DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Every year, it seems, the Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona races create a captivating – sometimes surprisingly so – storyline and Thursday’s editions of the Daytona 500 qualifying races certainly did.
IndyCar standout Conor Daly will make his DAYTONA 500 debut thanks to a solid, if not spectacular, outing in the Duel 150. He finished 17th, one lap down in the No. 50 The Money Team Chevrolet. But that finish combined with the poor luck outing by one of the other “open” candidates – a DNF for NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Austin Hill – has resulted in Daly’s first DAYTONA 500 start making him the only driver this season to compete in both the DAYTONA 500 and the Indy 500 in the same year.
“I’m sure none of you expected to see me here but we changed everything but the color of the car in the race,” Daly said smiling.
“It was pretty wild to start. I thought it was broken immediately but we just kind of kept going, got through that part and thankfully got the yellow [flag]. . … honestly, we took advantage of luck. It was very lucky, but I will take luck all the time because we got better and better as we raced, and I learned a lot at a high rate of speed and it’s pretty awesome to have a chance at it on Sunday.’’
“If you had asked me 18 months if I’d be here,’’ Daly added. “I would have thought you were living on the moon.’’
Daly, 31, whose 40 laps led was most in the 2021 Indianapolis 500, certainly overcame setbacks this week. His car had mechanical problems right away and was unable to even turn a qualifying lap. When he climbed in for his first competitive laps – ever – at Daytona International Speedway Thursday evening, the car was driving slightly erratically. But Daly said his veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and team worked and worked. … and worked on the car during the qualifying race. And the end result is a bid in the Daytona 500.
“As soon as they made the vast amount of changes they made in that first pit stop, the car was instantly better, so I was like, ‘keep doing this,’” Daly said, adding of his challenges, “I don’t know if this whole experience can be compared to a lot of the other ones because of the no-practice and going right into qualifying.
“I’ve watched for many years anytime when anyone from open-wheel came over because it’s fascinating for me, because that’s my world they are coming from and trying something new. So, I understand from a small piece how difficult it is and I will continue to understand how difficult it is. I have an incredible amount of respect for the drivers in this series.
“Everyone is really good. I think all across the board whether its IndyCar, NASCAR, F1, everyone is good at what they do and it’s pretty cool to be able to compete against a lot of them.”
Source: Holly Cain and Reid Spencer/NASCAR Wire Service
