Conor Daly’s career resurgence was expected by very few as he returned to race for Juncos Hollinger Racing in August.
His performances have helped to turn the year around for a team which had under-achieved relative to their potential throughout 2024.
Replacing Augustin Canapino with an experienced option helped bring the Argentine-American team to secure their first-ever podium in Milwaukee with Daly driving to third.
Daly may have got an even better result in the IndyCar season finale at Nashville if he hadn’t been held up by an untimely caution at the end of the race.
Conor Daly had to save ‘crazy’ amount of fuel in Nashville
Daly’s IndyCar experience came to fruition at Nashville with a late race scenario requiring him to save fuel and nurse his car across the finish line.
At one stage, he was two laps behind due to an unfortunately timed caution – but boasted extremely impressive pace to catch back up to the lead lap by the end.
Speaking on his X (formerly known as Twitter) account, he revealed how topsy turvy of a Sunday he went through in Nashville.
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“What an up and down day,” he said. “Got pretty unlucky early with the yellow and went 2 laps down. Came back to the lead lap and had to save crazy fuel at the end.
“P10 to finish off our year together still feels great! Thank you for the chance to compete again @juncoshollinger.”
Does Daly have any chance of a 2025 drive?
Daly didn’t expect to be in with a chance of a 2025 full-time IndyCar drive when he agreed to fill in at Juncos Hollinger Racing for the remainder of the season.
However, his performances have pleasantly surprised everyone, including his emotional podium finish at Milwaukee.
The team are yet to confirm a driver for either of their seats yet, and Daly may have forced himself into the picture with his positive showings.
He has a good relationship with team owner Ricardo Juncos dating back a very long time, but he is likely to prioritise sponsorship money in his next driver signing.
Offering Romain Grosjean a contract extension was a statement of intentions, but he is yet to decide where he wants to go in the future which could open the door for Daly.