The back and neck pain that plagued Jack Harvey during last weekend’s NTT IndyCar Series race at Mid-Ohio — which carried over to new levels of pain being suffered in the cockpit of the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda on Friday and Saturday at Iowa Speedway — has led the tough-as-nails Briton to step aside and let former Coyne driver Conor Daly complete the Hy-Vee doubleheader.
Daly, who agreed to be Harvey’s standby if such a need arose, was already in Iowa and donned Harvey’s race suit to start the cockpit fitment process at approximately 6pm ET, two hours prior to the start of the 250-lap contest Saturday night. Whatever plans the team had for Daly in Race 1 would be torpedoed by IndyCar’s Rule 4.3.3.1, which says a replacement drivers cannot go straight into a race without turning laps in the car prior to the race.
Harvey took the start, completed 28 laps, and retired in 25th place.
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With no time to hold a special session for Daly prior to Race 1 due to the concert being held on the front straight, the series scheduled a 15-minute run for the IndyCar veteran between 10:05-10:20am ET, just over two hours prior to the 12:30pm start for the 250-lap finale.
Due to the driver change for Race 2, Harvey’s starting position of 18th was forfeited and Daly, who last raced at the Indianapolis 500, will start last.