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 after his final pit stop and the 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 a 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 race’s 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 of Juncos. “It’s still a fairly fresh team in the last five, six years, you know what I mean? When [Trevor] Carlin first came over, now obviously under the JHR banner, I love what they’ve done. I love the group of people they’ve brought together. It’s really hard to go racing in this series. It’s hard to show up and be competitive. Obviously they’ve proven that they can do it.
“It means a lot. I think Ricardo is a racer at his heart. I mean, he just loves racing. He wants to do whatever it takes […]. But he just loves it. He wants to figure out how to make these cars go faster. The team is dedicated to understanding where they need to improve, which I think is so important. To go faster, it is hard. You have to do a lot of work to get there. I think they’re trying to do that.”
Juncos and team co-owner Brad Hollinger absorbed many personnel from the Carlin organization when their IndyCar effort ceased following the 2021 IndyCar season. Daly raced part-time for Carlin in 2020-2021, scoring a pole for them at Iowa Speedway.
The podium finish was also crucial for the Leader’s Circle battle. IndyCar has a prize fund program rewarding the top 22 eligible entries in owner points. The No. 78 entry is now 20th of all eligible entries, 13 points clear of the final eligible car after entering the race on the wrong side of a tiebreaker for the final program spot with Daly’s former ride, the No. 20 Chevrolet of Ed Carpenter Racing.
That podium finish could help give JHR nearly a million dollars in prize money if they remain in the top 22 eligible entries in entrant points, something that weighs heavily on Juncos’ mind.
“We just keep doing what we’re doing,” Juncos said. “I don’t think we focus much on the Circle points, like last year it was the same thing. The level is so high, so strong, everything is so difficult, so we’ll just play it again, we’ll try our best. If we’re lucky enough to get it, great. If not, we’re just going to keep fighting. But we’re just focused on execution every single day like if it’s going to be our last and that’s what we do.”
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.