Conor Daly breaks silence on IndyCar exit speculation with a promise to fans

Conor Daly has broken his silence on the speculation surrounding his IndyCar exit, which arose after his to-be primary sponsor, Polkadot, a blockchain company, rejected his $3.5 million sponsorship.

This sudden rejection came about after Mark Cachia of Scytale Digital, an asset management company deeply embedded in the Polkadot ecosystem, lobbied against Daly's referendum and overturned the community vote. The vote was in the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver's favor with around 80% approval till a week before the decision date on February 13.

Daly addressed the unrest among his IndyCar fans with an X post. He promised to be seen at the season opener at St. Petersburg on March 2.

"I will be in St Pete don’t worry. I will clarify everything on @SpeedStreetPod next week after the test at Sebring," he wrote.

The Speed Street Podcast hosted by Daly and Chase Holden, a NASCAR and IndyCar media professional, drops new episodes every Wednesday on Spotify and Apple podcasts. Before that, the 33-year-old will head to the Sebring International Raceway in Florida for the two-day test where all teams and drivers will be present.

---

Conor Daly's statement that ignited the IndyCar exit rumors

AUTO: JUL 23 IndyCar - Conor Daly (L) at Iowa Speedway Race 1and 2 Qualifications - Source: Getty

The development of Polkadot rejecting Conor Daly's sponsorship was subtly made public by @TheKusamarian on X via a recording of a Polkadot company video meeting. Daly broke the news to the stakeholders involved after meeting with Mark Cachia, who according to him, didn't even read his sponsorship proposal before rejecting it.

The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver acknowledged on the call how this loss could lead to his losing his 2025 seat.

"Sadly, it means a lot to both Andrew (Stallings, manager), myself, my career. I'll probably lose my seat with the race scene. But again, we take these risks. That's not anyone's fault. This is business. Business is hard sometimes," he said. [5:46 onwards]

In an X post, Cachia defended his move by reasoning how this IndyCar partnership was "absolutely not appropriate" for Polkadot at this stage. Daly didn't hold back with his response, writing:

"You had months to discuss with us. You didn’t know a single thing about what we were doing. Zero respect for DV’s and the discussion we made sure to have with them, the community. And we did bring a very real business to Polkadot in a short amount of time. But once again, didn’t even care to potentially be wrong about your own personal opinion. You can disagree, that is totally fair. But I will not let you throw things out that aren’t true. Congrats on your flex of power."

Conor Daly landed the full-time 2025 contract with JHR after a brilliant five-race stint with the Argentine-American team at the end of the 2024 season. At race one in Milwaukee, he earned the team its first IndyCar podium ever.