“You could see 4 pit stops”: Conor Daly remains uncertain about the tire strategy for The Thermal Club

IndyCar driver Conor Daly detailed the tire strategy for the upcoming race at Thermal Club as the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver mentioned that the race could be a four-stopper. Dirty Mo Media’s Instagram account uploaded a clip from Daly's podcast where the JHR driver reflected on the tire degradation at Thermal.

The 2024 IndyCar race at Thermal was an exhibition race which was 20 laps long. Given the nature of the circuit, long sweeping corners in combination with slow speed corners with traction zones take the life out of the tires. Some drivers preserved the tires while others went full steam ahead. Yet, all drivers faced the tire degradation issue and a drop in performance.

Daly explained the same on the Speed Street podcast as he looked forward to the Thermal Club race. The JHR driver said,

“Tire life was obviously big in the sprint race last year because Colton (Herta) saved his tires at the beginning and then was able to use them at the end, but it still wasn't enough to win. Whereas Alex Palou was just pushing the whole time and he was fine. So some people struggled, some people were good. It is a different tire this year. The primary tire is a little bit different, but we also now have the red tire to use, apparently.”

“Now, again, we all like to think like this before the race began, but the degradation is going to be a lot, I think. Without a doubt, it's a three stop race on fuel, but if tires don't last, you could see four pit stops. I mean, you could see a four stop race,” Conor Daly added.

IndyCar brought only one tire compound for the 2024 race at Thermal which was the hard compound. However, the race was just 20 laps yet the hard tires blistered and dropped performance. This time IndyCar will bring two tire compounds; the hard compound which will be harder than last year's compound, and a soft alternate compound.

The race at Thermal Club will be 65 laps long around the 3.067-mile lap. The drivers will be taking on 17 turns on a single lap with the race distance being 200 miles.

Conor Daly hailed Pato O'Ward's drive at St. Petersburg

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O'Ward started the race at St. Pete in P23 and faced a puncture on the first lap from the debris of Will Power & Nolan Siegel’s Lap 1 crash. The Mexican almost went a lap down but recovered and finished just outside the Top 10. Conor Daly hailed O’Ward in a YouTube video as he said,

“What Pato did I think was still the most surprising thing. I said I did a faux two stop. He did a faux three stop and essentially stopped four times, which is wild. But, but it worked. He used the clear track when he got it. He basically just pushed hard all race long and never basically never saved fuel. So really, really strong,” Daly said on his YouTube channel (23:00 onwards)

Daly started the race at St. Pete in P22 and finished P17. However, the JHR driver had to save fuel during the entirety of the last stint to make it to the chequered flag.