551 - Paul Andrews: Processing The Loss Of Alan Kulwicki

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sits down with longtime NASCAR crew chief Paul Andrews to learn more about his journey from being a vacuum repairman to a Cup championship-winning team leader. After being raised by his grandparents in Louisiana, Paul found his way to St. Louis where he reconnected with his mother and took a job working at his stepfather’s motel as a maintenance person. When he was working on a vacuum cleaner one day, he went to the local O.K. Vacuum store where he connected with Rusty Wallace, his father Russ, and Uncle Gary, and soon after took a job with the company. Along with this new role of employment came the opportunity to work in Rusty’s race shop after hours, and Paul began traveling with Rusty as he found his footing in the short-track late model and NASCAR worlds.

Once Wallace went full-time NASCAR Cup racing in 1984, Paul again found himself in Louisiana, this time running Rusty’s sportsman late model program. Paul temporarily retired from the sport in 1986, but it wasn’t long before he took a call from up-and-comer Alan Kulwicki, establishing one of the hardest-working duos in the Cup garage. The team would overcome the odds and bring home the 1992 Cup season championship. After Alan’s untimely passing in a 1993 plane crash, the team was bought out by Geoff Bodine, and Paul would spend a couple of years honoring his late friend before moving on to other endeavors with Kranefuss-Penske, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Petty Enterprises, and Michael Waltrip Racing. Today, Paul can be found taking it easy, managing his various properties and moonlighting from time to time as a crew chief for JR Motorsports’ late model stock program, working with Dale Jr. when he gets behind the wheel for short track competition.