Cup Series 2000 marked Houston's first start in the
Winston Cup Series as he competed in five races to prepare for his 2001 rookie campaign with
PPI Motorsports. Out of the five races his best finish would come at
Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 26th. Houston began the year 2001 well with a ninth place qualifying effort at the
Daytona 500 in the No. 96
McDonald's Ford. It would be one of the highlights of the year, as Houston ended the year with no top-tens and a best finish of seventeenth at
Martinsville; Houston only managed to qualify for seventeen races and his team folded after McDonald's pulled its sponsorship late in the season. He has not returned to the Cup Series since.
Busch Series Houston made his
Busch Series debut in 1996 driving the No. 0 Suburban Propane Ford at
Indianapolis Raceway Park. He would start the race in the 21st position and finish in the 24th position, five laps down. He returned to the series in 1998 to make another start this time at
Hickory Motor Speedway in the No. 50
Dr Pepper Ford. He would start the race in seventh and finish twentieth. In 2000, Houston made one start for
Team SABCO and brought the No. 82
Channellock Chevrolet home in the 36th position at the
Milwaukee Mile. For the 2002 season, Houston was supposed to run the whole season with the
Herzog-Jackson Motorsports team, but was released and replaced by
Todd Bodine after Las Vegas Due to "performance issues". His best finish with the team was a ninth at
Daytona.
Truck Series In 1997, Houston made his first
Craftsman Truck Series start with
Addington Racing. He would compete in four races for the team with a best finish of 11th at
Martinsville. For the 1998 season, he returned to Addington Racing and ran full-time in the Truck Series. Houston would have a solid year winning his first race at
New Hampshire International Speedway and posting nine top-tens, while finishing 12th in points. Houston again returned to Addington Racing for the 1999 season and he scored fourteen top-tens with an 8th-place finish in points. 2000 was a breakout year for Houston, as he won two races at Homestead and Portland, had thirteen top-fives, and eighteen top-tens, finishing third in points to
Roush Racing teammates
Greg Biffle and
Kurt Busch. He returned to the series in 2002 with Melling Racing where he ran one race at
South Boston Speedway. After that
Billy Ballew Motorsports hired him to run the remainder of 2002. He would post a best finish of twelfth at
California out of the five races he competed in. In 2003, Houston was still running races for
Billy Ballew and
Nelly when
Vokal became his primary sponsor, until Billy ran out of money to run two trucks. Ballew kept Rich Bickle, leaving Houston without a ride. Later that year,
Ultra Motorsports gave him a truck ride and he did very well, finishing no worse than tenth and earned a pole at
Texas Motor Speedway. For the 2004 season, he continued driving for
Ultra Motorsports until he was released after the race at
Bristol. Andy's best finish with the team that year was a seventh at
Dover. For the remainder of 2004 with the exception of Richmond, Houston raced with multiple teams, but with limited success. In 2005, he only ran one race with
Key Motorsports at
Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing 33rd after a crash in his final NASCAR race. ==Post-racing career==