WEST ALLIS, Wis. –– Conor Daly‘s first IndyCar podium in eight years couldn’t have come at a better time for the Noblesville, Ind. native.
The 32-year-old, who is driving for his third team of the 2024 IndyCar season, finished third in Saturday’s (Aug. 31) Hy-Vee 250 at the Milwaukee Mile behind race winner Pato O’Ward and Will Power.
After a nine position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change on Friday night (Aug. 30), Daly started 25th out of 27 cars in the first of the weekend’s two races. By the third lap of the race, the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet was up to 14th place after Daly went around numerous cars on the outside of the corners.
“I honestly didn’t know how good we were,” Daly said in the post-race press conference. “The first lap I decided to just go where there was open space. Turns out that worked. Then, yeah, we just kept going. It was kind of slowly working our way forward.”
Daly settled into between 10th and 15th place for much of the race but caught a lucky break on a late caution ahead of his final pit stop. Colton Herta left his pit stall early and his left front wheel came loose from the car after leaving pit road.
By the time the caution came out on Lap 187, Daly was one of four cars on the lead lap that didn’t make his final pit stop along with Power, Christian Lundgaard and Linus Lundqvist. After race control sorted the running order, the quartet pitted and Daly lined up sixth on the final restart.
Daly moved up to fourth place after getting around Lundqvist and Lundgaard on Lap 204 and set off after Power. Power got by Santino Ferrucci for second place on Lap 223 and in the process forced the Connecticut native to move his car up the track by one groove. By slowing down to maintain control of his car, Ferrucci opened himself up to attack from Daly who didn’t need an invitation to pass.
The running order near the front of the field remained constant for the final 22 laps as Daly finished a comfortable third, over 14 seconds clear of Ferrucci.
The finish was the first podium finish in IndyCar competition for team co-owner Ricardo Juncos. Juncos was Daly’s car owner when the duo dominated the 2010 Star Mazda (now USF Pro 2000) championship, which was Juncos’ first title win in cars as a team owner after moving to the U.S. in the early 2000s.
“I think it’s really impressive what he’s done with that group,” Daly said. “It’s…
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