Conor Daly – Syndication Server

Daly takes Juncos Hollinger’s first IndyCar podium

Conor Daly was drafted in to drive the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing into a $1 million Leaders Circle contract before the end of the season. The Hoosier accomplished the first part of that mission by moving the car from 23rd — tied for 22nd on points, but 23rd due to the car’s lower placements — entering the Hy-Vee Milwaukee doubleheaders to 20th as a result of delivering the team’s first NTT IndyCar Series podium.

Daly’s stellar blast from 25th to third was exactly the kind of short oval performance he’s known for, and while there are two races left to run, he has the No. 78 on the right side of the top 22, which will produce that $1 million contract if he can maintain the car’s form at the second Milwaukee race and the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.

“It’s really cool, especially when the last podium I was on had Juan Pablo Montoya and Sebastien Bourdais. I changed my era of IndyCar drivers,” Daly said sitting alongside race winner Pato O’Ward and second-place Will Power.

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“Kind of crazy. I honestly didn’t know how good we were. The first lap I decided to just go where there was open space. Turns out that worked. Then we just kept going. It was kind of slowly working our way forward.”

Daly conjured up his typical bravery to shoot past multiple cars on the start and restarts, often by going wide — wider than any other driver dared — and he was rewarded every time. His recent reunion with the team where he won his first major open-wheel championship has been warm, and inside the JHR team, he’s also found many of the talented crew who were part of the former Carlin Racing team he drove for and was absorbed into JHR when Trevor and Stephanie Carlin folded the operation at the end of 2021.

“A lot of those guys, I got ’em a pole, now I got ’em a podium,” he said. “I feel good about that. They’re a great group of people. Shout-out to Trevor Carlin, too. He put together a really cool group of people. Obviously, a lot of them have really enjoyed it. They’ve stayed. Ricardo (Juncos) and Brad (Hollinger) have taken over.

“It truly is, I think, a very underrated group. They’re so smart. There’s a lot of talented folks there. They deserve this, for sure, because it’s been a very unlucky year for them. Obviously I felt it the last two weeks. This is the first race we’ve been together where we haven’t been spun at least once. That’s positive. I think tomorrow can only be better, I hope.”

Juncos Hollinger coming out the other side of stormy 2024

A year of turbulence is reaching its end for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Amid its drama-filled moments, the team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger has also gotten faster and become more competitive. In 2023, its lead driver Callum Ilott was …

A year of turbulence is reaching its end for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

Amid its drama-filled moments, the team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger has also gotten faster and become more competitive. In 2023, its lead driver Callum Ilott was able to produce three top-10 finishes; so far, his replacement Romain Grosjean has delivered five — and the number could be higher without some of the difficulties they’ve authored or encountered.

Grosjean is 17th in the championship with the No. 77 Chevy, which is safely inside the threshold to earn a Leaders Circle contract. The same can’t be said for the sister No. 78 JHR Chevy, which is tied for 22nd — the final spot — in the entrants’ standings. Juncos and Hollinger parted with Agustin Canapino in July, the No. 78’s driver since 2023, and sought the help of Conor Daly to haul the car into Leaders Circle contention.

Looking to 2025, JHR has plenty of suitors for its second car, and despite rumors of Juncos packing up and heading back to Argentina, selling the team, shuttering the team, and an impending split between the partners, he says the J and the H in JHR are too busy planning for next year to let the annoying chatter slow their momentum.

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“Me and Brad, we are talking to 15 drivers — one-five — from people that have money, a lot of money, a little bit, nothing, or want to get paid,” Juncos told RACER. “Like every year, we are trying to work on the budgets from the investors and from sponsors before we decide who’s going to be driving the car. Both cars are really fast, so we just gonna take our time. I think people know how good we are doing things inside the paddock, and that’s why we have a lot of interest from drivers.

“I don’t know at the moment who the driver is gonna be. We’re just trying to finish the season as strong as we can. Hopefully we can get the Leaders Circle money and we will continue talking to potentials. Then we will see where we are in the next three, four weeks.”

The team has gone from being sporadically quick to becoming a more familiar presence towards the sharp end of the field in qualifying. Over the last three races, Grosjean’s qualified fifth at Toronto, eighth at World Wide Technology Raceway and eighth at Portland, which speaks to the team’s growth. The task ahead is converting JHR’s capabilities in time trials through to the end of each race.

“If I take the small mistakes or the situations where we were taken out of races or crashed and we just finished the races, even without trying to pass nobody, we should be P9 in the championship with the 77 and P12 with the 78,” Juncos said. “But we’re P17 and P22 because of errors from the team, errors from the drivers — but very small mistakes. In qualifying, we average P9 with the 77, so I think we’re showing the potential of the speed in the team. We make improvements on the pit stops. Strategy is very good. Now we just need to put it all together.”

Juncos says the team is making a bigger investment in engineering and research and development to take another step forward.

“We are very strong with Brad; we have a strategy,” he said. “We keep adding good people. We are looking now, actually, to increase the budgets from next year to find a half-tenth (of a second). If we can add a half-tenth only, we will be in the Fast 12 with both cars this year and 80-percent chance of the Fast Six by just adding a half-tenth.”

The bold move to change drivers has been paying off. The 78 car was in 23rd when Daly was inserted and with his renowned oval prowess, it stands a good chance of moving up another position or two and earning a $1 million Leaders Circle contract.

“It’s been difficult because we just try to be smart and finish and collect points, and we’ve been taken out of races and had crashes,” Juncos said. “Nothing we can do about it, like Iowa, then Gateway and then Portland with the 78 car, But I think Conor’s doing a good job. We need to create a little bit of luck, so we’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing.”

Daly’s reunion with Leandro Juncos nothing short of ‘surreal’

Conor Daly’s return to the Juncos Hollinger Racing team where he won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship has been a bit of a time warp for the 32-year-old veteran. Since his time with Juncos on the Road to Indy, Daly has amassed more than 100 NTT …

Conor Daly’s return to the Juncos Hollinger Racing team where he won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship has been a bit of a time warp for the 32-year-old veteran.

Since his time with Juncos on the Road to Indy, Daly has amassed more than 100 NTT IndyCar Series races over a span of 11 years, and with the late-season call to replace Agustin Canapino in the No. 78 JHR Chevy, there’s been a new wrinkle to Juncos reunion.

In his Pro Mazda days, Ricardo Juncos’s young son Leandro was always present within his father’s team, cheering for Daly as he won the team’s first major open-wheel championship. That little boy has not only grown up, but he’s become an invaluable crew member working on Daly’s No. 78 program as the assistant race strategist.

“I’m very happy to work with Conor and be his strategist,” Leandro Juncos told RACER. “It’s amazing to combine nostalgia with the chance to learn from someone so influential in the world of motorsport.”

My how time has flown for Daly and the Juncos family. Juncos Hollinger Racing

For Daly, it’s somewhat surreal to consider how the team co-owner’s son, who was barely out of diapers back in 2010, is on his timing stand for Saturday night’s Bommarito 500 race at World Wide Technology Raceway and for the rest of the season.

“Well, it’s the first time in my career where I’ve felt extremely old,” Daly said with a laugh. “Like, I knew that my IndyCar career was on the back end, but now I’m like, okay, my engineer Adam Blocker is 27, so he’s younger than me, and then I’ve got Leandro informing me about very important things, studying the average lap times of everyone out there, telling me smart things.”

Daly starts ninth for the night race at WWTR.

“He’s a smart young kid, obviously, grew up around racing and what a cool deal,” he continued. “And then he’s right next to his dad, Ricardo, who’s calling me in and out of the pits. It’s a surreal situation. But also, racing is a family. It’s a cool deal.”

Daly in at Juncos Hollinger Racing

Conor Daly will step into the No. 78 Chevy vacated by Agustin Canapino for this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and remain in the Juncos Hollinger Racing car for the rest of the NTT IndyCar Series season. The veteran will join Romain …

The veteran will join Romain Grosjean at World Wide Technology Raceway, Portland, Milwaukee and Nashville with a clear mission to haul the No. 78 forward in the entrants’ championship in order to receive a $1 million Leaders Circle contract by the end of the season finale.

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For Daly, who tested the No. 78 car earlier this month, it’s a proper return to the team where he won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship, which propelled him upwards to Indy Lights and IndyCar, where he made his debut in 2013 at the Indianapolis 500.

“I am extremely pleased to reunite with Ricardo Juncos after our success together in the Road to Indy,” said Daly, “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 No. 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 added, “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.”

Daly to sub for Harvey in Iowa Race 2

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 …

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.

RACE 2 STARTING LINEUP

Daly stars after frustrating run up to Indy

Conor Daly’s month of May had everything a veteran driver doing a one-off race didn’t want, with a persistent absence of speed from his No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports Chevy and, on occasion, mechanical issues that added to his …

Taking the start from a distant 29th on the grid – well behind teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay in 12th – Daly and the DRR/Cusick team took an aggressive approach to the 200-lap contest and committed to an alternate pit strategy that would, if the caution periods fell their way, propel the No. 23 Chevy towards the front of the field.

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Fortune smiled on this son of Indiana who charged hard throughout the 500-mile race and led 22 laps along the way for the lone Indy-only team in the field. Daly’s run to 10th wasn’t his best finish at the Speedway; he took sixth in 2022 for Ed Carpenter Racing, but considering the circumstances at Dennis Reinbold’s part-time program, the result was a big deal as he outran his former boss Carpenter, his replacement at ECR, and entire teams like Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, among others.

“I’m super pumped,” Daly said after picking up 19 positions in the race. “So thankful to Polkadot and Chevrolet for working with us. We’ve had some trials and tribulations over the last week and a half, and we knew we were faster than where we started and we proved it. We got up front thanks to great strategy from Dennis and the crew.

“I love running at the front of this race. For what we had and the time we’ve spent together in this car, we have to be super proud.”

Daly to run at Indy with Polkadot backing in groundbreaking community-supported deal

Conor Daly will carry the branding and colors of Polkadot on the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports Chevy he’ll pilot at the Indianapolis 500. According to the company, “This sponsorship represents the first time a major athlete’s …

Conor Daly will carry the branding and colors of Polkadot on the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports Chevy he’ll pilot at the Indianapolis 500.

According to the company, “This sponsorship represents the first time a major athlete’s sponsorship has been decided by a community vote using blockchain technology. The proposal to sponsor Daly passed with an overwhelming 95.8% approval, demonstrating the community’s eagerness to showcase blockchain technology’s real-world applications.”

Daly is entered in his 11th Indy 500 and his first with the Indy-only specialists at DRR.

“The fact that thousands of individuals in the Polkadot community – not a corporate marketing team – used their voices to vote and select me as their ambassador is an incredible honor and reflective of the power of what a more free and open internet can look like in the future,” Daly said.

“The fact that I’m racing not just for a brand name or logo, but representing developers, investors and regular people that are building tomorrow’s web, is thrilling and overwhelming. We’re bringing power back to people, while making sports history.”

Q&A: Tyrese Haliburton on entering All-Star Weekend in an Indy car, the 3-point contest and more

“All of these people are here for All-Star Weekend, and I’m the Hoosier representative,” Tyrese Haliburton told For The Win.

Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton is one of the busiest individuals at the NBA’s 2024 All-Star Weekend.

Haliburton, who led Eastern Conference guards in All-Star votes from fans as well as media and players, earned an appearance as the starting point guard in the East for the All-Star Game.

The 23-year-old represents the Pacers, the hosts of NBA All-Star Weekend for the first time since 1985. He is just the fourth player in franchise history to ever make an appearance in the starting lineup of the All-Star Game. For the second year in a row, Haliburton will also participate in the Starry 3-point Contest.

Haliburton took some time to catch up with For The Win to discuss showing up to All-Star Weekend in an Indy car, the love he received from Larry Bird and Reggie Miller and more.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

DRR, Cusick team up to field Hunter-Reay and Daly at Indy 500

Dennis Reinbold will have a pair of oval experts in Conor Daly and 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay for both of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Indianapolis 500 entries and welcome a new event partner in Don Cusick to the DRR family. The …

The American duo represents the strongest lineup assembled by the Indianapolis-based team since its formation in 2000. And with the addition of Cusick Motorsports as a partner across both entries, Reinbold is happy to see their relationship, which started in 2023 by fielding a car for Stefan Wilson, expand into one that includes Daly and Hunter-Reay under the Dreyer & Reinbold-Cusick Motorsports banner.

“Don’s going to take a role on both cars as opposed to a one car with Stefan last year and we’re just all going to work together to try to generate the appropriate amount of sponsorship to apply to the two cars,” Reinbold told RACER. “This is a great group to go racing with, and we couldn’t ask for two better drivers than Ryan and Conor.”

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For Cusick, going racing for the first time without Wilson will be a bittersweet experience, especially after he was ruled out from racing last year after being injured in a post-qualifying crash caused by a rival, but he hopes the evolving relationship with DRR can include the Briton in the future.

“We’re definitely not done with Stefan,” Cusick said. “The situation with teams and available cars and engines at Indy, we talked to everybody and weren’t able to find anything that worked for us with a team that had an opening. So our thought was to keep Cusick Motorsports involved, and we felt that if we weren’t there, we might break the chain, so we wanted to continue with Dreyer & Reinbold.

“There’s no better way to make that happen than to get more involved with Dennis and his team — and if we could do a third car in the future for Stef, we’d like to do that, even if it means buying a car for it. The way I look at it is last year [with DRR] we were dating. This year’s we’re engaged, and if all continues to go well, next year, we’ll get married.”

For Hunter-Reay, who joined DRR for the first time in 2023 (pictured, top) and charged from 18th to 11th in the race while dealing with a broken front-wing adjuster, the opportunity to build on the positives and work with Daly is a source of great encouragement.

“I really enjoyed every day going to the track and working with this group and the constant feeling of enthusiasm throughout the whole garage,” said the 2012 IndyCar Series champion. “We were competitive the whole time and had a really strong effort on race day. I was eager to come back with them for 2024 and I’ll miss having Stef there, but I’ve texted with Conor and we’ll get to work on making this team the strongest it can be.”

Conor Daly is relishing an Indy 500 reset alongside Hunter-Reay. Motorsport Images

Hunter-Reay and Daly laughed at the notion of DRR-Cusick’s Indy 500 lineup being an “Ed Carpenter Racing Reunion Tour” after Daly was released by ECR in June and replaced by Hunter-Reay who was uninterested in returning after the 2023 season was completed.

Daly had a few spicy words to offer for Hunter-Reay in the aftermath of the ECR driver change, but there are no lingering issues between the IndyCar veterans as they join forces with DRR-Cusick.

“Dennis actually first called me maybe two years ago to ask about my availability, but I was returning to my former employer so it wasn’t right on the timing. But when I was free, he called and said, ‘I believe you can win this race, and we really want to work with you,’” Daly said. “And I was like, ‘Well, that’s what I want to do!’ Dennis said, ‘I don’t care what it takes, we just want you to drive for us and we don’t need you to come with any money,’ and I knew it would be silly not to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I also wanted to thank Don Cusick for getting involved with us, and being teamed up with Captain America, Mr. Ryan Hunter-Reay, is going to be really cool. Despite what I might have thought or said about him last year, it’s two Americans using Chevrolet engines in a great team with a great chance of doing something big.”

Daly returns to Nitrocross for Calgary round

Conor Daly will return to Nitrocross for next weekend’s trip north of the border to GMC Stadium in Calgary, which will host the only snow and ice round of the season. Daly will once again race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the headline …

Conor Daly will return to Nitrocross for next weekend’s trip north of the border to GMC Stadium in Calgary, which will host the only snow and ice round of the season.

Daly will once again race for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in the headline all-electric Group E class, having featured for the team twice earlier this season, driving alongside Robin Larsson, Andreas Bakkerud and Fraser McConnell. For the last two events — doubleheaders in Phoenix and California — Dreyer & Reinbold’s fourth car has been occupied by Brian Deegan.

“I’m thrilled to be back with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC for Round 8 of the Nitrocross season,” said Daly. “Ice will be a new challenge for me as dirt was earlier in the season, however, I believe I will be able to adapt quickly.

“The team’s commitment to excellence and the electric atmosphere of Nitrocross make this a perfect fit for me. I can’t wait to hit the track for an unforgettable race.”

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Daly made his debut in the category at the season opener in Oklahoma last June, and raced in rounds two and three at Utah Motorsports Campus in August. He took his best finish to-date in the first part of that doubleheader, finishing fifth ahead of reigning champion and current points leader Larsson.

“Dreyer & Reinbold Racing JC is delighted to welcome Conor Daly back to our team for Round 8 of the Nitrocross season,” said Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team owner Dennis Reinbold. “Conor’s previous performances have showcased his talent and determination, and we are confident that his return will add an extra layer of excitement to the upcoming race.”