INDIANAPOLIS — Though the overall finish might not show it, Conor Daly put on a show in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race on an oval.
Primarily an IndyCar driver with 110 starts, including 11 Indianapolis 500s, Daly finished 14th in a one-off for Sam Hunt Racing — thriving on the familiarity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. It was the first Indy oval race for the Xfinity Series since 2019.
The 32-year-old Daly, who last raced in the back half of the IndyCar doubleheader last weekend at Iowa Speedway, got the full NASCAR experience. His No. 26 Toyota GR Supra suffered damage on the first lap when Sam Mayer and A.J. Allmendinger made contact entering turn 3, triggering a big crash.
“I was literally in between the wall and two vehicles and thought, ‘this NASCAR thing was fun while it lasted,’ but the wheels were still somewhat straight,” Daly recalled after the race.
Dropping back to 27th on the restart, Daly and team went to work. Breaking into the top 10 during the closing laps of the opening stage, he ultimately came across the line 14th on lap 30. He ran in the mid-teens throughout Stage Two, gaining a spot to finish 11th after a dicey one lap shootout to end the segment.
Coming off pit road inside the top 10, Daly kept it there. He narrowly avoided a spinning Aric Almirola on lap 67 and got as high as seventh as the laps began to tick down.
A caution on lap 84 for Anthony Alfredo, Parker Retzlaff and Josh Williams set up mixed strategies for the final run of the race. Daly pitted for right-side tires.
“A bit of a gamble to take two tires at the end, which was tough because I had never experienced a car with just two tires,” he said. “Definitely tightened me up more than I expected, so just part of a new experience.
“When we were seventh, I thought we were stuck behind three of these guys. I thought we were much better. If we could have just cleared (Justin) Allgaier, I think we had much more momentum on that stint — let’s say it ran all the way to the checkered — I thought we were going to be in really good shape.”
Daly ended up dropping outside of the top 10 in the final 11-lap shootout but spent time throughout the race battling the likes of Shane van Gisbergen – who made his first start on the Indy oval.
“Racing with Shane was really fun,” Daly said. “He’s awesome to race with – the other guys in this series too. It was really fun to race up front with these guys. I watch every week and I enjoy watching the series. This Toyota was fast.
“I think my experience here helped — but it is such a different car and there were so many moments that literally just ambushed me. I just didn’t know. I just hadn’t been moved with just air. Austin Hill got to my left rear and didn’t touch me at all, and I was almost crashing. It was just one of those things that was just difficult.
“I honestly had a tremendous time.”
Daly ran Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park with Niece Motorsports and has two more races — Kansas Speedway and Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway — planned with the organization.