Daly Now Full-Time in INDYCAR, Joins Carlin for Oval Races

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer

For the first time since 2017, Conor Daly will be a full-time competitor in the NTT IndyCar Series as Carlin announced Tuesday that he’ll be their oval driver.

Aside from the 104th Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge (May 24), which Max Chilton will look to avoid failing to qualify for the second straight year, Daly will run the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet in other four remaining oval races at Texas Motor Speedway (June 6), Richmond Raceway (June 27), Iowa Speedway (July 18) and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (August 22).

Daly is no stranger to the team has he drove in all but one (being the Indy 500 as he drove for Andretti Autosport) oval race for them last year with a sixth at Gateway being his best finish, not only for him but also the No. 59 team.

Chilton will return to Carlin for the third straight year, running just 13 races after announcing last year that aside from the Indy 500, he’ll no longer compete in the other oval races due to personal safety concerns. Thus far in his tenure, Chilton’s best finish in 29 starts is a pair of 11th place finishes at Belle Isle Race No. 2 (2018) and Portland (2019).

As for Daly, he’ll be running Indy and the 12 road/street course races for Ed Carpenter Racing which was announced last December and thanked the team for allowing them to also drive for Carlin.

We are BACK to full time @IndyCar competition! Have to first of all thank @ECRIndy @edcarpenter20 for letting me do this. Its been a tough couple years having to watch a lot of racing from the sidelines. Means so much to have this chance. Thank you @CarlinRacing #GallagherRacing pic.twitter.com/dwIPQZxUub

— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) March 10, 2020