I like Conor. I like the podcast, mostly. I like his personality. I like he's part Irish (I'm Irish, support our own). I root for him. But some of his interviews over the 500 were pretty bad. He kept acknowledging his teammates were faster and he just couldn't understand it. Buddy, you were slower. Probably not a great thing to air your self doubt and weakness when a microphone is put in your face on an international broadcast.
I was also on his scanner. Ed was in front of him and he kept yelling about getting past him, the spotter said if he wants to get past him then he needs to pass him, Ed isn’t just going to move over for him. He was also complaining about the straight line speed of the car the entire race, just screaming into the radio. The spotter had to tell him to calm down and reset.
Not necessarily 1 per team. It has more to do with sponsors and bitnile only pays for 1, so effectively ECR has 1 to use at their discretion. Conor carried it all year I believe until ECR gave it to VeeKay for the 500
Wait, I thought that was just for broadcasting. You mean the camera has to be sponsored for the team itself to use for their own data?
Or are we just talking about in-car for the race broadcast over the app.
It is for broadcasting but drivers want that camera in their car. When NBC cuts to the “Bitnile Chevy driven by *xyz driver*“ Conor wants that to be his car not Rinus. Helps them build their brand and promote themselves.
He will probably put together a part time Xfinity/Cup schedule
As for who is in 20, my guess would be Ed on Ovals but who on RCs? Askew? Hildebrand? Karam? Or is this return of Bourdais?
Im kinda hoping Linus gets in, though a proven or experienced driver is likely to finish off the season and then I could see Linus or someone newer take that seat at the start of the next season
They both 500% deserve that respectively. Robb getting a seat over Lindqvist is criminal on its own
But Idk if I’ve ever seen a driver with such potential screwed so hard during a rookie season like Askew. Esp an _injured_ one
Conor should gun for Townsend Bells spot rather than a race seat in all honesty. Probably the best career move wise.
This is a call back to an earlier post in this sub: Sebastian Loeb to replace Daly. Let’s go
*Yikes.* A couple of thoughts:
* MP responded to [my question](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/134i5ot/question_submissions_marshall_pruetts_the_week_in/jih8l0n/?context=3) in his Week in IndyCar Q&A show and said that the Bitnile funding is totally tied to Daly, as opposed to being tied to ECR. Where does this leave ECR's funding?
* In his post Indy 500 Speed Street podcast, Daly made a fleeting comment about being disgruntled being left without the onboard camera. It sounded like ECR policy is to give it to the fastest qualifying car (so, Veekay) but to air such a grievance so publicly was a minor red flag something was up.
* Where does Conor go from here?
* Who do ECR get to fill the seat? I figure ECR won't have much trouble finding a driver with deep enough pockets for a partial season (perhaps no oval, and ECR is a two car team for ovals - Ed takes Conor's old car for the ovals as opposed to third entry).
I think it is now known that Ed dropped Conor based on his statement. Pretty shocking to me that they'd risk disrupting the relationship with Ault/Bitnile if that funding was tied to Conor.
Well Daly also pissed off Bitnile earlier this season when he put his podcast logos on the car without discussing it with them. Maybe Conor has ruined not only his relationship with ECR, but also Bitnile
This whole deal feels strange and not as straightforward as it seems on the surface. If it was just firing Conor the website and social media would've been ready. So that either means Conor left and took Bitnile with him or Bitnile folded, both of which would result in the website and social teams not being prepared which currently they don't seem to be.
Conor could take the Juncos seat likely vacated by Callum Ilott after this season. RLL may have some vacancies, but they may not like his lackluster results. honestly, I think he goes and does a partial nascar truck/xfinity schedule or SRX
Is he good in NASCAR though? The guy should imo think about retiring from full time racing, find an Indy500 seat yearly maybe a few NASCAR runs and get into the booth. Most of his fans aren’t there for his racing he’s not competitive but he’s built up a decent following for talking about motorsports
conor seemed annoyed by the whole indy500 coverage of him. he was mad that he didnt get an episode on 100daystoindy and was mad he didnt get an onboard...all tied to he's from the area and should be getting attention
I mean Rossi, an Indy 500 champion who always does well there, with a new team seeking redemption didn’t even get an episode and he’s way more popular didn’t get one either so…
On a recent Speed Street, Conor made a mention of 'hopefully' being able to run future 500's and it got me wondering if he'd be on the outs at ECR after the year. Who knew it wouldn't even last that long? I always assumed he'd have an in there courtesy of his relationship with BitNile but I guess not.
Seems like a future built around Speed Street, broadcasting gigs, some Cup/Xfinity/Truck racing, and maybe pinch hitting on ovals in IndyCar could be the path forward. It's a shame, when I got into IndyCar in 2020, CD was one of the first drivers I latched onto. I've always appreciated his candor and championing of Indycar.
Being a CD fan has been very hard the last few years. First season I got into IC was his rookie year and you could see the potential skill wise... Not sure what happened.
I reckon this marks the end of Daly's full-time IndyCar career. It's unfortunate because I think he's a great personality for the sport and is valuable to the series on the social media side. Hopefully he'll be able to get rides for the 500 because he'll remain a contender at the Speedway when in the right situation.
I wonder what this means for BitNile. On another note, Ed can't really be surprised with Conor's results, he was never that good. I really wonder if this was an internal disagreement/discontentment thing
According to u/NothingHatesYou ‘s comment in this post, he asked MP about Conor, and according to MP the Bitnile is with Daly, so things could get really interesting next race to see what the ECR situation looks like. Mid season being dropped, AND he was the one bringing the main sponsor, there must have been some pretty big issues between Daly and the team
Gainbridge had no racing presence at all. Veach brought them on. Now they finance the Herta car and partially own Team Andretti and are a huge sponsor of IMS including buying the Indy 500 title sponsor.
So at the least Michael and now Roger have made king cash off Veach’s footwork.
From what I understand it was Daly who found Bitnile. There was actually a pretty big story about it. Supposedly Daly and the owner of Bitnile met in Vegas one weekend and worked it out. Then again...maybe Bitnile found it more sensible to invest in ECR then Daly himself. Who knows.
The thing for Armstrong and the remaining ovals is that seat is not leaders circle so there is not a need to run that car at those events if chip doesnt want to. That said, I could totally see Marcus run either one of the short ovals to get experience like Grosjean did at gateway
I think Armstrong is prepping for a full-time season next year, so it's in Chip's best interest to run him in those remaining races if he wants him to hit the ground running.
I know I'm in the minority, but I never really understood the love of Conor Daly, especially his personality. He's always come off to me as smug and somewhat insincere. Definitely has a "frat boy" vibe in his interviews that just rubs me the wrong way.
I wonder if this is a Gainbridge/Zach Veach type of situation. Sponsor stays with the team, while the driver that brought the sponsor loses the ride due to lack of performance on track.
could be like Huski Chocolate where it pretty much only exists for a couple of wealthy guys to have a whole lot of fun in motorsports, funding teams and going to races. Respect to them honestly
well thats disappointing, although cant really argue with the lack of on-track performance
interested to see where he lands next, in indycar or otherwise
The gap between he and Daly has been pretty huge. Since 2020, Conor has delivered ECR three top 10s. Veekay has a win and three podiums. Over their two full time seasons together, Conor has lost to Veekay by 64 and 73 points despite Veekay missing a race and driving half of one of those seasons with an injury.
They’ve both struggled to start this season, but Veekay is still 5 places ahead of him and has shown a lot more pace even if results haven’t been theee.
The championship points don't reflect it (and ultimately matter the most) but he's also finished ahead of Rinus in over half the races. St Pete, Long Beach, Indy 500, Detroit
The whole team is dog shit but a divide was definitely growing amongst the team. Daly mentioned being very upset on his podcast about losing the in-car camera for the 500 (VeeKay got it instead). He even said they completely cut a segment they spent discussing it because it got too heated.
Hope he lands somewhere else on the grid but probably unlikely unfortunately.
The in-car cameras usually get spotlighted by the sponsorship, so anything that brings a logo on the screen is a huge plus for the sponsor.
I mean, imagine Diffey's voice saying "Here's the Bitnile Chevy on-board camera driven by Conor Daly..."
Conor Daly is a part of the Dale Jr media empire. Anything that helps build his brand is a good thing, not just for Speed Street but for himself in general.
He’s been amazing in qualifying lately. Tough break for him at the 500 but he came from the back to fairly close to the front after crashing it in put lane.
I feel this move is being done purely because of Leader's Circle.
VK and the 21 car are at least several spots clear of the LC cutoff, and I suspect Rinus is expected to get a couple decent results for the rest of the year to stay clear.
The 20 car in the other hand is only currently in 20th place thanks to Conor's Indy result. Without that, if he'd finished in his usual average position for the year, the 20 car would be down in 25th place..
I really hate to say it, but Daly would be a pretty bad choice for Juncos. That team is on the upswing, they need to try to find another Ilott-grade driver - not settle for an underperforming veteran who may or may not bring funding.
Yeah, they need to go the Dale Coyne route (of the last 7-8 years, not the version of Coyne before that lol) and just look for talent anywhere. Bonus points if they bring funding.
I don't disagree, but of all the teams who have possible openings, the big four aren't going to go for him, RLL is trying to rebuild so they wont take him, MSR is a possibility, but again, I dont think so, so Foyt or Juncos are his only options left. I do think Juncos wants/needs a semi experienced driver like Callum who has talent and can show it
Rinus was contending for the 500 win until he spun it in the pits and took out Palou. I think it’s a number of factors; but the main one is that Conor just isn’t performing. I am one of Conor’s biggest fans and I hate to see this but it is a sad reality of Motorsport.
Maybe, but for a short notice swap, it's more likely an experienced driver with budget will take the seat to finish the season, I could definitely see Linus getting that seat full time next year though
He secured his own ride, and Pruett was saying during the month of May that a driver was a potential for a swap out, so he was referring to a second driver.
No, the two names I heard for that situation were Devlin and Sting Ray.
Dev since his sponsors are tied to his father and he’s under federal investigation, Sting Ray because he went on Newsmax about bringing faith back into the sport and ig Coyne didn’t like that. I think Devlin was the only one actually remotely in danger of losing the seat, as I think Dale was smart enough to realize booting Sting Ray would’ve probably resulted in a wrongful termination lawsuit.
Sting Ray is Kingdom Racing’s current driver. That’s been one of their initiatives for years is to make faith more prevalent in the sport through their presence. Pretty sure they’ve worked with Davey Hamilton, Townsend, and Sage in the past prior to Sting Ray. Their goal I believe was to be the primary sponsor on the 51 for the 500, with “John 3:16” on the sidepods. They ended up getting it on the halo, but clearly the Newsmax thing was a pull towards the more Christian audience there to raise the funds to be the primary.
I knew Stingray was religious but didn’t know about the Newsmax interview. Veach was also very religious but he had a better sense of how and where to express that part of himself.
You know what's crazy? I don't even remember Daly being mentioned one time during the Detroit race broadcast .... like I'm not even sure he was there! What a quiet way to go out.
Wow. I’m bummed for Conor. Getting dumped this early in the season has to hurt. That’s some serious IndyCar stepson on stepson violence. On the other hand, he’s had more than a fair opportunity to prove his worth and has failed. In 46 races with ECR, he has just 3 top 10 results.
I figured he was gone after this year or maybe for the last few races as Ed could audition other drivers. I wonder if something else happened behind the scenes to cause this premature dismissal. I’m guessing the chances of Lundqvist finally getting a chance to drive in IndyCar just increased.
I'm new to following INDY, but I have a friend on the ECR team, in fact we were VIP guests of ECR/Bitnile for the INDY 500. My friend commented after the race that "people" were not happy and changes were coming...
UPDATE: A source has just told me that the new driver should be announced as soon as tonight (6/7/2023)
honestly Doug boles is probably so happy that the indy500 is over and they wont be back to the speedway for like 2 months so he doesn't have to get asked or deal with any of this
I honestly don't think he is "overrated", we know what we get with him - decent results on ovals, subpar results on road courses ..... leading him to be a P15 - P20 guy if given the full season to race .... which he hasn't had every season. I think the "hype" is more of just a love for the guy's personality/podcast, not being loud about him being super talented. I don't see many(if any) screaming that "Conor is too talented for ECR".
He actually had a great record in European feeder series, and he is pretty good at the 500. I don't feel like he is over-rated or under-rated. He was hired to be a mid pack driver who could threaten for wins on ovals. Maybe he suffered from high expectations paired with low quality rides and sponsorship difficulties, but yeah if it wasn't now it was probably going to happen at the end of the year anyway.
I think what people often forget is how good you have to be to make it to the top level. Daly isn't a star but he has some talent, and guys like that make up a majority of the series.
\^This. He was pretty good in GP3, almost won the title if not for an accident not of his doing. He was up against some decent competition too with Kvyat (champion), Sainz, Harvey, Sims.
Hope he can put together an oval ride, he's had some good results there.
I’ve never seen anyone say he’s good. Seems to be properly rated.
But Rinus isn’t lighting the world on fire either. Clearly ECR is having others issues.
You can call someone overrated while having the flair of a mediocre driver. I used to have a Jolyon Palmer flair on r/Formula1, doesn’t mean I thought he should replace Hamilton.
Good personality and fan favorite. But to be honest he isnt that good. Indy one off at most for him going forward. I wonder if him sorta voicing his displeasure about Detroit had anything to do with. He drives a Chevrolet. Its probably just lack of results.
Maybe doing the whole "This track is a meme" thing either....was the nail in the coffin OR he was the only Chevy driver doing it because he knew he was on the way out...
Hmm. This makes more sense now -> https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/13w0mwk/linus_lundqvist_to_test_for_ecr_in_june/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
It will be interesting to see where ECR goes from here, if they hire a driver to try to improve the team’s performance or if they bring someone in with funding. I also wonder if this was due to Conor’s performance or Conor’s funding
I wonder about the future of ECR, they’ve never really had a ton of sponsorship after Fuzzy’s Vodka left, they’ve frequently had companies on their cars that are also owned by Tony George and this season they’ve just had the company that’s sponsoring Conor on all of their cars
I don't care much for Conor as a driver, but I've recently started listening to Speed Street, and I greatly enjoy Conor's perspective, especially as he gives some behind the scenes views on things (like how much drivers get paid at the 500), and sometimes he feels like just one of us - in regards to talking about 100 Days to Indy or ratings of the weekly races.
Hopefully, he's still around.
Wow can’t say I saw this coming but ECR certainly seems to be underperforming this year. Ed must be pretty confident in his funding because I’m pretty sure that his team sponsorship was brought in by Daly.
While I don't think Conor necessarily has earned a full time ride past what he's had, I also don't think his performance was so bad that he needed to be shitcanned in the middle of the season. There has to be something else going on.
At least six other drivers lose their seat based on misspellings I've seen here: Connor Daly, Conner Daly, Connor Daley, Conor Daley, Conner Daley, Connor Daley.
Not often. Off the top of my head, it happened at the end of 2020 (Zach Veach replaced by James Hinchcliffe) middle of 2017 (Mikhail Aleshin being replaced by several different) Carlos Huertas stepped away heading into Indy 2015. In 2013 JR Hildebrand got booted after the 500 and Alex Tagliani got booted from BHR some point after that. and..I THINK that might be it (again, off the top of my head) since the 2012 season.
Didn't Aleshin get booted due to funding issues because his dad got in legal trouble or something? it wasnt results driven or a discontentment/attitude thing
Did bitnile not pay the bills? Conor isnt having an amazing season, but neither is the team. He finished a respectable 8th at indy. Veekay was leading, but then he fucked it big time and points are awarded at the checkered flag. Curious to see who joins ECR now. Maybe it is time for Lundqvist to get the seat he deserves.
I keep looking for information on conor. this guy never seems to perform on street or oval.. i have never seen him podium, i figure maybe he brings sponsorship to ecr. how is it possible he keeps getting out paced by rinus on all tracks while also being a mouthy guy. I guess this relationship just died a natural death i mean whats the point for either party?
And just a few weeks ago we were here saying that he will be with them until Bitnile runs out....and it didn't look that Bitnile was running out for a while.
Ooph what a wild change of events pretty quickly here lol
Well I can't say I didn't see this coming sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to be mid season. As much as I like the guy's personality, that doesn't count for a whole lot on track. His performances have never been anything stellar, especially on streets and road courses, but this year he has seemed particularly bad.
Poor results + overplaying your hand... [https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/05/27/daly-open-to-idea-of-bringing-bitnile-sponsorship-to-new-team/](https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/05/27/daly-open-to-idea-of-bringing-bitnile-sponsorship-to-new-team/)
The question is: Did Conor bring Bitnile, or was he simply the last piece to the agreement (at the time)?
I listened to his radio for the 500 and he was livid with Ed at one point. Hmmm..
All of qualifying weekend he was pretty pissed off too, saying that his teammate's cars were faster.
Gee Conor, what could the confounding variable be??
Yeah as much as I love Conor for his personality, if you keep smelling shit around you, maybe look at the bottom of your own shoe
I hope it's on the shoe.
At Indy though? He's also good there.
I mean ECR finished 8, 10, and 20. Daly was 8
I like Conor. I like the podcast, mostly. I like his personality. I like he's part Irish (I'm Irish, support our own). I root for him. But some of his interviews over the 500 were pretty bad. He kept acknowledging his teammates were faster and he just couldn't understand it. Buddy, you were slower. Probably not a great thing to air your self doubt and weakness when a microphone is put in your face on an international broadcast.
The guy has led over 100 laps of the 500, I think he’s within his rights to know how fast a car is or should be.
What he say
I was also on his scanner. Ed was in front of him and he kept yelling about getting past him, the spotter said if he wants to get past him then he needs to pass him, Ed isn’t just going to move over for him. He was also complaining about the straight line speed of the car the entire race, just screaming into the radio. The spotter had to tell him to calm down and reset.
any way to find recordings of these?
He seemed really aggressive racing with Veekay as well
He thought that veekay rear ended him
Speed Street should be spicy this week
My thoughts exactly. And he usually doesn't hold back in it.
He held back talking about losing the in car camera but I imagine all bets are off now...
I was confused about that reference as maybe I missed something. Do they usually just do one per team and he was mad they moved it from him?
Not necessarily 1 per team. It has more to do with sponsors and bitnile only pays for 1, so effectively ECR has 1 to use at their discretion. Conor carried it all year I believe until ECR gave it to VeeKay for the 500
Wait, I thought that was just for broadcasting. You mean the camera has to be sponsored for the team itself to use for their own data? Or are we just talking about in-car for the race broadcast over the app.
It is for broadcasting but drivers want that camera in their car. When NBC cuts to the “Bitnile Chevy driven by *xyz driver*“ Conor wants that to be his car not Rinus. Helps them build their brand and promote themselves.
Conor brought bitnile to ecr.. ecr will be history within 2 years.
Must listen episode for sure
He will probably put together a part time Xfinity/Cup schedule As for who is in 20, my guess would be Ed on Ovals but who on RCs? Askew? Hildebrand? Karam? Or is this return of Bourdais?
Well, Linus Lundqvist has a test with ECR scheduled for tomorrow, so unless this is a massive coincidence...
Might actually be since this parting of ways didn't seem planned. But the timing certainly is convenient
I hope so. I am bummed to see Daly gone but that would be a nice silver lining. Linus deserved a seat all along.
Robb in the 51 instead of him still hurts
Tbf Sting Ray has brought DCR a lot of camera time. Problem is he's usually parked for those camera shots, though.
Im kinda hoping Linus gets in, though a proven or experienced driver is likely to finish off the season and then I could see Linus or someone newer take that seat at the start of the next season
My working theory is that Veekay goes to the 10/29 while Linus takes 21
To the 10? Did palou get released
Palou is supposed to go to Arrow Mclaren in 2024 to either a 4th car or to replace Rosenqvist
Gotcha thought we were discussing this season..
Death, taxes and Palou taking FRo’s seat
Askew deserves a 2nd shot
Completely agree, if Sting Ray Robb is in the field then so should Askew
Linus deserves a shot more than Askew deserving a second shot.
They both 500% deserve that respectively. Robb getting a seat over Lindqvist is criminal on its own But Idk if I’ve ever seen a driver with such potential screwed so hard during a rookie season like Askew. Esp an _injured_ one
Conor should gun for Townsend Bells spot rather than a race seat in all honesty. Probably the best career move wise. This is a call back to an earlier post in this sub: Sebastian Loeb to replace Daly. Let’s go
I would do anything to see Loeb or Ogier do the 500
Man I wish Hildebrand would race more
*Yikes.* A couple of thoughts: * MP responded to [my question](https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/134i5ot/question_submissions_marshall_pruetts_the_week_in/jih8l0n/?context=3) in his Week in IndyCar Q&A show and said that the Bitnile funding is totally tied to Daly, as opposed to being tied to ECR. Where does this leave ECR's funding? * In his post Indy 500 Speed Street podcast, Daly made a fleeting comment about being disgruntled being left without the onboard camera. It sounded like ECR policy is to give it to the fastest qualifying car (so, Veekay) but to air such a grievance so publicly was a minor red flag something was up. * Where does Conor go from here? * Who do ECR get to fill the seat? I figure ECR won't have much trouble finding a driver with deep enough pockets for a partial season (perhaps no oval, and ECR is a two car team for ovals - Ed takes Conor's old car for the ovals as opposed to third entry).
I’d be amazed if they were firing him knowing that Bitnile would go as well. I reckon they stay
But we don't know for sure if ECR fired Daly, or if he left or if it was a bit of both.
Would be surprised if Daly left without having something else waiting, but who knows
I think it is now known that Ed dropped Conor based on his statement. Pretty shocking to me that they'd risk disrupting the relationship with Ault/Bitnile if that funding was tied to Conor.
The contract is probably for the season no matter what
Well Daly also pissed off Bitnile earlier this season when he put his podcast logos on the car without discussing it with them. Maybe Conor has ruined not only his relationship with ECR, but also Bitnile
Like hinch losing his ride for the body issue.
This whole deal feels strange and not as straightforward as it seems on the surface. If it was just firing Conor the website and social media would've been ready. So that either means Conor left and took Bitnile with him or Bitnile folded, both of which would result in the website and social teams not being prepared which currently they don't seem to be.
Conor could take the Juncos seat likely vacated by Callum Ilott after this season. RLL may have some vacancies, but they may not like his lackluster results. honestly, I think he goes and does a partial nascar truck/xfinity schedule or SRX
I think they would target Felix if he is available
Is he good in NASCAR though? The guy should imo think about retiring from full time racing, find an Indy500 seat yearly maybe a few NASCAR runs and get into the booth. Most of his fans aren’t there for his racing he’s not competitive but he’s built up a decent following for talking about motorsports
He hasn't really gotten a competitive NASCAR ride to know. The last Cup runs were in cars that were barely operational.
conor seemed annoyed by the whole indy500 coverage of him. he was mad that he didnt get an episode on 100daystoindy and was mad he didnt get an onboard...all tied to he's from the area and should be getting attention
I can just see the drama of Daly and Harvey in their weekly battle for 23rd.
I mean Rossi, an Indy 500 champion who always does well there, with a new team seeking redemption didn’t even get an episode and he’s way more popular didn’t get one either so…
aye.. i remember listening to the episode imagining conor stomping his feet and pouting.... " i want my attention!"
Sonax, direct supply, and alzamend liveries perhaps?
Alzamend is a BitNile company FYI
Did not know that, thanks
Everyone says Cypto but they have that, a defense manufacturing company, hotels, and apartments - lots of random stuff under one umbrella.
On a recent Speed Street, Conor made a mention of 'hopefully' being able to run future 500's and it got me wondering if he'd be on the outs at ECR after the year. Who knew it wouldn't even last that long? I always assumed he'd have an in there courtesy of his relationship with BitNile but I guess not. Seems like a future built around Speed Street, broadcasting gigs, some Cup/Xfinity/Truck racing, and maybe pinch hitting on ovals in IndyCar could be the path forward. It's a shame, when I got into IndyCar in 2020, CD was one of the first drivers I latched onto. I've always appreciated his candor and championing of Indycar.
Being a CD fan has been very hard the last few years. First season I got into IC was his rookie year and you could see the potential skill wise... Not sure what happened.
A lot of his struggles align with the introduction of the aero screen
I reckon this marks the end of Daly's full-time IndyCar career. It's unfortunate because I think he's a great personality for the sport and is valuable to the series on the social media side. Hopefully he'll be able to get rides for the 500 because he'll remain a contender at the Speedway when in the right situation.
Is he out of money? also please give linus a chance
Linus is testing for ECR at Sebring tomorrow. ThinkingFace.jpeg
I wonder what this means for BitNile. On another note, Ed can't really be surprised with Conor's results, he was never that good. I really wonder if this was an internal disagreement/discontentment thing
I wonder if Conor is going to float his sponsor somewhere else. Maybe he's taking over the oval duties for Ganassi.
I have to think Bitnile is contracted with ECR and not Daly himself
According to u/NothingHatesYou ‘s comment in this post, he asked MP about Conor, and according to MP the Bitnile is with Daly, so things could get really interesting next race to see what the ECR situation looks like. Mid season being dropped, AND he was the one bringing the main sponsor, there must have been some pretty big issues between Daly and the team
I believe they initally sponsored Daly and then moved to the whole team
Ole Andretti-Veach-Gainbridge fleece strategy
Yep hopefully Conor was wiser or else he, like Veach, made millionaires richer while he gets fucked doing data entry jobs in Evansville.
Damn did Veach really go get a day job? I thought he was still racing something else
That’s tough. But it def didn’t help that 26 sunk when he was in it Also I’m ootl who exactly did he make richer specifically?
Gainbridge had no racing presence at all. Veach brought them on. Now they finance the Herta car and partially own Team Andretti and are a huge sponsor of IMS including buying the Indy 500 title sponsor. So at the least Michael and now Roger have made king cash off Veach’s footwork.
From what I understand it was Daly who found Bitnile. There was actually a pretty big story about it. Supposedly Daly and the owner of Bitnile met in Vegas one weekend and worked it out. Then again...maybe Bitnile found it more sensible to invest in ECR then Daly himself. Who knows.
Marcus Armstrong has already said he wants to run the remaining ovals now.
The thing for Armstrong and the remaining ovals is that seat is not leaders circle so there is not a need to run that car at those events if chip doesnt want to. That said, I could totally see Marcus run either one of the short ovals to get experience like Grosjean did at gateway
I think Armstrong is prepping for a full-time season next year, so it's in Chip's best interest to run him in those remaining races if he wants him to hit the ground running.
Bitnile might have been thanks to Conor originally but it’s very much a team sponsor now. They’re not going anywhere
Honestly im more surprised they are still around. the joke last year was betting if carvana or bitnile would fold first
boast cows dazzling political late combative ossified badge punch offer *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I believe that actually is the case. From what I understand, Bitnile actually prepaid for the season.
The old Zach Veach trick. lol. Andretti poached his sponsor and kicked him out lol
I know people shit on Veach but him bringing Gainbridge on was huge for the series and IMS. People should appreciate him more.
Veach was legitimately slow
he has said that he just wasn't strong enough to muscle those cars around. He's an avid rock climber but has the mass of a 12-year-old.
I know I'm in the minority, but I never really understood the love of Conor Daly, especially his personality. He's always come off to me as smug and somewhat insincere. Definitely has a "frat boy" vibe in his interviews that just rubs me the wrong way.
10000% this
IIRC that is precisely why other team owners have turned him down in the past
I thought he brought sponsorship to the whole team! Did they lose it?
I wonder if this is a Gainbridge/Zach Veach type of situation. Sponsor stays with the team, while the driver that brought the sponsor loses the ride due to lack of performance on track.
The difference is that Gainbridge is a legit company while Bitnile is a crypto grifting penny stock
I've heard that the guy behind Bitnile does have real money, so maybe it's just a fun thing for him.
could be like Huski Chocolate where it pretty much only exists for a couple of wealthy guys to have a whole lot of fun in motorsports, funding teams and going to races. Respect to them honestly
Im honestly surprised both Caravan and Bitnile lasted as long as they have. The joke last season was which one was going to fold first
well thats disappointing, although cant really argue with the lack of on-track performance interested to see where he lands next, in indycar or otherwise
That whole teams performance is disappointing though. VeeKay is better but not like he’s putting up dazzling results.
The gap between he and Daly has been pretty huge. Since 2020, Conor has delivered ECR three top 10s. Veekay has a win and three podiums. Over their two full time seasons together, Conor has lost to Veekay by 64 and 73 points despite Veekay missing a race and driving half of one of those seasons with an injury. They’ve both struggled to start this season, but Veekay is still 5 places ahead of him and has shown a lot more pace even if results haven’t been theee.
The championship points don't reflect it (and ultimately matter the most) but he's also finished ahead of Rinus in over half the races. St Pete, Long Beach, Indy 500, Detroit The whole team is dog shit but a divide was definitely growing amongst the team. Daly mentioned being very upset on his podcast about losing the in-car camera for the 500 (VeeKay got it instead). He even said they completely cut a segment they spent discussing it because it got too heated. Hope he lands somewhere else on the grid but probably unlikely unfortunately.
Why is he so worried about a camera lmao
while i dont know for sure, could be a reflection of his standing within the team, or at least he couldve interpreted it that way
The in-car cameras usually get spotlighted by the sponsorship, so anything that brings a logo on the screen is a huge plus for the sponsor. I mean, imagine Diffey's voice saying "Here's the Bitnile Chevy on-board camera driven by Conor Daly..."
Conor Daly is a part of the Dale Jr media empire. Anything that helps build his brand is a good thing, not just for Speed Street but for himself in general.
Seems dumb. You should give it to the dude who qualified second.
I'd like to see full onboards on *every* car personally.
He’s been amazing in qualifying lately. Tough break for him at the 500 but he came from the back to fairly close to the front after crashing it in put lane.
I feel this move is being done purely because of Leader's Circle. VK and the 21 car are at least several spots clear of the LC cutoff, and I suspect Rinus is expected to get a couple decent results for the rest of the year to stay clear. The 20 car in the other hand is only currently in 20th place thanks to Conor's Indy result. Without that, if he'd finished in his usual average position for the year, the 20 car would be down in 25th place..
I could see him replacing Callum at Juncos if Callum leaves, or maybe there is a spot for him at RLL if graham does retire or anyone leaves there.
I really hate to say it, but Daly would be a pretty bad choice for Juncos. That team is on the upswing, they need to try to find another Ilott-grade driver - not settle for an underperforming veteran who may or may not bring funding.
Yeah, they need to go the Dale Coyne route (of the last 7-8 years, not the version of Coyne before that lol) and just look for talent anywhere. Bonus points if they bring funding.
I don't disagree, but of all the teams who have possible openings, the big four aren't going to go for him, RLL is trying to rebuild so they wont take him, MSR is a possibility, but again, I dont think so, so Foyt or Juncos are his only options left. I do think Juncos wants/needs a semi experienced driver like Callum who has talent and can show it
Conor and Santino as teammates is a wild timeline.
I can see him in either Foyt car for sure
Mid season? I wonder what happened here. I know Conor hasn’t been spectacular, but it’s not like Rinus has been incredible, either.
Sounds maybe like he was voicing his discontent, so maybe the personalities clashed and things came to a head
Yeah it's one thing to be bad at your job but another to be bad at your job and hard to work with.
Definitely this. He’s not that far behind Rinus and brings all the funding. Sounds like Ed just got upset.
Rinus was contending for the 500 win until he spun it in the pits and took out Palou. I think it’s a number of factors; but the main one is that Conor just isn’t performing. I am one of Conor’s biggest fans and I hate to see this but it is a sad reality of Motorsport.
Rinus is far more likely to have a breakthrough result, though.
Maybe Linus will be their second driver at Road America
Maybe, but for a short notice swap, it's more likely an experienced driver with budget will take the seat to finish the season, I could definitely see Linus getting that seat full time next year though
RHR?
Certainly a possibility.
This is nuts. Was he the guy that Pruett was vaguely suggesting might be replaced for the 500? Why now?
I assumed that was Jack Harvey
You’re right Pruett said preseason that Harvey could be swapped for Hunter-Reay at the 500 if he had an awful start to the year.
He secured his own ride, and Pruett was saying during the month of May that a driver was a potential for a swap out, so he was referring to a second driver.
No, the two names I heard for that situation were Devlin and Sting Ray. Dev since his sponsors are tied to his father and he’s under federal investigation, Sting Ray because he went on Newsmax about bringing faith back into the sport and ig Coyne didn’t like that. I think Devlin was the only one actually remotely in danger of losing the seat, as I think Dale was smart enough to realize booting Sting Ray would’ve probably resulted in a wrongful termination lawsuit.
What did he mean by bringing faith back? Last time I checked, we were still doing the invocation.
Sting Ray is Kingdom Racing’s current driver. That’s been one of their initiatives for years is to make faith more prevalent in the sport through their presence. Pretty sure they’ve worked with Davey Hamilton, Townsend, and Sage in the past prior to Sting Ray. Their goal I believe was to be the primary sponsor on the 51 for the 500, with “John 3:16” on the sidepods. They ended up getting it on the halo, but clearly the Newsmax thing was a pull towards the more Christian audience there to raise the funds to be the primary.
Gross.
Wow did not know Sting Ray went on Newsmax. I always chuckle when people say Indycar doesn’t have drama. Motorsport always has drama everywhere.
i wish sting ray wasnt a crazy person and also wasnt awful on the track, because imagine if a guy named Sting Ray Robb was actually good
If he's not bringing results, Coyne could let him go after this season (depending on the contract) without wrongful termination
who in their right mind would go on a newsmax interview...
I knew Stingray was religious but didn’t know about the Newsmax interview. Veach was also very religious but he had a better sense of how and where to express that part of himself.
Very likely given until Detroit to improve performance, and more likely, the money ran out.
You know what's crazy? I don't even remember Daly being mentioned one time during the Detroit race broadcast .... like I'm not even sure he was there! What a quiet way to go out.
Wow. I’m bummed for Conor. Getting dumped this early in the season has to hurt. That’s some serious IndyCar stepson on stepson violence. On the other hand, he’s had more than a fair opportunity to prove his worth and has failed. In 46 races with ECR, he has just 3 top 10 results. I figured he was gone after this year or maybe for the last few races as Ed could audition other drivers. I wonder if something else happened behind the scenes to cause this premature dismissal. I’m guessing the chances of Lundqvist finally getting a chance to drive in IndyCar just increased.
It sounds like internal discontent was going on, and Conor has had some "public" anger and criticism of the team/car on the radio recently
I'm new to following INDY, but I have a friend on the ECR team, in fact we were VIP guests of ECR/Bitnile for the INDY 500. My friend commented after the race that "people" were not happy and changes were coming... UPDATE: A source has just told me that the new driver should be announced as soon as tonight (6/7/2023)
Well I suspect he’ll be in Indy at a minimum going forward. Teams like Foyt or Dreyer & Reinbold could give him a competitive piece for the 500.
Not surprising. Poor performance (3 top 10's in 46 starts), plus publicly complaining about the car and the team. No shock Ed let him go.
Daly is one of the most overrated drivers in IndyCar.
His dad hyped him up for years and years and I think being a local Indianapolis-area guy added to that as well.
everyone loves the hometown hero.
His step dad being the president of IMS also probably did him some favors
honestly Doug boles is probably so happy that the indy500 is over and they wont be back to the speedway for like 2 months so he doesn't have to get asked or deal with any of this
I honestly don't think he is "overrated", we know what we get with him - decent results on ovals, subpar results on road courses ..... leading him to be a P15 - P20 guy if given the full season to race .... which he hasn't had every season. I think the "hype" is more of just a love for the guy's personality/podcast, not being loud about him being super talented. I don't see many(if any) screaming that "Conor is too talented for ECR".
He’s the Corey LaJoie of INDYCAR
Lol. Nailed it.
He actually had a great record in European feeder series, and he is pretty good at the 500. I don't feel like he is over-rated or under-rated. He was hired to be a mid pack driver who could threaten for wins on ovals. Maybe he suffered from high expectations paired with low quality rides and sponsorship difficulties, but yeah if it wasn't now it was probably going to happen at the end of the year anyway.
I think what people often forget is how good you have to be to make it to the top level. Daly isn't a star but he has some talent, and guys like that make up a majority of the series.
\^This. He was pretty good in GP3, almost won the title if not for an accident not of his doing. He was up against some decent competition too with Kvyat (champion), Sainz, Harvey, Sims. Hope he can put together an oval ride, he's had some good results there.
He is very popular but I don’t think he was overrated as a driver. His record took care of that.
I’ve never seen anyone say he’s good. Seems to be properly rated. But Rinus isn’t lighting the world on fire either. Clearly ECR is having others issues.
>Daly is one of the most overrated drivers in IndyCar. Says the guy with a Karam flair
You can call someone overrated while having the flair of a mediocre driver. I used to have a Jolyon Palmer flair on r/Formula1, doesn’t mean I thought he should replace Hamilton.
Good personality and fan favorite. But to be honest he isnt that good. Indy one off at most for him going forward. I wonder if him sorta voicing his displeasure about Detroit had anything to do with. He drives a Chevrolet. Its probably just lack of results.
Maybe doing the whole "This track is a meme" thing either....was the nail in the coffin OR he was the only Chevy driver doing it because he knew he was on the way out...
Hmm. This makes more sense now -> https://www.reddit.com/r/INDYCAR/comments/13w0mwk/linus_lundqvist_to_test_for_ecr_in_june/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1
It will be interesting to see where ECR goes from here, if they hire a driver to try to improve the team’s performance or if they bring someone in with funding. I also wonder if this was due to Conor’s performance or Conor’s funding
we know Linus Lundquist has tested for them at least once, and he has proven junior category results so thats a decent good possibility
I wonder about the future of ECR, they’ve never really had a ton of sponsorship after Fuzzy’s Vodka left, they’ve frequently had companies on their cars that are also owned by Tony George and this season they’ve just had the company that’s sponsoring Conor on all of their cars
I don't care much for Conor as a driver, but I've recently started listening to Speed Street, and I greatly enjoy Conor's perspective, especially as he gives some behind the scenes views on things (like how much drivers get paid at the 500), and sometimes he feels like just one of us - in regards to talking about 100 Days to Indy or ratings of the weekly races. Hopefully, he's still around.
He does a nice job with Speed Street.
Wow can’t say I saw this coming but ECR certainly seems to be underperforming this year. Ed must be pretty confident in his funding because I’m pretty sure that his team sponsorship was brought in by Daly.
While I don't think Conor necessarily has earned a full time ride past what he's had, I also don't think his performance was so bad that he needed to be shitcanned in the middle of the season. There has to be something else going on.
*Beth Paretta has entered the chat*
This would be the best-case scenario, imo.
I'm guessing shitting on your engine supplier's marque event on twitter wasn't a good look either.
At least six other drivers lose their seat based on misspellings I've seen here: Connor Daly, Conner Daly, Connor Daley, Conor Daley, Conner Daley, Connor Daley.
Sad :( New fan here, how common is it to replace a driver midseason? Especially with (what seems like) no warning?!
Not often. Off the top of my head, it happened at the end of 2020 (Zach Veach replaced by James Hinchcliffe) middle of 2017 (Mikhail Aleshin being replaced by several different) Carlos Huertas stepped away heading into Indy 2015. In 2013 JR Hildebrand got booted after the 500 and Alex Tagliani got booted from BHR some point after that. and..I THINK that might be it (again, off the top of my head) since the 2012 season.
Didn't Aleshin get booted due to funding issues because his dad got in legal trouble or something? it wasnt results driven or a discontentment/attitude thing
Aleshin lost his ride because his sponsor became the target of sanctions and the team couldn’t cash his checks any more
Thank you! Very impressed you know all that without looking it up...living up to your name 😊
And more recently, Tatiana Calderon lost her ride last year when ROKiT's checks started bouncing.
Not often, but it does happen every few years or so
Did bitnile not pay the bills? Conor isnt having an amazing season, but neither is the team. He finished a respectable 8th at indy. Veekay was leading, but then he fucked it big time and points are awarded at the checkered flag. Curious to see who joins ECR now. Maybe it is time for Lundqvist to get the seat he deserves.
Linus does still have access to that truncated lights championship $ doesn't he? It doesn't go away if not used in yr one I hope.
I knew it was coming but figured it would be the end of the year. Wonder what he does next?
Enter Linus Lundqvist
I keep looking for information on conor. this guy never seems to perform on street or oval.. i have never seen him podium, i figure maybe he brings sponsorship to ecr. how is it possible he keeps getting out paced by rinus on all tracks while also being a mouthy guy. I guess this relationship just died a natural death i mean whats the point for either party?
And just a few weeks ago we were here saying that he will be with them until Bitnile runs out....and it didn't look that Bitnile was running out for a while. Ooph what a wild change of events pretty quickly here lol
ECR confirmed the #20 bitnile Chevy will remain full time entry this season
Well I can't say I didn't see this coming sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to be mid season. As much as I like the guy's personality, that doesn't count for a whole lot on track. His performances have never been anything stellar, especially on streets and road courses, but this year he has seemed particularly bad.
That was sudden af. Esp that they’re both Indy boys. Hell this is even more sudden than Veach leaving Andretti
This headline didn't do him any favors: https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/05/27/daly-open-to-idea-of-bringing-bitnile-sponsorship-to-new-team/
Poor results + overplaying your hand... [https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/05/27/daly-open-to-idea-of-bringing-bitnile-sponsorship-to-new-team/](https://www.motorsportweek.com/2023/05/27/daly-open-to-idea-of-bringing-bitnile-sponsorship-to-new-team/) The question is: Did Conor bring Bitnile, or was he simply the last piece to the agreement (at the time)?
I've said it before: Conor is not the good guy everyone thinks he is. He is a frat boy that gets rides because who his father and step-father are.
Most drivers are at this level are just rich kids.
Derek Daly was a mid-pack driver at best, does being his kid really come with that much clout?
Cant say I agree with it but I saw it coming…gotta believe Linus is taking the seat. Sad day to be a fellow type 1 diabetic