Written by Archie O’Reilly, Edited by Morgan Holiday
The mistake of 2016 was not going to be repeated.
Conor Daly was only seven races into his first full-time IndyCar season when he stood on the podium for the first time. The bar was set high from the outset.
“This has got to happen way more often in my life,” Daly recalls thinking.
“But it didn’t.”
That is why, exactly 100 races on from that day in Detroit, the Indiana native was going to let every ounce of his second career podium sink in. And the memories of that night on the Milwaukee Mile, adorned in the green and black of Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR), are vivid in his mind.
It meant the world to Daly having the likes of Will Power, a two-time series champion, elated for and immediately embrace him in pit lane.
“That was a moment that I’ll never forget,” Daly says. “That guy is one of the fastest to have ever driven a race car. That type of respect is something that I will never forget.”
Also having young hotshot Pato O’Ward, who stood on the top step of the podium that night, credit the manner in which he scythed through the field and drove his way to third place was similarly affirming for Daly.
As has been a staple of his career on and off track, he had to show gritty determination to gain his moment in the sun under the Wisconsin twilight.
“It didn’t just happen,” Daly says. “We had to go out there and create it for ourselves.
“So hearing those things are things that I’ll never forget, but also things that you want to just continue to repeat. Now it’s like getting a refreshing hit of that drug of racing. We’ve got to get this every weekend.”
But as recently as last year, there was a world in which there was not a regular ‘next weekend’ for Daly in IndyCar. Since he lost his ride at Ed Carpenter Racing (ECR) in June 2023, the 100-plus race veteran of the series had been confined to ‘superb sub’ appearances.
Following a strong showing to finish eighth in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, it came entirely out of the blue that Daly was to have only one more race with the ECR team with which he was in his third season.
The team was struggling for overall performance - a far cry from its race-winning early days and fourth-place championship result with Josef Newgarden in 2016 - and Daly had trailed talented young teammate Rinus VeeKay in his two seasons with the team. But a sudden mid-season axe, with Daly replaced by retired veteran Ryan Hunter-Reay, was a cruel twist.
But from Daly’s perspective almost two years on, as much as he was tossed into an abyss of unexpected uncertainty, this move was a positive one for his career.
“It’s something that I never really expected,” Daly reflects. “But honestly it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. And maybe to Rinus [who left for Dale Coyne Racing ahead of 2025] too - Rinus just goes out there and kicks the crap out of them in the first race.
“It’s one of those things that I think is super satisfying to see for me. Rinus was a great teammate - I truly believe he was unfairly let go there. But probably the best thing that could have happened to him.
“As soon as I leave that operation, we’re on the podium, we’re in the top 10, we’re qualifying at the front. Sometimes you need that in your life. And a lot of drivers don’t get that chance to go back and compete somewhere else in a better environment or certainly a more fitting environment.
“It was a tough moment but definitely the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”
As much as Daly has relished leaving the ECR environment, the lack of certainty in his career in the last two years has taken a toll. Whether he would ever be back in IndyCar full-time was a genuine consideration thrust before him.
It hasn't just been the threat of his dream of racing in IndyCar crumbling beneath Daly’s feet either. Simply maintaining a livelihood has been at the forefront of his mind at points.
“It’s been one of the hardest things in the world,” Daly says. “At the end of the day, I have to pay my bills like everyone else; I’m not like sitting on this golden castle of: ‘Oh yeah, if racing doesn’t work out, I can just hang.’ That’s not true.
“I have to do this to pay my bills, to continue to establish a life for myself in the future. And I also want to create a legacy for myself in the future. I want to have my family for myself in the future that hopefully they’ll be proud of as well.
“So it’s something that has been really hard for me at times.”
Daly knows better than anyone that racing is a tough business. Its exclusivity leads to an often brutal fight for limited opportunities at the top in an extremely oversaturated market of drivers.
He has first-hand experience of just how cutthroat a world that exclusivity can cause it to be.
“There’s been moments of this sport where it actually can be the greatest time ever,” Daly says. “There’s an amazing family in this sport that’s a small world that you can always rely on.
“But I think there’s some backstabbing that can happen in this community and in this sport that is unlike any other sport out there. So that’s tough to be a part of. It’s a lethal mental grind.
“There are some things that happen that you’re like: ‘There is no way this would happen in any other successful business, in any other sport.’ Racing for some reason brings out some of the worst in people but also some of the best.
“People are never going to know some of the things that have gone on behind the scenes of some of these folks.”
For a while, it became a case of Daly having to take any opportunity he possibly could just to race. That included outings as outlandish as competing in Travis Pastrana’s rallycross series dubbed Nitrocross, as well as occasional GT3 races.
Given the fierce competition for IndyCar seats and extensive budget required, his intention even became to pivot to NASCAR after racing in each of the series’ top three levels.
“I can’t necessarily pick and choose what I want to do,” Daly says. “I just have to take advantage of what’s an opportunity that’s presented to me. Last year we were able to create some opportunities with the funding that we had from [partner] Polkadot.”
One highlight of 2024 for Daly was, in addition to running the Indy 500 in a one-off situation with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, competing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
Daly had never run an oval in an Xfinity car that he knew very little about but still ran up front and finished the race in 14th.
“[It was] one of the most fun events that I’ve ever done in my life,” he says. “That was something that I will forever remember because of just how enjoyable it was to run at the front of something that I had no business being at the front of yet.
“I’m really proud of that race. It probably won’t necessarily be hung in the rafters anywhere but it was really, really cool. Those opportunities in both the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, I learned a lot from that. And I’m a better oval driver in the IndyCar stuff than I ever would have been if I didn’t get those opportunities.”
To Daly, the idea of the NASCAR ladder felt like a fresh start with new possibilities. He earmarks AJ Allmendinger as an example of a driver to have successfully made the transition from open-wheel racing to the stock-car world.
“I didn’t know what my chances were in IndyCar,” Daly says. “Really, I had no idea.
“It’s just about getting in with the right opportunity at the right time with the right funding behind you. No one’s going to hire me to start a new chapter in my career; it’s never going to happen unless I go out and win the Indy 500 or win a bunch of races this year.
“You can’t go racing on hopes and dreams.”
Still, even while trying to pivot to NASCAR, the cruel business of racing was still a significant stumbling block.
“When I got in the Xfinity car, it went really well and the team would have loved to have had me back… if I had four-and-a-half million dollars,” Daly says. “You’ve still got to be raw and realistic about it.
“We were certainly focused on trying to shift over to NASCAR but I love IndyCar.”
On the IndyCar side, teams were still putting faith in Daly if they needed a deputy. Following his ECR exit, there was soon an opportunity at Meyer Shank Racing with Simon Pagenaud sidelined through injury; Daly stepped in immediately having been on-site at Mid-Ohio, where Pagenaud’s airborne practice crash occurred, before running the Iowa doubleheader.
Also in late 2023, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s own premature axing of Jack Harvey amid Leaders’ Circle worries then saw them turn to Daly at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he finished 16th and was the team’s best-placed driver.
Following his Indy-only outing in May 2024, which saw Daly record a third successive top-five finish in the Indy 500, a Dale Coyne Racing return beckoned as Jack Harvey was deemed unfit mid-weekend after the first of two Iowa races.
“I’m glad that I can be that guy or I could be that guy,” Daly says. “And I think it certainly gives the haters something to chew on: ‘Man, this guy… why do people keep bringing them in?’ It’s like: ‘Well, because they can trust that I know what I’m doing.’”
If Daly or any driver could choose, they would certainly not want to be confined to a substitute role. But now having driven for 11 different teams across 116 races in IndyCar, Daly has gathered an unparalleled inside view into a wide range of operations.
One particular thing that stood out to Daly was the brakes on the Andretti-allied Meyer Shank Racing car. Contracted for a short period, he is not privy to why this may be the case, but it does give Daly some insight to carry forward to his future endeavours.
“We obviously get into this game to win races and so that’s something that I still want to do,” Daly says. “But being a substitute - getting to learn from a lot of teams out there - is something that I’m very, very happy that I got to do.
“There’s a lot of incredible mechanics, incredible engineers at a lot of these race teams that I have had the opportunity to work with. It’s one of those things that I’m very thankful for. But it’s not the ideal position that you want to be in as a driver.”
There are many intangibles that Daly has taken too, particularly from the side of leadership and dedication required to succeed. But he knows that the ‘super sub’ tag could not persist forever.
“It’s definitely something that I don’t want to be,” Daly says. “You don’t want to be the guy that has to step in last minute - least preparation, least amount of ability to succeed. Without practice, without qualifying, without an opportunity to truly take advantage of that… it doesn’t matter what driver you are, it’s hard to jump in and succeed.”
But succeed was what Daly ultimately did on short notice at the end of 2024.
Undoubtedly, the most fruitful short-term ride of his career has proven to be that with JHR as he was tasked with securing the team a Leaders’ Circle contract after replacing Agustin Canapino for the final five races of last season.
Partially owing to the passionate following of the driver he replaced, Daly had to put up with an initial barrage of ire when he was announced to be taking over the No.78 Chevy last August.
“It’s lethal out there on the internet,” Daly says. “I actually think our fans and our general fan base right now is so positive and so supportive. Then there are a lot of young folks who have no idea who I am until over the last two years and they’re like: ‘This guy sucks.’ But maybe there’s more to this than what the young minds might think.
“I definitely get into the comments - it’s a bad area to go to. But it’s part of sport right now. I’m a race fan first - I always say that. And I certainly have people that I support and I know people either will like me or not. But it’s a wild ride sometimes.
“If I had a rough day in the car, I can promise you it’s a million times rougher when you then start to read someone who doesn’t actually know what happened in the car and the physical strain, the mental strain that you had to fight through in the car.”
But capped off by the Milwaukee podium and successful achieving of a Leaders’ Circle bonus for the team, Daly did his talking on track in style. And still faced with uncertainty about his future, he made sure to embrace every minute with the team.
After his Milwaukee success, he made a point of ensuring a team picture was taken. The following week, he took the team to a bar to continue the celebrations.
“I wanted to enjoy much more than what I did in 2016 for my first podium,” Daly says. “We’ve got to remember these happy times. We want to enjoy the fact that it’s hard to be successful in the top level of sport.
“It completely revitalised the love that I have for this sport. A lot of the drivers know what I’ve been through and the public will never know certainly what this sport is like on the inside in some areas.”
The podium was a full-circle moment for Daly, earning a first IndyCar podium for Ricardo Juncos, who he also won a first car racing championship for in Star Mazda on the IndyCar ladder in 2010. But there was a much deeper meaning to the success for Daly that would continue to grow in the months that followed too.
Upon first reuniting with Juncos, the mission was simply putting in five million-dollar drives to earn the Leaders’ Circle contract. But in lieu of the podium, the relationship quickly blossomed into something more and soon a full-time deal for 2025 was in the works.
“[Full-time in 2025 was] what I wanted,” Daly says. “I knew that they hadn’t had their driver lineup set when I got into the car at the end of last year. I know I still have a lot that I want to do in the IndyCar Series that I probably haven’t had a chance to do yet.
“But I also knew that I don’t necessarily come with a large Rolodex of funding behind me and I knew they needed that too.”
The off-season was hardly one of relaxation for Daly. He was working every week to try and secure one of the two vacant seats at JHR - in light of Canapino and Romain Grosjean departing - for the 2025 season.
“I knew that there was a funding element that needed to be in place and I knew that there were some people out there with funding,” Daly says. “So it was just trying to fight off those that were around but also trying to continue to solidify my position within the team from a financial support standpoint.
“If it was only about picking drivers, it would be much easier. But sadly that’s not the case. There has to be a whole business element involved a lot of the time. Some drivers obviously can just be selected and there are some folks that get to benefit from that.
“But I am not one of those yet - I still have to create opportunities for myself. And certainly my driving did secure this by last year so that’s helpful.”
On top of his Milwaukee podium, Daly capped off the 2025 season with a top-10 finish at the Nashville Superspeedway. He was also competitive at Gateway and in Portland but was innocently caught up in incidents in both races, albeit still finishing 13th in the former.
“All I could do is do the best job possible,” Daly says. “I think getting the podium is the only reason why I got the drive.
“Every race I thought we had a chance to compete. What I was able to do with that short amount of time is the only reason why I’m here now. It would have felt just sad had we not continued with the momentum that we had at the end of last year.”
Even while the podium placed him atop the list of drivers JHR targeted for their 2025 lineup, Daly was acutely aware of the fact that a modern driver’s skill set expands far beyond their on-track pedigree. He had to conquer the brutal business side too.
“It just depends on if you’re willing to put your ego aside to continue to fight for your own opportunities,” Daly says. “There are plenty of times where I could have just been like: ‘Nah, this is stupid. I know what I can do but I’m never going to get a chance to prove it.’
“I don’t want to do that. There’s things that I want to continue to do in this series. So it’s a matter of just putting your own self to work to continue to create a chance to compete at the highest level in the sport. And this is what I love to do.
“It’s certainly not what’s making me tonnes of money and creating a giant celebrity… I just want to get in there and compete. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes because there’s only 27 spots full time and there’s a lot of us out here who want to be in it.
“You cannot just wait for an opportunity to be put in front of you. It’s just never going to happen unless you’re the next coming of Ayrton Senna. But even still, I’d rather create an opportunity for myself than not.”
Daly was unveiled as a full-time JHR driver for 2025 one week before Christmas. But now with the season underway, the hard work is just beginning.
Just before the campaign commenced, Daly lost significant backing from blockchain sponsor Polkadot, who helped to fund his 2024 Indy 500 effort as well as additional NASCAR races. It has left him still in need of partners to restore a little bit more security amid speculation that it could put his season-long involvement in jeopardy in yet another gutting twist.
But encouragingly, at the start of the opening weekend of the season on the streets of St. Petersburg, Daly’s car featured a number change - now the No.76 Chevy rather than No.78 - in light of a last-minute deal with 76 Gas Stations, which is still in its formative stages.
“We are still trying to build partnerships into this team so we can continue to further solidify the fact that I want to be here for not only this year but for more years into the future as well,” Daly says.
“There’s a lot that can be said publicly and a lot that can’t be. We’re still fighting the good fight every day. So I’m with the team - we want to win together, we want to fight for this championship all the way to the end of it.
“But obviously we still want to make it known to people that: ‘Hey, there are opportunities here to support us.’ And that will help us if people continue to come on board.”
The deal with 76 was still unfolding on the Friday of the season’s opening practice session.
“It was very, very last minute,” Daly says. “And that deal still has to grow and evolve as we go through the weeks. It was one of those things where racing is just so silly sometimes and everything is for sale at all times.
“We’ve got a little bit of a deal in place - a little bit of funding in place - but it definitely isn’t life-changing funding. So we’ll have to continue as we do, day-by-day. But it was nice to get a little bit of something and a little bit of PR and it was a cool-looking number.”
Daly acknowledges IndyCar has been a hard commodity to sell but hopes, in light of a positive first television rating in excess of 1.4 million people, that the series’ new broadcast deal with FOX Sports can provide a necessary lift.
“We need the people who maybe drifted away from it to come right back because there were a tonne of people who used to watch open-wheel racing,” he says. “And when you see NASCAR at COTA getting four-and-a-half million people watching, why are we not getting at least two [million] of those?”
Despite there still being hints of uncertainty on the partnerships side off-track, Daly’s focus is purely on-track.
He showed encouraging speed to finish second in a pre-season group test session on the short course at Sebring International Raceway. That speed translated to glimmers through practice in St. Pete, where he placed fourth in his opening practice group and fifth in second practice.
Qualifying saw a step back for JHR though, with Daly qualifying 22nd and teammate Sting Ray Robb 26th. Daly ended up finishing 17th with Robb in 21st.
“There’s just a couple of small errors,” Daly says. “And really it just goes to show you how competitive it is. We’re fast in both practices and then you just have one small error in qualifying to miss the optimal lap on the tyres and you’re in the back.
“Then obviously the new tyre allotment rules [in the race] caught us out as well; with the heavier car… sometimes you could use used primaries in the past, now that’s definitely not the case, as we found out in our second stint. So just two small things.”
Now back in a full-season seat, one of Daly’s goals is to quash the perception that he is only an oval specialist. As he speaks with DIVEBOMB, above his right shoulder he has a picture of himself driving a Formula One car during his reserve driver days.
“I was a road course guy,” he makes a point of saying. “I never did an oval until 2010.”
At the same time, Daly realises the current version of the Dallara DW12 - since the addition of the aeroscreen - is less suited to his driving style.
“Without a doubt this has been the hardest to adjust to my style,” he says. “And I think you see that with a lot of drivers that maybe have won a bunch of races in the previous eras but maybe not as much now.
“I have for sure struggled in this era more than ever. But I think we for sure have the ability to do it as long as we get the car into the window that I enjoy. There are several road course race results that I can still be proud of over the last few years.
“But we haven’t won yet - we haven’t won on an oval, road course. And so we need to make it happen and we’ve got to get back on the podium on a road or street course for sure this year. That’s the goal.”
A strong Indy 500 showing for Daly, who has led laps in 2021, 2022 and 2024 on Memorial Day Sunday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is of course at the top of his mind too.
“Every time I see a clip [taking the lead in the 500], it definitely brings a tear to my eye,” Daly says. “Because I love sport. I love the emotion that sport brings out of us and brings to us.
“But those moments need to be capped off by longer moments of celebration. I am excited because last year it was really hard to not do the full season and just be waiting, waiting, waiting and the first race you do is the Indy 500.”
Daly’s IndyCar career has been one of brutality but also resilience for pure love of the sport. No doubt it has been hard to love at times, but knowing the grind it has taken, he is going to relish every moment now he is back in the saddle.
