Andrew Patterson was fresh out of high school and just 18 years old when he made a leap of faith, leaving Dayton, Ohio, for Charlotte, North Carolina, with little certainty about his future. But he dreamt of finding his place in NASCAR.
Through a mutual friend, Patterson connected with Jordan Anderson, who was transitioning his organization from the Craftsman Truck Series to a full-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series operation during the 2020 offseason. Patterson joined the upstart team as an intern, knowing virtually nothing about building a race car.
“I’m not going to lie, I was so green to all of it,” Patterson told Jayski.com of joining Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport. “I had worked on go karts with my dad and had gone to watch races, but I had never really worked on race cars. It was a year of firsts for me, 100%, learning what everything is: parts on the car, how to work on them, which way to turn the wrenches.”
Patterson spent the bulk of his first season with JAR sweeping the floors and wiping down cabinets. As he learned, he earned more responsibilities, such as installing fuel cells and was named the primary interior mechanic for Myatt Snider’s lone campaign in the No. 31 Chevrolet during the 2022 season. He was also responsible for checking air pressures on tires.
Despite Patterson’s ambitions, he quickly earned the nickname “Pup” at JAR. Much like a young dog shadowing its owner, he was rarely far from other employees who took him under their wing and helped him find his footing at Jordan Anderson Racing.
“Just always a positive attitude, willing to do whatever it took to help the team and learn,” Anderson described of Patterson. “At the same time, he was trying to keep racing.”
Between the ages of 12 and 18, Patterson was racing go karts across Ohio. He looked down the path of potentially competing in IndyCar, but financially, nothing made sense.
As Patterson continued to show his loyalty to JAR, he asked the team owner for advice on how to continue his racing path. Anderson suggested running an ARCA Menards Series team and controlling his own destiny.
Over the last couple of seasons, Patterson worked around the clock, explaining that he has multiple full-time gigs. His first remains with JAR, which transitioned to three permanent teams in 2026. This year, he filled a role within the team’s fabrication department after being the primary interior setup person within the company. Once he’s finished his responsibilities for the day, he turns his attention to his ARCA team, which ran a partial schedule the last two seasons.
“I’m in a flexible role now, whereas the last few years, it felt like I needed to be [at the track] for certain processes on the car to keep rolling smoothly,” Patterson stated. “I’ve backed down on that some this year. I’m still in the shop as much as I can from 6 to 5 and, on the weekends, I’m working in my own shop, building my own stuff when I’m not racing.”
Actually competing, however, has become increasingly common for Patterson. After finishing runner-up to Brenden Queen in a one-race deal with Nitro Motorsports at Salem Speedway last season, Anderson saw the potential in his longtime employee. He wanted to give him an opportunity to prove himself behind the wheel in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
A part failure during qualifying prevented Patterson from making the field for his intended O’Reilly Auto Parts Series debut two weeks later at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval. But that motivated the now 23-year-old even further, as he set up a nine-race slate to compete in the No. 32 Chevrolet, which has featured a roundtable of drivers in 2026.
“Jordan thought I was ready for it,” Patterson added. “I hope he still thinks that, but the stars aligned this year to make it happen so we jumped on it.”
Through Patterson’s first seven starts, he has recorded three top-20 finishes, highlighted by a 14th-place result in the inaugural race at Naval Base Coronado. His lone DNF came in his series debut at Martinsville Speedway, when he was caught in a restart stackup while running inside the top 15. The incident damaged half the field – 19 cars.
“He brings the car home, doesn’t tear anything up and has done a good job,” Anderson said, evaluating Patterson’s showings. “It’s been fun to watch him develop, not only as a person in the shop; he’s one of our strongest mechanics because he’s been with us for five years. He is one of our longest-tenured employees at our race team. Seeing that is cool, but also watching him develop as a driver and person.
“I hope in the not-too-distant future, maybe this time next year, we’re looking at more races and more opportunities because he’s definitely got the talent to be up there.”
Patterson has been drinking through a fire hose with information overload. If he’s in the driver’s seat, he will often review previous races at that particular track and study SMT footage entering the weekend.
“I consider it being a decent year,” Patterson said. “I don’t think I’ve met my own expectations. The guys on this car and at Jordan Anderson Racing work hard enough where we should bring cars that run top 15 every week. Anytime we miss the mark there, I feel like I’ve let them down. They understand that I’m learning and nobody is holding their heads low about what I’ve done, even though I wish they would a little bit.
“I work with all these guys, so I know if I tear something up, self-spin, push it too hard, get in a crash that wasn’t necessary, I’m going to hear about it all week or probably longer than that.”
Anderson believes that Patterson takes what the No. 32 car is capable of on a given weekend. With limited experience, he doesn’t overstep his boundaries and put the organization behind.
“The respect I have for him is through the roof,” Anderson noted. “I almost look at him like a little brother, just proud of what he’s done and how he handles himself. In this garage and in this sport, there’s not a lot of guys that have worked like that from the ground up for one of these opportunities and made a way. He didn’t come in and buy his way in or didn’t have an uncle or dad that did it and got their foot into the door with a big sponsor. It literally has been from the ground up, every step of the way.”
Patterson is hoping more opportunities arise within the organization moving forward. His final two starts of the 2026 campaign are this weekend at Phoenix Raceway and in the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.