Conor Daly on joining Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the Indy 500

Wed, Mar 18, 2026

IndyCar insider Zion Brown interviews Conor Daly, who will drive in the Indianapolis 500 for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

Video Transcript

Here on IndyStar TV, I'm Zion Brown, here at the IMS Annual Sweet Hospitality tasting event with the newest announced driver in Ryan Bold Indy 500 driver, Conor Daly.

How's it going, Conor?

Good.

There's lots of good food here.

Everyone's excited for the 500, so it feels good.

Have you gotten the chance to try any of the food here yet?

Not yet, but I will be.

I promise.

Any of the Has anything caught your eye?

This is the food I grew up on in these suites here, in the Tower Terrace Suites, so a lot of it's very familiar.

Okay.

For you, what's the, the race day pre-race meal like for you?

What do you usually indulge in?

It's actually a good question.

whatever's really available, but I, I, I love breakfast, and the Indy 500's always at a You know, it's, it's early.

Right.

So y- but it's also a long race.

So you don't wanna go, you know, too close to the race, and, you know, sometimes it's usually, like, a gluten-free pasta and chicken probably around 10:30ish.

but I usually try to have a, either a bowl of Lucky Charms in the morning.

Okay.

Is that intentional, lucky?

The only month of the year- Okay I have Lucky Charms is May.

Every now- And I, and I It's like a religious thing now.

I don't know.

I just love it.

Oh, okay.

It's, it's fun.

I understand.

Well, it was just announced, I think, a week ago today that you'll be back in the car for this year's 500, teammates with Jack Harvey, for Dreyer & Reinbold.

How excited are you, even though you're not full-time this year, to be in that seat for the 500?

Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's the best, the best possible situation we could be in.

obviously, it's not It is not what I dreamed of going over the winter.

I, I And that's no offense to our team, but it's just I After the last year of being full-time and, you know, finishing the race in the top five at Nashville, finishing the season at a really strong point, you know, being full-time in this car, in this series is, is my goal and, and my, you know, my, my passion.

But the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team is so good, and, and they're, they're a great group of people, and I would love for them to be full-time again at some point in the future.

And, and so this was, you know, for our partners with, with ARCO and, and AMPM and everyone at, And they al- they also brought Kingspan to the table, too, as a, as a team, finding a partner, that's also super helpful.

And, and we're all gonna work together to try to win the race.

What is the difference for you being in a, in a seat only for the 500 as far as the preparation goes?

You're not preparing for these races as, as far as Arlington and whatnot goes.

I guess, what's that difference like for you where you have those two months not in a seat, just getting ready for May?

Well, it's tough because you really wanna drive.

but you, you just You stay so focused on the physical aspect of training and, and, and just getting your mind right.

But also because the Indy 500 is so unique and you have so much practice, you know, you don't lose a ton when it comes to race day.

You're able to I mean, you can run six hours a day if all the weather's good.

You know what I mean?

And that's, that's a lot more track time than any time during the year.

So I, I love the practice week.

I love the tests that we get to do should the weather be good, obviously.

But it's, it's just more staying patient.

Like, you have to stay patient.

You can't You just can't get frustrated with the fact that you're not doing something.

It's just like, all right, one day at a time.

You're gonna make yourself better one day at a time, whether that's physically, mentally.

And, and once April hits, you know, you're And then you get to the end of April, then, I mean, then it's all full go ahead.

So How are you gonna go about just trying to gain that synergy with Jack as a teammate for that one race?

I mean, I've known Jack a long time.

Jack's I mean, Jack's stayed at my parents' house before.

Like, I've, I've known Jack You know, we were teammates in 2013.

So a-and honestly, we've communicated a lot over the years because, you know, we've been in, in similar situations, I would say, eh, this, that and whatever.

But it's, it's gonna be great to have him there.

I think he knows the team very well.

I know the team very well.

You know, he's a quick driver, and, and it's, it's important to have a fast teammate no matter what.

Having a fast teammate, no matter what race you're at, pushes you and pushes the team further forward.

So it's, it's great to have him and all of his partners on board.

And, you know, to be with Chevrolet as well is, is super helpful in that.

To start the IndyCar season, you have been helping out doing some content yourself on IndyCar social channels.

How has that been like for you?

You know, I, I, I'm a race fan, so I, I do love IndyCar and, and I wanted to see it I want to see it succeed more than anything else in the world, and I want to see it get the recognition that I believe it deserves.

And we have started the year super strong, like incredibly strong.

TV ratings, attendance, everything just feels like we are absolutely on a rocket ship blasting off to the moon.

And so we just wanna keep that going.

And if there's anything that I can do to present information because of the experience that I've gained in this world to people and that helps them become more of a fan, then awesome.

How'd you enjoy Arlington?

Arlington was just awesome.

I mean, it's fantastic, such a great event.

I gotta give credit to all the, you know, the folks at Penske Entertainment, all of Jerry Jones' people, whoever, basically anyone who was involved in getting that thing set up and going.

You know, there's obviously a new event can never be perfect.

There's a few small things that the fans I'm sure will be helpful for that we can figure out for next year.

But my gosh, the major elements were fantastic, and I've never seen more drivers agree on something, and that was just that it was an awesome weekend.

So I, I was super pumped to just see general happiness between our, our teams and drivers.

Conor, thanks again for your time.

Best of luck in May.

Thank you.