Returning to racing action after a year away from some of the fastest cars in the world is a difficult task for any athlete – yet Conor Daly looked at ease in the Grand Prix of Madison.
The Gateway event was the first race the 32-year-old American driver has competed in as a full-time driver since June 2023, while with Ed Carpenter Racing.
Now with the Juncos Hollinger IndyCar outfit for the remaining four races of the season, Daly looks set to fight it out to secure a drive for 2025.
He and teammate Romain Grosjean will attempt to linkup and bring glory to a team that is yet to win its first IndyCar race.
Conor Daly sits helpless as car barrels into his path
After qualifying inside the top 10 on Friday, Daly looked well set for a shot at handing Juncos Hollinger their seventh top 10 race finish of the season.
Sadly, the racing gods had other ideas, handing him a serving of bad luck as he got caught up in incidents caused by other drivers.
Speaking on the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Daly said: “A classic case of ‘it was going great… until it wasn’t’. Juncos Hollinger can’t wait to get back on track!”
Who knows how far Daly could have advanced, but judging by his lightning pace, it’s not out of the realms of possibility to think he could have finished inside the top eight – a push for the win from Josef Newgarden would have been a stretch too far.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Josef Newgarden from IndyCar stats to net worth
The knock-on effect of Daly’s damage
Unfortunately, one more car was held up in the late incident – Daly’s new teammate Romain Grosjean.
He too showed good pace throughout most of the weekend, but was left with nowhere to go when the cars ahead bunched up and slowed at a dramatic rate.
Losing his front-wing sent him a few laps down, before getting tangled in an even more dramatic late shunt between title contender Will Power and McLaren’s Alexander Rossi.
It at least shows promise for Juncos Hollinger that their cars both had the pace to deliver an impressive result at Gateway, and with three oval races left this season, they still have a chance for redemption.
This weekend’s Grand Prix of Portland should be an acute test for Daly, who hasn’t raced on a road course for two years, but his pace last time out shows he can still get up to speed quickly.