New motorsports leadership executives introduced as Andretti Global moves on without Andretti

Two longtime NASCAR executives were introduced at Andretti Global on Wednesday as part of the restructuring now that Michael Andretti has stepped aside, The Associated Press has learned.

Doug Duchardt, who has served multiple roles with race teams and with General Motors, was named chief performance officer of motorsports at TWG Group, which now oversees all of the former Andretti properties.

Jill Gregory, a former NASCAR vice president and marketing officer who also ran Sonoma Raceway, was named chief operating officer of a subsidiary of TWG and president of Andretti Global.

The two were introduced at the Andretti race shop in Indiana in a morning team meeting, people present told the AP. They asked for anonymity because TWG does not plan to formally announce its leadership team until next week.

TWG Group is the investment company founded by Mark Walter, who as CEO of Guggenheim Partners is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Premier League club Chelsea, and Dan Towriss, who became involved in motorsports initially as a sponsor for Andretti and took an ownership role in Andretti Global in 2022.

Towriss is now the majority owner of the Andretti race teams and the CEO of TWG Global’s motorsports arm. The branch in charge of motorsports will have its own name, to be revealed in next week's official announcement of the restructuring of the executive team.

Duchardt spent 2024 as team president of Spire Motorsports in NASCAR, the racing series where he worked most of his career. Before Spire, he spent nearly six years with Chip Ganassi Racing, first as chief operating officer of all of Ganassi's programs, including the IndyCar team. When Ganassi left NASCAR, Duchardt spent two years with Ganassi's IndyCar and sports car team before moving to Spire.

He also spent 12 years in an executive role at Hendrick Motorsports, including a four-year period as executive vice president and general manager. Duchardt started his career with General Motors, which will be the TWG partner on the Cadillac F1 team set to launch in 2026.

In his role, he will oversee all of TWG's motorsports properties. TWG is now also partners with Spire — Towriss bought a share of the NASCAR team — as well as sports car team Wayne Taylor Racing. The WTR partnership was formed when Andretti was still in charge of his namesake organization.

Spire Motorsports majority owner Jeff Dickerson still runs the NASCAR team, but Duchardt's role will be split by Bill Anthony, Spire’s executive vice president, and Todd Mackin, president of Spire Holdings.

Gregory will have a dual role with the racing subsidiary of TWG focused on Andretti Global, which covers the IndyCar, the IndyNxt program and Formula E team. She will replace current Andretti Global president J-F Thormann, who has been with Michael Andretti for more than four decades but will transition into a new role as head of driver development.

Gregory was executive vice president and chief marketing and content officer at NASCAR, and the managing executive of the company’s Charlotte-based operations. She led marketing, media, communications, broadcasting and diversity and inclusion functions for NASCAR.

She left in 2021 to take over as executive vice president and general manager at Sonoma Raceway. Gregory grew up in Modesto.

Before joining NASCAR, Gregory was the senior vice president of motorsports marketing for Bank of America, and previously was director of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series marketing program for Sprint Nextel.

She has spent 2024 as a consultant, working directly with Andretti Global.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing