He participated in his first full season in 1994, with Galles finishing 13th and capturing the "Marco Magaña" and "Luchador Olmeca" awards along with the "JAC" trophy for "Best Driver" outside Mexico.

He enjoyed 14 top-ten finishes with eight top-five placements and two victories, Japan and Mid-Ohio, en route to a 4th place showing in the PPG Cup race during the 1998 FedEx Championship.

Unfortunately, Fernández was once again touched by tragedy — a crash at Michigan resulted in an errant wheel from his car flying into the stands and killing three spectators.

[1] However, it was his victory during the Miller Lite 200 that gave Patrick Racing one of its most memorable moments, when Fernández stood atop the podium next to his teammate Scott Pruett.

In 1999, Fernandez enjoyed his most successful season so far in the series, Adrián Fernández, behind the wheel of the #40 Tecate/Quaker State Reynard Ford-Cosworth, completed the year sixth in the championship battle.

Undeterred, he later won at Motegi, Japan at the Firestone Firehawk 500 and at the Marlboro 500 in Fontana, California — a race marred by the death of good friend Greg Moore.

He scored points in 17 of the 20 races, including two wins at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Australia, and three further podium results.

In 2001, he founded Fernandez Racing, with former Ganassi manager Tom Anderson as his partner and ex-F1 driver Shinji Nakano as his teammate.

That year he also ran an Indy Racing League (IRL) entry for Asian-American Roger Yasukawa, in partnership with Aguri Suzuki, and in 2004, he moved the whole team to the series.

5 Lowe's / Hitachi Chevrolet in Mexico for Hendrick Motorsports in the first NASCAR Busch Series race held outside the United States.

On October 10, 2009, Fernández and his co-driver Luis Díaz won at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.

In the 2007 Fernández made his debut with a second place in the LMP2 category in the famous race with the Barazi-Epsilon team Zytek aboard a 07S/2 3.4-liter V8 prototype.

This was the first podium for a Mexican at the Circuit de la Sarthe in many years, to remember those achieved by Ricardo and Pedro Rodríguez in 1962 and 1968 respectively.

[2][3] On September 12, 2012, Fernández announced that his participation in the FIA World Endurance Championship would conclude at the end of the season, as well his relationship with the Aston Martin Racing team that started in 2010.

He has two children: Valentina and Niko Fernández, and he married longtime girlfriend, former beauty queen, author, and retired actress Priscila Perales on October 21, 2017.