For Indiana native Conor Daly, simply being in the field in any given race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an honor and a privilege. However, for a brief moment during Saturday’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Daly looked like a trip to victory lane was in the realm of possibility.
Taking advantage of a differing pit strategy following a mid-race crash involving Sébastien Bourdais, Daly found himself in second-place behind Helio Castroneves on the race’s final restart.
When the green flag flew to restart the race on lap 46, Daly made a bold move going into the track’s first turn, taking the lead on his home track.
“I got a good restart around Helio, and the car was good so we just used it to pull away,” said Daly.
Daly would go on to lead 14 laps, the most of any drive outside of race-winner Pagenaud, before losing the lead on the final cycle of pit stops.
This was the second stint that Daly has led this year, following another impressive run for the rookie in the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Running in his first full season for Dale Coyne Racing, Daly led going into that race’s final restart before losing the top spot to Juan Pablo Montoya as the Columbian jumped on the push-to-pass.
Daly admitted to learning from his mistake that day when going to take the lead from Castroneves.
Aaron Bearden is a Frontstretch alumnus who’s come back home as the site’s Short Track Editor. When he isn’t working with our grassroots writers, he can be found talking about racing on his Morning Warmup newsletter, pestering his wife/dog or convincing himself the Indiana Pacers can win an NBA title.