Tander started karting as a child in Western Australia, winning seven state titles and one Australian title by age 17. He won the Australian Formula Ford Championship in 1997, and when he was unable to find budget to race in Formula Holden the following year, Garry Rogers Motorsport offered him a V8 Supercars seat directly.
Tander progressed steadily through his early seasons at Garry Rogers Motorsport, finishing second in the 2000 championship in a battle that went to the final round against Mark Skaife. That year he and co-driver Jason Bargwanna won the Bathurst 1000 together. He also won the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour race, co-driving a Holden Monaro for Garry Rogers with Steven Richards, Cameron McConville, and Nathan Pretty.
In 2004 Tander was released from GRM and moved to the HSV Dealer Team, arriving at the team that would deliver his greatest success.
At the HSV Dealer Team from 2005, Tander partnered dual Bathurst winner Rick Kelly and quickly became a championship contender. He led the 2006 championship after six rounds, only for a disastrous Oran Park round and Bathurst heartbreak — a clutch failure on lap one — to hand the title to others.
The 2007 season was Tander's finest. He won the second round at Barbagallo Raceway in a clean-sweep of all three races, repeated the feat at Queensland Raceway, and held the championship lead for much of the season. A brake failure at Bathurst was a setback, but solid points at Surfers Paradise and Bahrain kept him ahead of Whincup. At the penultimate Symmons Plains round in Tasmania, Tander won race one before a slow pitstop and a clash with Steven Richards disrupted his third race. He went to the Grand Finale at Phillip Island with the championship lead and held on to claim the 2007 V8 Supercars Championship by two points from Whincup, with Craig Lowndes third and defending champion Rick Kelly fourth. The round win at Phillip Island also secured the manufacturers' title for Holden and the teams' championship for the HSV Dealer Team.
In 2008, Tander moved to the Holden Racing Team, partnering Mark Skaife. He finished third in the championship behind Mark Winterbottom and champion Whincup. His Bathurst 1000 victories continued with wins in 2009 co-driving with Will Davison and in 2011 alongside Nick Percat, bringing his total at Mount Panorama to four by that point.
His later years at HRT brought more modest championship results, with five podiums in the 2013 season. In 2015, he won the Enduro Cup with Warren Luff across the endurance rounds.
Tander rejoined Garry Rogers Motorsport for 2017 but was unexpectedly released ahead of the 2019 season. He subsequently joined Triple Eight Race Engineering as an endurance co-driver alongside Shane van Gisbergen, winning the Bathurst 1000 in 2020 and 2022 with the team.
From 2023 he moved to Grove Racing, where he partnered David Reynolds for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000. He then switched to partner Matthew Payne in the No. 19 car for 2024 and 2025. Tander and Payne won the rain-influenced 2025 Bathurst 1000, Tander's sixth Bathurst victory overall, before Tander formally announced his retirement from Supercars racing in November 2025.
Tander's 2007 championship — won by the slimmest possible margin over a dominant Whincup — stands as one of the most dramatic title deciders in the sport's history. His record at Bathurst across more than two decades, from his first win in 2000 through to his final victory in 2025, reflects a rare consistency at Australia's most demanding circuit. He also owns the motor racing team TanderSport.