Conor Daly Finishes a Strong 6th at Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS — After coping with quite a few pranks all through his time on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Conor Daly’s dangerous luck lastly held off because the Noblesville, IN native earned his finest end within the Indianapolis 500 with a sixth place on Sunday (Could 29).

Daly began 18th and pitted early to get on more energizing tires sooner than his opponents. The technique labored, shifting the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet as much as thirteenth after the primary cycle of inexperienced flag pit stops.

After pitting once more on lap 68, the 2010 Indy Professional 2000 champion then had a really fortunate yellow flag come out two laps later when Callum Ilott hit the flip 2 wall. Solely Daly and Dixon had made stops amongst all the automobiles within the prime half of the sector, and neither automobile went a lap down. That allowed Dixon to renew his outdated place within the lead, whereas Daly leapfrogged a number of automobiles to enter second place.

Daly then took the lead momentarily, and all appeared proper with the group.

“Man it was simply so enjoyable,” Daly mentioned on pit highway after the race. “I really like racing right here towards guys like Scott (Dixon) and Pato (O’Ward), and I imply these guys are simply good guys and the crew did a fantastic job. I feel we did all we might at this time.”

Because the race progressed, Daly remained within the prime 5 and even led seven laps, nevertheless it was the final pit cease of the race that set the whole lot up for the end.

Daly entered the pits for his remaining cease in third place, working a couple of seconds behind race chief Scott Dixon. Nevertheless, Daly’s proper rear tire changer had a problem getting the outdated tire off of the automobile, costing Daly about one and a half seconds on pit highway. After the whole pit cease sequence ended, Daly was in sixth place, however he misplaced that spot to Simon Pagenaud shortly earlier than Jimmie Johnson‘s accident that introduced out the yellow and subsequent pink flag.

After the restart with two laps to go, Daly bought by the 2019 Indianapolis 500 winner for sixth place and saved that place as Sage Karam introduced out the warning on the race’s remaining lap with a crash exiting flip 2. The working order was frozen to the end line.

“To get to the entrance once more, that’s what we wished, to steer the race, that’s what we wished,” Daly mentioned. “That was our purpose. I imply, what else are you able to do? Attempt to simply preserve your self up entrance all day after which hopefully find yourself with trophies, however not this time, however I feel we’re getting nearer and nearer.”

Daly’s sixth place end within the 500 winds up a month of Could on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that elated certainly one of IndyCar’s hottest drivers. Two weeks in the past on the GMR Grand Prix, Daly began fourth in a race that had altering circumstances on a number of events and an ill-handling set of tires that dropped Daly by means of the sector early within the race earlier than one other pit cease.

Daly climbed by means of the sector as soon as new tires had been fitted to the automobile and he completed fifth, his first prime 5 end since 2017.

With each outcomes at Indianapolis, Daly jumped from nineteenth to twelfth in IndyCar factors, simply 4 factors behind Alexander Rossi.

The NTT IndyCar Sequence heads to Detroit for the Chevrolet Grand Prix subsequent Sunday (June 5) at Belle Isle. It is going to be the ultimate race at Belle Isle earlier than a brand new downtown avenue circuit is utilized beginning in 2023.

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