ANDY PETREE RACING
ANDY PETREE – 08-15-1958 -
Petree had spent 13 seasons as a crew chief in NASCAR’s premier series. Over three seasons with Earnhardt, the pair won 15 races together working for Richard Childress. Petree led Harry Gant to nine Cup victories and two in the Xfinity Series. He also won one race with Phil Parsons in 1988. In 1996, he started his own operation—Andy Petree Racing. The team was orginally formed in 1985 by brothers Leo and Richard Jackson. At the Daytona 500 that year, the team entered the No. 55 and No. 66 cars, sponsored by U.S. Smokeless Tobacco through its Copenhagen and Skoal brands and driven by another pair of brothers, Benny Parsons and his brother Phil. In 1990, Richard Jackson splintered from the team to form his own operation, taking the equipment for the No. 55 with him. The newly renamed Leo Jackson Motorsports still held onto the No. 33 and driver Harry Gant. In 1994 Leo Jackson was contemplating retirement and began looking to sell the team. His buyer was his crew chief at the time, Andy Petree. After one race as an owner, he released Pressley and had Todd Bodine finish out the year for him. For 1997, Petree selected Ken Schrader to be his driver. That year, Schrader drove the car to two Top 5s and eight Top 10s en route to 10th place in the NASCAR Winston Cup final standings. It marked a strong comeback for the #33 team, which had struggled severely in 1996. 1998 saw about the same result, with eight finishes of ninth or better but fell two spots in the points standings. At Daytona in July, Petree fielded a second car, the #55 Oakwood Homes Chevy, driven by Hut Stricklin.
At the end of 1998, it was announced that Kenny Wallace would join APR (Andy Petree Racing) in the #55 Square D Chevy for 1999 expanding to a two car team. 1999 was a learning year for APR. The struggles of adding a second car may have shown. Schrader struggled with only 6 top-10s, en route to a 15th place in points. Wallace was more flashy but also inconsistent. He earned his career best finish of 2nd at New Hampshire. Schrader's 1999 season compelled him to leave APR. However, Petree was quick in signing Joe Nemechek and sponsor Oakwood Homes, after Skoal announced it would not be on the #33 for the first time in 21 years. The 2000 season was complete opposite for Petree's drivers. Nemechek was solid as he won one pole and secured three Top 5s and nine Top 10s. Kenny, on the other hand had one Top 5: second at Talladega Superspeedway as he pushed Dale Earnhardt to the win. It
Ken Schrader
Kenny Wallace
was Earnhardt's last victory before his death. Still searching for victory in 2001, Petree kept Nemechek in the #33 and hired Bobby Hamilton to drive the #55. The 9th race of the year, at Talladega Superspeedway, featured an amazing battle. After multiple lead changes, Hamilton took the lead as he took the white flag and held off Tony Stewart to win Petree's first career race. For 2002, Petree still wished to run the #33 along with Hamilton. Mike Wallace would drive the car for 4 races. However, with a best finish of 21st (Daytona 500) and its most memorable moment being at Talladega, (starting the big wreck) the #33 team's glory days were over. It would be up to Hamilton and the #55 team. However, just as the #33
quit for good, Hamilton was injured. Greg Biffle and Ron Hornaday took over. Hamilton came back and promptly announced he was leaving to his truck team. Petree was backed in a corner. By February 2003, his Cup team was done. With no sponsor to be found, Christian Fittipaldi's run in the #33 Monaco Chevy in the Daytona 500 appeared to be the final race. However, Petree wasn't quite done. His longtime friend, John Menard convinced him to look at John's son, Paul Menard, who impressed Petree. He signed him to a contract quickly. Paul made his debut in the #55 Menards Chevy at Nashville Superspeedway, Petree's first career Xfinity race as an owner. It was a productive race,
Joe Nemechek
Paul Menard
as Paul finished 12th. After finishing 14th at the next race at Kentucky Speedway, Petree allowed Menard to make his Cup debut at Watkins Glen International. That race at the Glen would be Petree's last Cup race. Petree signed Menard to a full Xfinity Series schedule for 2004, hoping to get Menard ready for a return to Cup in 2006. However, Menard had other plans. Halfway through the year, Menard signed with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., leaving Petree without at driver and a sponsor. His last Xfinity race would be at Chicago, which driver Clint Bowyer drove. Petree's race team was dead in the water. After Michael Waltrip finished last at a Craftsman Truck race at IRP, Petree sold his equipment and his shop to Kevin Harvick (which started
Kevin Harvick, Inc.). He went to work for Michael Waltrip, as a consultant for Waltrip's Busch team. Petree was a color commentator for ESPN and ABC's NASCAR coverage through 2014 when ESPN and ABC got out of covering NASCAR races and FOX took over. It was announced in October of 2017 that Petree would return to Richard Childress Racing as an advisor for competition. For his career as an owner Petree fielded car for 322 starts and had two wins and 16 Top 5's. His drivers also made 64 Xfinity series starts without posting a win. He had 15 starts in the NASCAR Truck Series claiming two wins; both by Tony Stewart.
Andy Petree
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