There are two rookies contesting the full Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in the 2006 campaign and this duo are plugging away hard for the points and high finishes that can give one of them Bombardier Rookie of the Year standings after the final, 14th race at Chicagoland Speedway early in September. source: paddocktalk.com / Anne Proffit Marco Andretti is driver of the #26 NYSE Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone. The third generation driver did a protracted Indy Pro Series schedule in 2005 and had a test at Michigan International Speedway last season in preparation for his graduation to the Indy cars. Son of Michael Andretti, co-owner of the Andretti Green Racing team Marco drives for, Andretti is also the grandson of Mario, acknowledged as the Driver of the [20th] Century. Those are hard acts to follow, for sure, but after a tough start to his year, 19-year-old Marco is doing just fine, thank you. Driver error caused Andretti to drop out of his first two races (on Homestead Miami Speedway's 1.5-mile oval and over the streets of St Petersburg) and following another tough run at Twin Ring Motegi Andretti arrived at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and got right down to business. While it didn't look as though he'd be the guy to beat in the early going, by the time the race was 3/4 complete, there was the younger Andretti, dicing and later beating his renowned father to the checkered flags. Although Marco was hoping for victory at Indy, he did finish second, which gained him the race's Rookie award. At this writing, Andretti has four consecutive top 10 results and two top five rankings, with Michigan, Kentucky, Sonoma and Chicago left to run. "It's all been a learning process at each track this year," Marco revealed. "You always learn year to year about the circuits and your competition and sometimes it feels we're doing it the hard way," he said.
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