MADISON, Ill. — In the week leading up to Sunday’s (June 15) Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Conor Daly was bullish about his prospects heading to World Wide Technology Raceway.
After all, Daly has several top-10 finishes at the 1.25-mile oval just outside of St. Louis, and this was the first track in the 2025 NTT IndyCar Series schedule that he’s raced at that he’s previously competed at with Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Daly’s premonitions proved to be prophetic as the No. 76 Chevrolet led 36 laps en route to a sixth-place finish in the 260-lap race.
After starting 15th, Daly quickly utilized the high line to move up to 12th at the end of the first lap, eighth by the end of the following lap and seventh before the race’s first caution for the spinning Devlin DeFrancesco.
“Well, if there’s a lane open, I’m gonna take it,” Daly said on pit road after the race. “I learned from Milwaukee, and I hated the fact that we qualified where we did, so I got to the top and went for it and there was a lot of grip up there.
”We weren’t passing a bunch of back markers. We were passing good cars, so it felt really cool. Honestly, I hope people saw it because it felt cool from the seat, but it just put us in contention.”
On the ensuing restart, Daly moved up to sixth place on Lap 11, fifth on Lap 22 and fourth on Lap 24. After running almost the entire first half of the race in the top five, Daly had his chance at the lead on a mid-race restart.
After Josef Newgarden‘s contact with Louis Foster that sent the five-time WWTR winner upside down on the main straightaway, Daly and the rest of the field pitted. After exiting the pits, Daly was fifth behind David Malukas, Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward and Christian Rasmussen.
Race control assessed Malukas and McLaughlin penalties for improper lane usage on pit road while Rasmussen stopped under a closed pit for emergency pit service and had to restart at the back of the field. That left O’Ward up front ahead of Daly and the pair had a memorable battle for the top spot.
“He raced me clean,” Daly said of his battle with O’Ward. “I mean, there’s a reason that guy’s got a plane and a bunch of money and and he’s one of the best drivers right now. He’s really good, raced me clean, and, you know, I’ve got to respect that, but we were better than he was for sure. Our car was better. So yeah, just raced me clean and I was able to get the right run and get by him.”
Daly pitted on Lap 190 and never saw the lead again for the rest of the race as he and the team lost ground in the pit sequence. Try as he might, Daly was unable to gain ground on the leaders, only gaining positions when drivers up front gambling on fuel strategy fell short.
Sunday’s run was good for Daly, but sixth place is a sore subject for him.
“I’ve finished sixth in IndyCar about 100 million times I feel like,” Daly said. “So, yeah, sixth is my worst number in IndyCar, but I feel like I’ve finished sixth 1,000 times.”
It’s actually been eight times.
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.