Is Conor Daly the mercenary who has finally found a home?

“The nomad who has finally found a home,” was his response to Motorsport.com in an exclusive meeting about an hour before his announcement confirming his full-time return to the IndyCar Series with Juncos Hollinger Racing in 2025.

The Hoosier native found himself in dire straits for the small organization at the end of the 2024 season, completing the final five races to advance the team’s No. 78 Chevrolet starter, originally driven by Agustin Canapino prior to a midseason divorce , return to the Leaders Circle (top 22 in points) and a deciding prize of $1 million. And he accomplished the feat in style, scoring two top-10 finishes, including the team’s first-ever podium finish (third) in the first race at the Milwaukee Mile.

A true journeyman in North America’s premier Formula One championship, it’s easier to count the number of teams Daly didn’t drive for than the ones he did. However, the opportunity at JHR is one where the synergy between the two is obvious, and that’s because he feels the support.

“I’ve been through the ups and downs of fundraising and the ups and downs of different operations,” Daly said. “I think we’ve seen that when a team really believes in you, there’s a lot of power behind it. Felix Rosenqvist is a really good example of this. You’re like, “Oh, what happened to Felix Rosenqvist?” Then the guy meets Meyer Shank and the guy is on pole and competing at the front. Well, the guy didn’t just remember how to drive, you know what I mean? It’s about the car, the environment and everything that comes together. This is very much a team sport; You have to have all the elements. What we do is very difficult. It’s the elite of the elite with some of the best riders in the world. So the entire environment has to be right.”

Daly can remember the last-minute call from JHR and how he rode on Alexander Rossi’s plane just to get his race seat from the Dale Coyne Racing workshop so he could be in time for the test in St. Louis could come back. From the first test he immediately felt at home, and rightly so considering several team members were familiar faces at other stages of his career. However, during his junior formula career he also won the 2010 Pro Mazda (now Indy Pro 2000) title with Juncos (prior to Hollinger’s involvement).

“The whole story of who makes this work is still a lot to be figured out, and it’s still going to be a lot of very hard work,” Daly said. “We still have a really tough time ahead of us, but it almost made sense to try; Let’s take a look at the entire season and see what we can achieve together and how we can grow together as a team. It really means a lot to me. I really didn’t know if I would get another chance like that. Certainly I wasn’t confident at all unless we won the Mega Millions or got drafted in some situation… I wasn’t really sure, so it’s almost like a surprise to have a chance again.”

Conor Daly, Junco’s Hollinger Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

The 33-year-old also sees JHR punching above their weight in many ways, without a technical alliance, in an era that has become commonplace for many in the IndyCar world.

“It’s really impressive what the group has done on their own,” Daly said. “It’s very difficult these days because we’ve had the same car and the same things for a long time. So there are a few little things here and there, but you’re now in ultra-fine-tune mode. What they’re doing, and I think you also have to be realistic with things like, “Hey, these are areas we need to get better at.” And I think they’re focusing on that, which is really helpful too. But without a doubt, it was the speed they showed at the Indy 500 last year in qualifying before the plenary events that affected many Chevy teams; Canapino was in the top 12, which is very impressive. What we were able to do on the short ovals is super impressive.”

Daly hopes to help get the team to the point where the difficult days end not with 10th place at a place like Nashville, but rather higher up the grid. He pointed out that three-time series champion Alex Palou’s bad days still rank among the top five results.

“The Alex Palou of the world, he came fourth in Milwaukee, he was like, ‘Okay, well, we may not have made it today,’ but he’s fourth,” Daly said. “How do you make those hard days a little bit higher and better and get the overall speed window into a more consistently high range? However, if you can do it, you have a chance to win and a chance to fight at the top. Of course we always want to do everything, but in racing nobody is perfect, so we just try to eliminate those little things.”

And the goals for 2025 are simple: remind people of his prowess on the road and road courses – a statement meant to reflect on his Formula 2 experience – and win the Indianapolis 500, a race in which he is currently top three -10 placements in a row.

“With the road and street course, I want to make people aware of why I showed up here in the first place,” he said. “What we did in my first year at Detroit and Watkins Glen, a different generation of cars, which Simon Pagenaud talked about on my podcast (“Speed ​​Street”) not long ago, is now a completely different balance shift. I think my focus is to make sure people say “Hey.” If we finish in the top 10 on the road and on the road course and constantly try to get better there, that’s important to me personally because I feel like people think I’m weak for some reason, which is totally in order is.

“I know where we will be on the ovals, that’s not a problem for me; That’s where I’m most confident. But we want to win the Indy 500. I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t go to the Indy 500 and say, ‘We want to win this race.’ So that’s the goal. I want to start June with a very happy and confident points haul and finish all races. But the Indy 500 is a very big opportunity for us to be successful together, especially because we were able to test together in October. They know a little about what I want, and I know all about what I want there.”