ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. – Ready to strap in a third Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang this weekend at Road America (Wisc.), open-wheel competitor Conor Daly is utilizing Saturday afternoon’s Johnsonville 180 to test the NASCAR waters to see if stock car racing could become more of a permenant place in his future.
An accomplished race car driver across the world in and with 43 starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series, including five starts in the prestigious Indianapolis 500, Daly, since a child has had an infatuation with NASCAR.
And now at 26-years-old, he’ll take a childhood dream and make it a reality as his Road America NASCAR Xfinity Series debut soon awaits.
“Well, I’m a racing driver. I’ve always followed every form of motorsport, really,” Daly said Friday morning at Road America. “I grew up in Indianapolis, and the Brickyard was always happening there. I always had a fascination with that. I have a massive collection of NASCAR’s at my house. If you saw that you would be surprised.
“Big fan of Kyle Petty. Loved the Hot Wheels cars. I was always looking at those cars. I would always get the coolest diecasts. All the Cartoon Network cars, I had all of those, with all the cartoons. So, I just always had a passion for that. It was always still racing, and it was a different type of racing from what I was used to, what I was doing myself. But yeah, I think as a driver you have a passion to drive anything.”
But before, Daly can explore opportunities past Road America, he’ll try to make his debut a successful one.
While it’s unclear if Daly can leap his current one-race deal in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang into something more, testing the waters will allow Daly the opportunity to see if stock cars is something he wants to embrace more.
“I don’t know,” said Daly. “But it’s very much test the waters. It would be awesome to do more, but I still don’t have an idea of what I’ll feel like when I’m out there.
“I’ll know in 10 laps how it’s going to go. You’re like, all right, here: I like this, I don’t like that.
Everything that everyone’s been overloading my brain with is now going to make sense or it’s not going to make sense, or I like this or I don’t like that. So, I’ll know more by this evening.”
Daly certainly brings a sense of star power to the Xfinity Series too.
The son of a famed Irish former Formula One and Champ Car driver and commentator Derek Daly, as well as stepson of Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles – the pressure is on to perform – but he he’s had some guidance along the way from the NASCAR garage to help with the transition.
“A.J. Allmendinger’s been a big crutch that I’ve been leaning on,” Daly explained. “One of my good, good friends. We were rookies together at the (Indianapolis) 500, which I still can’t believe. It’s wild. I was a big fan of his growing up, obviously a young American wild man. And yeah, he’s been trying to help as much as he can, and the team.
“I’ve leaned on Ricky Stenhouse, Trevor Bayne … Ryan (Reed) has been really helpful as well. There are a lot of people that have offered help. Even Bill Elliott.
“I first started talking to Bill Elliott about it when I drove his Cup car at the (Indianapolis Motor) Speedway during the vintage weekend. So, little did I know he would be racing, and he was coaching me initially.
“Pretty funny to see that. You’ve got to be a sponge of information, right? You’ve got to soak it up and see what happens.”
When it comes to soaking it up, Daly has experience at Road America and he’s hoping that will be enough to propel him towards a strong debut.
“I’ve had a lot of experience at Road America in the past,” he added. “I’ve won there in Skip Barber National Championship, won there in Pro Mazda and been on the podium there in sports cars. I’ve had good runs there in IndyCar as well. It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve always enjoyed going there. There are a lot of incredible race fans there.
“This is obviously going to be a whole new experience for me with a very steep learning curve, but I’m excited for the challenge. I’ve got two good teammates to try and learn from and hope to just get up to speed as quick as we can and just have a good race day.
“I don’t like to set expectations, just want to try and learn as much as I can and get a good finish, whatever that might be at the end of the day.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
