a NASCAR rookie title and a retirement that led straight into running a series.

Why is Lally known for Grand-Am racing?

Lally is a three-time Grand-Am Rolex Series Champion and holds the series records for the most all-time top-three and top-five finishes. He also leads the all-time GT class win list with 26 victories. In May 2010 he became only the second driver in Grand-Am Rolex history to reach one hundred starts, winning at Virginia International Raceway on 24 April 2010 along the way.

His endurance success was steady rather than occasional. In January 2011 he won the GT class at the 24 Hours of Daytona, which gave him the most consecutive Grand-Am seasons with at least one win, eight in all from 2004 to 2011. That same win gave him more podium finishes at the 24 than any other driver since the series began in 2000, with seven.

What were Lally's most important sports car results?

On 13 May 2012 he became the first driver in Grand-Am history to reach one hundred podium finishes, taking third at New Jersey Motorsports Park with teammate John Potter. Two months later, on 7 July 2012, he won the first endurance sports car race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which also secured the 2012 North American Endurance Championship.

His prototype results add to the picture. He won his class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, finished second in class at the Petit Le Mans, and took third in class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2008 he finished second overall and in class at the 12 Hours of Sebring. He won the GT class at Daytona again in January 2016, which was his fifth class victory there and tied him for fourth on the all-time list.

How did Lally's NASCAR career develop?

Lally made his NASCAR debut in 2007, racing in the Busch Series, now the Xfinity Series, and in the Craftsman Truck Series, now the Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He had one top-ten finish in two starts in the Busch car, and he made three Truck starts for TRG Motorsports, driving a Toyota Tundra.

In 2008 he raced in the inaugural ARCA Racing Series event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. He was fastest in every practice session, started on pole and led the most laps, but he lost the race on pit strategy when it was called for weather. In 2009 he made his Sprint Cup debut at Watkins Glen, starting 15th and finishing 27th after a crash involving Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton.

The breakthrough came in 2011. He ran the full Cup season for TRG Motorsports in the No. 71 and No. 77 cars, and he clinched the 2011 NASCAR Cup Rookie of the Year honour in early September. His rivals for the award, Brian Keselowski and T. J. Bell, had not made enough starts to qualify.

What did Lally do in the Xfinity Series?

Lally returned to the Nationwide Series in 2014 at Road America, qualifying tenth and finishing seventh for Bobby Dotter. In 2015 he ran a partial Xfinity schedule with King Autosport while keeping his full-time ride with Magnus Racing in the IMSA Series. He came back to the series in 2016 at Mid-Ohio, where a multi-car crash in the rain left him seventh.

His road course outings continued through the decade. In 2017 he finished fifth at Mid-Ohio, his best result in that series and the best of any driver making a single start that year. He ran a number of road course races for Our Motorsports from 2020, and in 2023 he drove two Rick Ware Racing Cup cars at a series of road and street circuits.

What was the Acura NSX period like?

After five years with Magnus Racing, Lally signed with Acura and Michael Shank Racing in 2017 to debut the new Acura NSX. Teamed with Katherine Legge, he scored the first and second wins worldwide for the brand, at the Detroit Grand Prix and at Watkins Glen International. He also won the first pole position for the car at Watkins Glen, in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.

He joined the IMSA SportsCar Championship that year in an Acura NSX GT3 with Michael Shank Racing. In 2018 he rejoined Magnus Racing in an Audi R8 LMS and opened that season at the Rolex 24. He had also won the GTD class at Daytona in 2016 with Magnus, one of several results that built his reputation as a GT specialist.

How did Lally's career end?

On 4 December 2024 Lally announced that he would retire from professional driving after the 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona. He raced his final event with Magnus Racing in an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, but the car was retired within six hours of the green flag. He said he still planned to take part in the Rolex 24 each year.

Right after that race, Lally moved into the Trans Am Series front office as its president. His move from the cockpit to the front office kept him close to the professional side of the sport.

How many Rolex 24 class wins did Lally take?

Lally won the GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona several times, and by January 2012 he had taken his fourth class win in the race. That result came in consecutive seasons after his 2011 win, and it placed him among the event's leading class winners.

The 2012 win was shared with Richard Lietz, Rene Rast and team owner John Potter in a Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and it was his fourth Rolex 24 class win and his second in a row. His fifth class victory came on 31 January 2016 at Daytona, when he took the GTD class again with Magnus Racing.

What role did Magnus Racing play in his career?

Magnus Racing appears throughout his sports car career, from the Porsche GT3 Cup of 2012 to the Aston Martin of 2025. Its machinery changed over those years, and Lally adapted from Porsche to Audi to the Aston Martin without losing his place with the team in the GT classes.

The partnership also produced the Indianapolis endurance win in July 2012, which he shared with John Potter. In 2015 he drove a Porsche for the team in the IMSA Series while running a part-time NASCAR schedule. After five years with the team he moved to Acura in 2017, then rejoined Magnus for 2018.

How did Lally use his road course starts in 2021?

In 2021 Lally returned to road course races in the Xfinity Series, starting with the Daytona Road Course a week after the Daytona 300. He took fifth in the B&L Transport 170, a result that tied his best career finish, after running fourth on the closing lap.

The season had several changes. Brett Moffitt had been the usual driver of the No. 02 car and joined the team full-time that year, so the team added a second car, the No. 23, for Lally's starts. He first planned to run the No. 03 car in the Super Start Batteries race, but it failed to qualify, and he moved to the No. 99 car for B. J. McLeod Motorsports.

He drove the No. 78 car for McLeod later in the year and finished tenth in the Pennzoil 150, his best result with that team. He then replaced Kyle Tilley in a Cup race in the same No. 78 car, which was his first Cup start since 2011.

What happened with Alpha Prime Racing and the 2023 Cup races?

Alpha Prime Racing first named him to run all six of its road course races in the No. 44 car in 2022. In January 2022 the team announced that it had mutually parted ways with him, which ended that plan before it started.

His Cup return in 2023 came in a Rick Ware Racing pair. He drove the No. 15 car at Sonoma, Watkins Glen and the Charlotte Roval, and the No. 51 car at the Chicago Street Course and the Indy Road Course. It was his first season with several Cup starts since he won Rookie of the Year.

What does Lally's record look like in summary?

What else is Lally known for?

Away from the cars Lally is a World Championship street luge racer. He won the 2012 IGSA World Championships in Calgary in both street and classic luge after being the number one qualifier in two classes. He also won the classic luge world title in 2009 at Bathurst, Australia, and finished second in street luge that year.

He is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and a mountain biker who competes in cross-country events. A four-man crew including Lally won the men's sport division at the 24 Hours of Big Bear in 2009.