John Andretti has heard the same thing, year after year, over and over again:

He's got the lineage, the heritage and the genes for success. All he needs is the equipment and opportunity to match his talent, and he'll be a Winston Cup star.

Starting Saturday at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Andretti finally has the chance to prove his critics right. He'll make his first appearance behind the wheel of the Dale Earnhardt Inc.-owned No. 1 Chevrolet, replacing Jeff Green, who was released last week (Green had replaced Steve Park earlier in the season).

"I'm just jumping out of my skin, ready to go racing and really do it," Andretti said. "The things I can control and the team I'm working with, I have the utmost confidence in. I can't control what other people do and what they do with their race cars. I just have to take care of my own business and hope everything else around me works out the way it's supposed to.

"I don't care where we're going right now, just as long as we're going. I just know DEI can run good wherever they go, and I guess we'll find out where I fit into that group."

Andretti has been signed for a package of several races, but team officials won't say whether the deal is for the remainder of the season or longer. But that's fine with Andretti: even if it's nothing but an extended tryout, he's ready to show his stuff.

"I think you look at as I'm available and they have a race team that they need a driver for," he said. "DEI has two teams that are running at or near the front every weekend, and they'd like the third team to be right up there, too.

"When we were at Indianapolis, we let each other see how we worked and had a pretty good chemistry, so why not see if that chemistry can continue on. Who knows what the future holds? They've obviously got a lot of things up in the air, including still looking for a sponsor for it. But performance is obviously what everybody looks at, so if we can get in there and perform, that's good for them and it's good for me."

	Andretti's tenure with Petty Enterprises didn't exactly go as planned.

This is actually the second time Andretti and DEI have joined forces. He drove Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chance2 car in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis last month, qualifying an impressive 11th, only to have race day end prematurely due to a crash. Still, Andretti impressed enough to convince DEI officials to give him an extended look as a potential full-time, long-term driver for the team.

"I'm obviously real excited about it," Andretti said. "I really enjoyed the opportunity at Indianapolis and felt like with the test and everything that we did that we put in a real strong effort and I felt real good about that. To get the opportunity to come back and do some more races with them, it's a great organization and hopefully we can expect to hit it off right away and get rolling."

Andretti was fired in June after nearly 5½ years of driving the No. 43 car for Petty Enterprises. The termination caught him and many observers in the Winston Cup community by surprise, given the type of loyalty Andretti had displayed while with the team. He had several opportunities to jump ship for more competitive rides during his tenure at Petty Enterprises, but he stayed, believing in his heart that a turnaround in the team's fortunes was right around the corner.

"I feel like the last two or three years I really dedicated a lot of time, effort and a lot of my career to building a team and to be part of an effort to get a team back to where they deserve to be, and then to have that sort of snatched out away from you after you've given everything to it," Andretti said. "At times, yeah, it maybe hurt me in my career not to be cut-throat, but I don't think you have to be (in order) to be successful, either.

"I have a lot of good memories and nothing but good things to say about the Pettys. I think the only thing that is a disappointment to me is that I won't be there and get the opportunity to be there when they do get back on track, because I think they will, it's just going to take time and somebody to dedicate that time to it. I was willing to do that, but that's where the story ends. So, now it just starts over again. I don't have any regrets."

	"	I feel like the last two or three years I really dedicated a lot of time, effort and a lot of my career to building a team and to be part of an effort to get a team back to where they deserve to be, and then to have that sort of snatched out away from you after you've given everything to it. "
		— John Andretti

To go from a team whose top driver, Kyle Petty, is currently 35th in the Winston Cup standings to a team like DEI, where its two top drivers -- Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip -- are second and ninth in the standings, respectively, not only has Andretti excited to call them teammates, but also gives him renewed motivation and determination.

He wants to prove to DEI that he has what it takes to run with Junior and Waltrip; he wants to prove to Petty that it was a mistake to let him go; and he especially wants to prove to himself that even at 40, his racing career is not finished.

"Anyone that knows me knows I pile a load of pressure on me anyway," he said. "There's no bigger fear that any driver has than failure. When I was released from the Pettys, it was like a huge pressure had got released because I felt all the pressure for everything that was going on ...

"I think with DEI good results can happen. I can't control everything that happens on the racetrack, but I certainly can help weigh things in my favor. It's a scenario where you say, 'Ok, this is Winston Cup, this is the top of the heap, it doesn't get any tougher than this, it's not going to be an easy road. But I think we can come out of the box and do well and that's what we're hoping for."

While he's trying to be realistic about Saturday night's Chevrolet Rock 'n' Roll 400, Andretti can't help but hope to make a big and immediate splash. A good finish would be realistic, a win out of this world, but he's ready to ride his yellow and black rocket ship to the best finish he possibly can.

"If I won, I'm not a drinker, but I think we'd probably empty all the Bud," Andretti said with a laugh. "We'd start on Coca-Cola, but I'd be celebrating and spraying everything we've got. I don't know that I'd be ready for Loudon."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.