NTT INDYCAR SERIES: GMR GRAND PRIX

May 14, 2022

Conor Daly

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Let's begin with the driver of No. 20, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet, Conor Dailey. Seventh career top five finish in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES season for his career. You could write a whole book on what happened today, right, amongst everybody?

CONOR DALY: Yeah. Where do I start?

THE MODERATOR: Exactly.

CONOR DALY: I don't remember the last rain race that I did. I actually walked up to Ric Peterson with SPM. I was, like, 'heck, I think the last time I had a rain race was with you in Detroit in 2015, and we led a lot of that race.' I was, like, I'm ready. I'm excited.

Then it dried out very quickly. Difficult first for us. I don't know what happened on the first set of reds, but they were used reds, and we just went straight backwards. Car was an absolute handful, and I have no idea why.

Then it kind of forced our hand, and we put on new reds, and it was right back to the great car that it was. So I think we did second fastest race lap, and we were just hauling getting back making up some of the ground that we lost. Then, obviously, the skies opened up a little bit so, that made for an interesting rest of the afternoon.

Q. Conor, first race with the Aeroscreen in the rain. A lot of drivers saying they couldn't see. Was that more from just the rooster-tail effect than the actual Aeroscreen?

CONOR DALY: No, I've never seen anything like that before. It was like the water just stayed in the center of the screen, and I don't know why, but even as you went faster, which you would hope it would clear, it didn't. Again, I can't say anything.

Obviously, this is very much a scientific test run. Obviously, we have a lot of data to go through with the series, and I'm sure Jay Frye will look at it as well. And he hates when I talk about the Aeroscreen, but I'm just describing what I saw. That's all. It was challenging.

Thankfully, we had a great spotter in Packy Wheeler, who was literally guiding me into turn one. I couldn't see the brake zone or the cars in front of me or the end of the pit wall, but I could look out the side of the Aeroscreen, so I was looking right and left to go straight, which was neat.

Q. (Off microphone).

CONOR DALY: Look, I used to race in the rain all the time, so we had a visor that you can work with, but this is a new era, so obviously there are things that we can figure out. We go from here.

I do think it was tough. It was definitely hard to race like that because you don't want to, obviously, end up on the wrong side. Even under yellow. I couldn't see the cars in front of me under yellow. I had to be guided into pit lane, and that's concerning. Hopefully we can figure that out, but hopefully we also have very shiny weather for the rest of the year.

Q. When you said the tires, did you make any adjustments to the car outside of the norm, or is it literally just the tires weren't agreeing with the car?

CONOR DALY: I really don't know because Firestone obviously makes a great tire, and sometimes when you put on the used reds, I don't know if you pick up something on it. It's something.

I've had that happen before in other races kind of randomly, but it might just be kind of like the luck of the draw. You might have run over something that -- it felt like we had a left rear that was going flat, but it wasn't. Very strange feeling. Literally, as soon as you put on another set of tires, everything was perfect. There's only one variable there that we changed, and that's tires.

Q. What are your emotions inside the car knowing you were fourth. You're top five. Then, oh, no, what's going on? Is it hard to keep your calm?

CONOR DALY: I thought it was just another day in the office, but I never give up in this series, and I tell the team that. I said, it doesn't matter if the day is going bad, but I will always be fighting until the end.

Same in Barber. Same in any track. This is what I love to do. I want to be competitive. I want to beat these guys and girls that we're racing against, and we obviously beat the majority of them today.

It was something that worked out in the end, and we've seen crazy stuff like this before. I remember Sebastian Bordais starting last and winning races, and people going all over the place spinning, being a lap down and winning races. That's the fun of INDYCAR.

Q. With the rain this last race, leading the most laps and top five today for you, do you feel a momentum now? Now you're going to the race that you led the most laps last year. Do you feel it within the team now?

CONOR DALY: I think the team has done a great job this year. We know we had some areas where we wanted to improve, and I think we have. Obviously, the old big one is next, and I'm very excited about that one, honestly.

This was a day that helps us for sure. There's a lot of momentum. And, honestly, it's a shame because all of our BitNile folks are not here this weekend, so we might have to ban them from the rest of the races, I don't know, because we had a wildly good day today. Hugely thankful for their support. Honestly, Chevrolet right now is doing a great job and really proud to be under that banner as well.

Q. Is that one of the most physically demanding races that you have ever done?

CONOR DALY: No. My left elbow is bleeding. I don't know why. I don't know if I hit it on something or I had a couple of moments where the wheel was doing a lot of different things, but, yeah, I was okay today. It was not too hot and then in the rain you're going a lot slower, so it wasn't too bad today.

Q. In terms of, obviously, next week we go into the practice for the Indy 500, how much does this give you confidence going into the month of May given that ECR have been so good kind of at the 500?

CONOR DALY: We know we're excited, and I think everyone at Chevrolet is excited about the next couple of weeks. I think we got the right horses underneath us, and we have a great team, and, yeah, let's just roll on the next week.