IndyCar’s Conor Daly clear about his 'love' for IMS as he talks about a long-cherished dream

The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver, Conor Daly, drove at the Indianapolis Motorspeedway road course for the testing. The American driver spoke about his dream of winning at the IMS.

On Thursday, March 27, Daly and other drivers were at the Indianapolis Motorspeedway to test their cars in preparation for May. In a video uploaded by IndyCar on its YouTube channel, Daly spoke about how much he loves this road course and his dreams of winning there.

"I love driving here. It's such an awesome road course, as well as the oval of course, but just great to test. I mean, testing is so important these days. Every lap counts you want to make sure that when you show up here in May you're not lagging behind at all. Also, I love it here, and it's great to be back," Daly said (0.01 onwards).

"I wanted to win this road course ever since it was on schedule I mean ever since my rookie year we led so many laps and felt like we were closer to the win I love this track personally and obviously 500 is the goal to win over all else but this road course means a lot too to me because it's been an enjoyable track to drive for me and I've had very good races here so definitely an important one and want to win. We want to show up here in May to not lose," he added.

During testing, Conor Daly was the third-fastest driver at the track. His #76 car was two-tenths slower than the time set by Scott Dixon. Ever since his debut in 2013, Daly has finished in the top 10 four times, and his highest position came in 2022, where he finished sixth.

The 33-year-old's season is not off to a great start. He qualified at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in 22nd position and finished the race in 17th, and at the Thermal Club Grand Prix, he started the race in 15th and finished in 16th.

However, Daly and JHR will look forward to improving at the upcoming ACURA Grand Prix of Long Beach scheduled for April 13.

Conor Daly expressed his feelings after the Thermal Club Grand Prix

#76 Juncos Hollinger Racing driver Conor Daly wrapped up the Thermal Club Grand Prix held on Sunday, March 23, in P16. Daly qualified in 15th position for the race.

Before this weekend, the teams had no information about the long runs at the track as it was the first time it was hosting a Grand Prix. The partnership between Daly and JHR is somewhat new, as this is his first full season with the team.

On his podcast Speed Street, Conor Daly said how proud he was of the team's effort.

"It takes time in this sport to have everything go together and I know I've got experience in this series but this team me with this group we are still so fresh into this relationship and honestly to qualify where we did at Thermal which I was actually quite proud of our effort as a team we know exactly where we can be better we need to be better on the primary tires we were not fast enough on the primary tires we know that, that is the difference right now in our cars and we will continue to try and bolster our mechanical grip to you know to attack that," Daly said.

Conor Daly replaced Agustin Canapino midway through the 2024 season. Although his seat was briefly in danger due to a fallout with his sponsor, Polkadot, he quickly secured a sponsorship with Cyclum NextGen Travel Centers.