MADISON, Ill.– When Conor Daly qualified ninth for Saturday (Aug. 17) evening’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, he did so for the 11th different IndyCar team he has competed for throughout his career.
The difference with this team is that it brings Daly’s career back to the beginning of his racing journey. Juncos Hollinger Racing replaced Agustin Canapino with the Noblesville, Indiana, native who drove for Juncos back in the days of the old Star Mazda championship in 2010.
Daly didn’t just drive in that championship, he dominated with seven wins out of 13 races, only finishing off the podium once with a fourth-place finish at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
After their last race together at Road Atlanta, 14 years ago, Daly is back with Juncos and their partnership is off to a great start. The No. 78 Chevrolet was 12th in the first Friday practice session, qualified 12th before engine change penalties, and was then seventh in the evening practice that same day.
Daly has integrated well with the team, partially because there are a lot of familiar faces turning the wrenches on his car. Daly ran part-time for Carlin Racing on the ovals several years ago and team co-owner Trevor Carlin bowed out of NTT IndyCar Series racing ahead of the 2022 season. The majority of the mechanics went from Carlin to JHR.
“The main thing I think that I really respect out of them is that they know where they should be looking for the missing time,” Daly said. “So a lot of teams, well, some teams that I’ve been with either haven’t looked in the right place or they’re just on a bit of a different page.
“What I like is that they’re identifying where I think over the winter they want to develop. It’s hard to do it now and again, it costs money to do. So it’s hard to do that. But I definitely think that to have two cars in the top 10 and we’re up against these guys with a lot more budget and a lot bigger groups, I would have to say it’s quite impressive.”
The weekend got off to a great start for Daly, but he knows that the main focus is…
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