By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Though Conor Daly will be a newbie to NASCAR when he makes his XFINITY Series debut next weekend at Road America, he knows his NASCAR history.
And since a piece of NASCAR’s past, Bill Elliott, will be making his return to the cockpit in Daly’s first start, he is pumped to share the track with the 1988 Cup Series champion.
“It’s incredible. That’s wild,” Daly said regarding racing Elliott. “I’m going to get his autograph or something.”
Daly, 26, will be the latest of the Verizon IndyCar Series to make the jump to NASCAR. AJ Allmendinger was a regular winner in Champ Car while Danica Patrick, James Davison and Juan Pablo Montoya have competed in the sport since 2014.
Along with Allmendinger, Katherine Legge made her XFINITY debut at Mid-Ohio, giving Daly another familiar face to help learn the series.
“I talked to her already, I’ve talked to Allmendinger almost every day,” he said. “I’m trying to get in as much information as possible. But at some point, you just have to get out there and feel for yourself.”
Though currently a one-off for Roush Fenway Racing, the preparation has been deep for the five-time competitor of the Indianapolis 500. With plenty of seat time in the Ford simulators, Daly knows the real thing will be incomparable.
“Being on the simulators has been great, it’s going well on the simulator, but it’s still a video game,” he said. “You got to be able to go out there and deliver the information to the team. There is a little bit of rough and tumble.”
In return, Daly can’t point his finger on where to set expectations for his debut in the No. 6 Ford.
“Realistically, we cant set expectations because we don’t know until session No. 1,” he said. “What I need out of the car, what it’s going to be like, what the differences are.
“It’s a learning curve. Any time I have jumped into a series for the first race ever, I am not going out expecting to win. You have to expect to learn from whats going on around you and adjust.”
Daly will compete in Sunday’s IndyCar ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, starting 22nd for Harding Racing.