Tag: Conor Daly

Qualifying Wrap Up

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Photo- Robert Shwartzman (L) and Conor Daly- the ecstasy and agony of Indy 500 Qualifying

Big hits and near misses were the themes of the opening day of qualifying at IMS today. From a somber beginning to an exciting final run, the day contained all the drama a fan could ask for in a qualifying day.

Marcus Armstrong spun and hit the first turn wall in the first few minutes of morning practice. the car was destroyed, and Armstrong rode the ambulance to the infield care center. He was cleared to drive three hours later.

Pato O’Ward took the top spot after his run and held it for several hours.

Colton Herta got loose in turn 1 on his first qualifying lap. The car got airborne, flipped, and slid to the exit of turn 2. Herta got out of the car and walked to the medical van. He was released and cleared to drive.

Conor Daly earned cheers with a run to fifth place around noon, only to be disqualified for failing tech inspection. He returned around three and qualified 16th, but he saved the real drama for the end of the day.

Alex Palou ran the fastest average of the day and held it for the rest of day, despite challenges from Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden.

Shwartzman finds speed– Rookie Robert Shwartzman went from being in danger of missing the race with slow speed early in the week to a spot in the top 12 for tomorrow’s second round. Shwartzman turned the sixth fastest average today.

Disappointments- Kyle Kirkwood appeared to be a contender for the Fast 12, but qualified 25th. Rinus VeeKay, who had qualified in the top 12 three straight years, will need to make the field tomorrow.

Relief for Rahal- Graham Rahal had the 30th fastest speed and is locked in the field. The last couple of years have been a struggle for Rahal to qualify. He failed to qualify forthe race in 2023, but replaced the injured Stefan Wilson.

Late Drama- With kess than 2 hours remaining Colton Herta and Marcus Armstrong were ready to make qualifying runs. Herta barely squeaked in in 29th, but Armstrong will have to attempt to make the last row tomorrow. It was a heroic effort by their teams to get vars on track.

Conor Daly went out in a final attempt to make the top 12 as time was running out. His first three laps gave him an average good enought to advance to Sunday, but the fourth lap fell off too much and he will start 13th. The hometown crowd went home a bit disappointed.

“I didn’t get the weight jacker back in time.” Daly said afterwards. He missed 12th place by 0.84 miles per hour.

The windy conditions played havoc with many qualifying runs, but in the end the breezy situations, which were different in each turn, created an interesting ace day lineup.

Tomorrow the pole is up for grabs and four cars vie for4 the final three spots on the grid.

Results

Full results including all attempts

Current grid by car number

Conor Daly Returns to Juncos Hollinger Racing to Complete 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Lineup 

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Exciting news from Juncos Hollinger Racing:

Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) is thrilled to announce the return of Conor Daly, completing the team’s 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES lineup. Daly, a proven talent with deep ties to the team, made an indelible mark during the second half of JHR’s 2024 campaign, securing the team’s first-ever podium finish with an impressive 3rd place at the Milwaukee Mile. His addition completes the team’s two-car roster as they prepare for an exciting and competitive season ahead. 
“I’m thrilled to be joining the JHR team for the full NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in 2025,” shared Conor Daly, the most recent addition to the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver lineup. “After the excitement and success we shared in 2024, including Milwaukee, it feels like the perfect next step. I’m grateful for Ricardo and Brad’s belief in me as I embark on the revitalization of my career. I look forward to pursuing podiums and wins with this incredible group. Thank you to everyone involved in making this happen – it’s been a team effort, and we’ll continue to build on this momentum together.”
“When Conor rejoined us last year, it felt like we seamlessly picked up right where we left off in 2010,” said Ricardo Juncos, Co-Owner and Founder of JHR. “I’m thrilled to have him back in the car full-time for 2025. With both seats now filled, the team is laser-focused on building momentum and delivering standout performances throughout the year, aiming for an exceptional season ahead for Juncos Hollinger Racing.” 
Brad Hollinger, Co-Owner of JHR, shared, “Conor is an outstanding addition to our team. He is a fantastic ambassador for the sport and has proven his speed not only in our car, but also through his tested tenure in the series. Providing him with more opportunities to collaborate closely with our engineers and crew will undoubtedly enhance the team’s performance, and empower his own unrelenting drive for success.”
“Our main priority this year is to build upon the success we’ve seen in the team’s short three-year campaign,” explained Dave O’Neill, Team Principal of Juncos Hollinger Racing. “With Conor joining the team and Sting Ray already confirmed, we’re well-positioned to achieve that. This is just the beginning of a long-term process to build a stronger and more competitive foundation for the future.” 
Juncos Hollinger Racing will kick off the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season at the highly anticipated season opener in St. Petersburg on March 2.  

Drama, Chaos, Controversy, and Some Good On-Track Action Too-IndyCar 2024

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Photo by Kle McInnes

It was an exciting season for the NTT Indycar series in 2024. At times, the off track goings on overshadowed the racing product, which experienced an uneven tear.

From the St. Pete push to pass scandal to controversy with Agustin Canapino fans, charter talks, and driver popularity in their home country, fans did not lack for off track topics to discuss.

The delayed hybrid introduction, which didn’t come in until Mid Ohio, had little effect on the championship, although its dispute was inauspicious as Scott Dixon stalled in turn 5 of the pace lap.

The racing varied from snoozers to great6 as the series, teams, and Firestone worked to adjust to the extra weight of the new system. In the end they got it right as the races at Gateway and Milwaukee produced some great oval racing. Nashville was better than expected too.

In 2025 seven of the first eight tracks will see the hybrid in action for the first time., including the energy recovery system’s debut in the Indianapolis 500.

Drivers of Note

Obviously Alex Palou had a good year, but here I will recognize some drivers who had outstanding year which exceeded most people’s expectations.

Felix Rosenqvist– Rosenqvist won a pole and made the fast Six several times for Meyer Shank Racing. He hung around the top 10 in points for much of the season before ending up 12th. The team rewarded Rosenqvist with a two year extension. Rosenqvist is thriving after leaving Arrow mcLaren, and we should see the race results improve next year.

Santino Ferrucci – Ninth in the final standings, a frequent visitor to the top 10, and his first career pole, Ferrucci gave A. J. Foyt Racing their best season in a long time. With David Malukas as a teammate in 2025, I can see this team earning a few podiums and possibly winning a race next year.

David Malukas – jettisoned by Arrow McLaren when his preseason wrist injury did not heal, Malukas was signed by Meyer Shank Racing after the Indianapolis 500 and brought the floundering 66 car into the Leaders’ Circle. including a strong performance at Nashville where he contended for the lead. Malukas earned 148 points in little more than half a season. Teammate Rosenqvist had 306 points for a full year.

Returning to Form

Arrow McLaren and Andretti had difficult years in 2023, but both teams had a bit of a bounce back this season. Pato O’Ward won three times for Arrow McLaren, and Colton Herta won twice for Andretti Global. Both drivers had chances to win several other races.

Andretti retains the same lineup of Herta, Kyle Kirkwood, and Marcus Ericsson for 2025, while Arrow McLaren replaces Alexander Rossi with Christian Lundgaard. It would be nice to see these two in the mix every weekend.

The Pit Window Awards

The coveted Pit Window Awards go to:

Best races– Indianapolis 500; Milwaukee Race 1 and Milwaukee Race 2 in any order.

Worst races– Iowa race1 and Iowa race 2 in any order. I think Race 1 was slightly better.

Most Improved Driver– Santino Ferrucci. -He went from a 19th place finish in the points in 2023 to ninth this year.

Super Sub– Conor Daly. Daly replaced Agustin Canapino in the 78 and brought a struggling team into the Leaders’ Circle. When Daly retires, this award will be named after him.

Many Thanks

This column is nothing without the loyal readers who follow The Pit window. I appreciate all of you. Thank you for your continued support.

A huge thank you to Kyle McInnes, who shot most of the photos you saw here this season. Kyle added a lot to these posts. His artwork added a lot to this post.

Thank you to NBC for a decade of great coverage. You will be missed, FOX has a high bar to reach.

A shoutout to all the track media directors who kindly allowed me access. They have a thankless job, and I appreciate their giving me space to work.

Lastly, my travels would not be possible without the support of my partner in crime, er, life, Marti Strum, who encourages to go on these adventures, including the big one i took in June.

I will have some pieces on the Battle on the Bricks at IMS this weekend, although I am attending as a fan. Like an Indycar engine at 10,000 miles, I have reached my mileage limit.

Quick Thoughts-Milwaukee Race 1- Pato- monium

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

All of a sudden Indycar oval racing is good again. The gloom and doom following the Iowa doubleheader has vanished like gossamer on windy day.

WWTR had a good race, and this evening’s race also produced a good show. The race ended with Will Power chasing down winner Pato O’Ward. Races always seem more fun when Pato wins. Itb was certainly a poular victory with the fans.

O’Ward, the most popular driver in Indycar and Mexico, dominated the race ince he took the lead, staying at the front for 133 laps. Any other winner would have been overshadowed by third place finisher Conor Daly, who started 25th and gave. Juncos Hollinger Racing their first podium..

O’Ward first took the lead on lap 68, led again from lapo 119-185, and took the lead for good on lap 195. He managed traffic beautifully, keeping Will Power at bay to win by just under two seconds. It was one of O’Ward’s more convincing wins.

Daly- From 25th to 3rd

Juncos Hollinger Racing hired Conor Daly to replace Agustin Canapino for one reason- to get into the Leaders’ Circle. Based on tonight’s result, it looks as if they made the right choice. The 78 is now 21st in entrant point -above the cut line.iiDaly does well on ovals, but tonight was arguably one of the best drives of his career, He started 25th in a car that had not shown except for a few solid qualifying efforts and brought home the team’s first Indycar podium.

Daly admitted in the post race press conference that finances may keep him from keeping htis ride in 2025. JHR would be well served to find a way for Daly to stay. The team has shown improvement this season, and I think Daly could help take another step forward.

Notes

Katherine Legge recovered from a spin and earned a top 20 finish.

Why did the last caution, for debris, require 16 laps?

Power cut Alex Palou’s lead to 43 points as Palou managed a fifth place result. Power shave 11 points from the advantage. Even he cuts 11 points in each of the final two races, Palou still takes his third title.

Power noted in the press conference that Indycar, not NASCAR, should be racing in Mexico.

Results

Daly to Finish Season for JHR

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Super sub Conor Daly will finish the 2024 season for Juncos Hollinger Racing, replacing Agustin Canapino in car 78

From Juncos Hollinger Racing:

Juncos Hollinger Racing

INDYCAR veteran Conor Daly will be stepping into the seat of the Juncos Hollinger Racing No. 78 for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Indianapolis, IndianaAugust 14, 2024

INDYCAR veteran Conor Daly will be stepping into the seat of the Juncos Hollinger Racing No. 78 for the remainder of the 2024 season. Welcome, Conor!

Conor Daly:

“I am extremely pleased to reunite with Ricardo Juncos after our success together in the Road To Indy! Ricardo took a chance on me when I was young and it made a huge difference in my career. There are a lot of people on this team that I’ve worked with before and I that gives me a lot of confidence. What Brad Hollinger and Ricardo have built here is extremely impressive in a short amount of time and I consider myself very lucky to get to compete for the rest of the season and earn the necessary points for this #78 Chevrolet. There are a lot of partners in this effort and I appreciate the support behind me to get back in the race seat.”

Ricardo Juncos:

“Having Conor Daly back in a JHR car after many years is like a flashback to some great memories, as we achieved a lot together. Now it’s time to focus on what’s ahead and aim for strong results in the rest of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.”

Brad Hollinger:

“Conor’s years of INDYCAR experience will help the team grow and develop the car further.”

500 News: Livery, Sponsor, and Driver Announcements

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Karherine Legge r4turns for4 the 108th running of the indianqapolis 500 with Dale Coyne Racing. Legge will drive car 51 with sponsorship from e.l.f.., a cosmetics company. Legge drive for Coyne in 2007.

The livery for Conor Daly’s car was revealed yesterday. Sponsored by Polkadot, a blockchain company.

According to the press release, “Polkadot is positioned to serve as the powerful, secure core of Web3. (Its) decentralized governance places the community at the center of decision-making processes; every holder of the Polkadot token (DOT) has a voice towards shaping the platform’s future direction.”

My technological illiteracy is such that I’ll just say I’m happy that they are sponsoring Conor and leave it at thtat.

Marco Andretti’s livery also occurred yesterday. The 98 car has sponsorship from Mapei.

Coming up- a practice update at the end of the veterans session and a story on PREMA joining Indycar.

DRR/Cusick Sign Hunter-Reay and Daly for 500

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Dreyer and Reinbold will again team with Don Cusick for the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500. Conor Daly will team with 2014 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay in the two car effort.

In 2023 Stefan Wilson qualified one of the cars which was entered by Cusick. In the Monday practice after qualifying, Wilson broke his back in a crash. Many were expecting Wilson to return for 2024.

Cusick decided to distribute his money to both DRR cars, which I believe led to Wilson not having enough funding. \About Wilson, Cusick said in a video call yesterday:

“As far as Stefan goes, unfortunately he had the injury, I
think it set him back a little bit. I’m not sure that he’s done
trying to be a part of the Indy 500. Look, we’ll always
support him. He’s a good guy and a good friend. He is the
reason that we ended up in the Indy 500.
That said, he’s given us his full support and blessing.
Depending on what happens this year, hopefully he’s
around in May and able to say hi to everybody.”

Hunter=Reay and Daly are both eager to work together, and they appear to be on the same page about race strategy. Hunter_r reay talked about the craziness which occurred near the end of last year’s race, which ended in a red flag fiasco.

“There needs to be a higher level of respect amongst the
drivers in superspeedway racing. We are out there doing
230, 240, whatever you want to call it,” Hunter-Reay said.
“There was a lot of moves last year that were very road
course like, street course like. Especially on restarts,
things like that.
I think as a group, it needs to be brought up and we need
to be conscious of it. Yeah, then you have the unknowns,
some new drivers coming in again. We’ve always had that.
We’ve always had an influx of some new drivers to the
Speedway, the 500. You kind of deal with that as it goes.
Definitely there were some questionable points in the race
that we need to address that as a group.”

Daly believes that there will be changes coming based on a drivers’ meeting in December.

“After attending the drivers meeting in
December, there’s definitely going to be some, I think,
adjustments to how things are called, right? Josef
Newgarden snaking down the straight below the pit lane
entry, I think that’s probably going to go away. I think the
drivers are always pretty unified in what we want to see on
how many moves you can make down the back straight if
you’re trying to snake down the back straight, stuff like that.”

I have heard that the dreaded dragon move will be pretty much banned.

The DRR/Cusick situation reflects the best and the worst of the racing business. Three capable drivers, all good guys, and only two seats available. I feel for Stefan Wilson. On the other hand, DRR has its strongest driver lineup in several years, and the team always has competitive cars at the 500.

Daly Replaces Harvey at RLL for Gateway

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Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing today announced that Conor Daly will replace Jack Harvey as the driver of car 30 for the next IndyCar race at World Wide Technology Raceway. A statement from Harvey indicated that his tenure at RLL was over.

My understanding is that the team wil audition drivers in the final two races of the season at Portland and Laguna Seca.

Jack Harvey is one of the nicest drivers in the paddock. I hope he finds a ride that is a good fit for him.

From earlier:

The Last IMS Doubleheader?

The Last IMS Doubleheader?

It has been a strange year for Daly. He began 2023 as the full driver of car 20 for Ed Carpenter Racing. He was relieved of that ride after Detroit. Daly then subbed for then injured Simon Pagenaud at Mid Ohio and Iowa. He is now driving for his third team this season. Oddly, each car he has or will drive bears a number ending in zero.

Here is the statement from RLL:

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (August 15, 2023) – Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced a change to their 2023 driver lineup for the No. 30 entry today. Veteran Conor Daly will compete for the team at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) on August 27. The driver for the No. 30 entry for races at Portland International Raceway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will be announced at a later date.

Daly has made 107 NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts since his debut in 2013 and earned his first series pole at the Iowa Speedway short oval in 2020 for Race 1. He has competed in six of the last seven INDYCAR SERIES races held at WWTR and has earned four top-10 finishes with his best being fifth in 2017.

The 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season resumes with the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 on August 26-27, which will be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on August 27. All on-track action can be seen on NBC’s Peacock Premium streaming service. For more information about the series or team, visit http://www.indycar.com and http://www.rahal.com.

QUOTEBOARD:

BOBBY RAHAL, co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing: “First, I would like to thank Jack Harvey for all of his efforts on behalf of RLL for the last year and a half. He committed fully to the team but for whatever reason, we weren’t able to achieve the results that he or the team deserves and we wish him well in the future. We will use the final three races of the season to gauge other racing talent. I’m very pleased that Conor has agreed to join us in St. Louis. He’s been strong there and I feel that he can bring value to the team while also providing us with a strong effort. I look forward to having him with us.”

CONOR DALY, driver of the No. 30 Honda at WWTR: “It means a lot to have a chance to drive for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. I’ve known Bobby ever since I was a child, our families are very close. Mike Lanigan is someone that has known my dad for a long time, and I’ve known him well too. And David Letterman is a friend of our family as well so it’s very special to have the chance to drive for this organization. I will obviously do the best job that I can for them to make them proud and make their partners proud and I hope to be able to deliver everything they are looking for. I’m excited for the chance to get back behind the wheel at one of my favorite tracks at World Wide Technology Raceway.”

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Daly Returns to MSR; Pagenaud Still Not Cleared

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Simon Pagenud photo by Joe Sibinski

Simon Pagenaud issues the following statement on Twitter this morning:

Conor Daly will again sub for Pagenaud in the 60 Meyer Shank Racing. Daly has raced seven times at Iowa, and he won the pole there in 2020 for race 1.

Daly also filled in for Pagenaud at Mid Ohio in July following Pagenaud’s massive practice accident.

I hope Simon is olay and we will see him back in the car before the end of the season.