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ARCA debut a solid step in driver's career
Being the son of a veteran Nextel Cup crew chief hasn't opened all the career doors for Tim Andrews, but it's helping. Andrews, the 24-year-old son of Petty Enterprises crew chief Paul Andrews, is one of many young drivers whose dollars don't add up to their talent and desire. But Andrews has used his father's connections to get a ride in the No. 4 Dodge fielded by Cunningham Motorsports in the ARCA racing series. That team is part of Dodge's driver-development program, and Andrews has secured a five-race stint in the car. He ran his first ARCA race last week at Nashville Superspeedway in a car the team purchased from Petty Enterprises. Based on his driving, the Cunningham and Dodge folks won't be disappointed. He qualified third and raced his way into the lead before making a rookie mistake coming out of the pits. At Nashville, drivers are supposed to continue on a pit access road to Turn 2 before pulling onto the track. Andrews drove straight onto the track, as is common at most tracks. He was sent to the rear of the pack, but drove through the field to finish sixth. He's hoping that after the next four races, he'll work out another deal that will allow him to advance his career another notch and one day work his way to one of NASCAR's elite divisions. "My ultimate goal is to do this for a living," Andrews said. "But you never know where life's path will take you. We've always struggled to find the financial backing. When we can find the money, we go race." When he was younger and driving the relatively inexpensive go-karts and Legends cars, he won races and championships. But for the past several years, he has spent more time working on his cars than MCG Sports driving them. "Sometimes it's six months between races," he said. For his father, who won a Nextel Cup championship with the late Alan Kulwicki, the long lulls are tough to take. But it's a dilemma many racing fathers face. "It's been frustrating for us for several years," Paul Andrews said. "If you have the money to buy him a ride, he'll have one, but if you don't, you've got to struggle and fight and gouge for everything you can get." Even considering the bias of being Tim's father, the crew chief sees a driver who has the skills to succeed at the highest levels of racing.
"He's been around this a long time," Paul said. "Our limited funds keep us from racing very often, but when he does, he shows a lot of talent, a lot of promise."
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