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Conor Daly and Romain Grosjean have spoken out against the pressing issue that they feel was troubling IndyCar from growing swiftly. They highlighted how the three-week gap between races at the beginning of the season breaks the momentum of hype created among fans.
Grosjean, who is PREMA Racing's reserve driver in IndyCar in 2025, having found no full-time seat this year, recently appeared on The Race podcast. He spoke about the direction of growth the series has taken with FOX. While he was happy with the current developments, the Swiss-French driver couldn't wrap his head around the large gaps between the two races.
"I'm still in disagreement with (the) schedule. I know there are limitations, I know it's not easy, but for me, it is still something that holds us back," he said.
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11th-year IndyCar veteran Conor Daly, who is racing in his first full season with Juncos Hollinger Racing, echoed Grosjean's stance.
"I truly believe that scheduling right now is the biggest issue. I don't believe going three weeks in between races, and everyone talks about this. But we can't fix it right now. I'm sorry, but you cannot fix it right now. I do hope we can fix it in the future, because that's a major issue," he said on his Speed Street podcast on YouTube.
The 2025 IndyCar calendar has three-week gaps after each of the first three races of the season. Daly's comments came after IndyCar witnessed subpar viewership for the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13, with an average TV audience of 552,000 viewers, compared to 1.4 million and 704,000 for the first two races.
Conor Daly's "difficult" outing at IndyCar's Long Beach Grand Prix
Conor Daly kicked off the 2025 season on a decent note with Juncos Hollinger Racing. He recorded a P17 finish in the season opener at St. Petersburg and bettered it to a P16 at the Thermal Club Grand Prix. However, the 50th edition of the Long Beach Grand Prix was one to forget for the 33-year-old.
Daly was out-qualified by teammate Sting Ray Robb for the first time this season, who took a P19 starting position on the grid versus Daly's P21. Robb boldly started on the primary tires, while Daly started on the alternates.
In addition to the primary strategy working out better than the alternate tire strategy, Conor Daly also suffered a faulty first pit stop, not getting enough fuel into his No. 76 JHR Chevy.
"Really difficult day for us after not getting enough fuel in the car on the first stop. Also dealing with a ride control issue that basically wounded us terminally. Nothing we could do pace wise. Congrats to the team and @sting_ray_robb on a great result!" he wrote in an X post.
Daly finished the race down in P25, matching his worst finish in three seasons. Contrarily, teammate Sting Ray Robb took a Top 10 finish to match his best IndyCar result of P9.
