Conor Daly 'annoyed and frustrated' with IndyCar's latest issue

Conor Daly has expressed frustration over IndyCar's newest issue, which is full-length races ending without any incidents and caution periods. On its face, this is a non-issue, indicating clean racing by all 27 drivers. However, from Daly's perspective, it rules out unpredictability and any ensuing strategic changes.

In four races in the 2025 season, IndyCar has only had one caution period - from laps one to five at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Since then, it has been all green for 300+ laps.

While speaking about the challenges that Juncos Hollinger Racing is facing with its car, Daly stressed how the lack of cautions isn't helping.

"Right now, when there's no yellows, you really have no chance to kind of take advantage of your racecraft and restart-craft, 'coz once you are out there and cycling through strategies, there's really not a ton of action. I can't lie, these races without yellows have become kind of frustrating and annoying because once you are committed to one strategy, it's hard to really pivot to another one," he said on his Speed Street podcast. [14:40 onwards]

Many fans and analysts have blamed the addition of the hybrid power units to the cars as the main reason for the lack of close racing. The additional 105 pounds make it difficult for drivers to go 100%. In turn, they commit fewer mistakes on the track.

Notably, Alex Palou has won three of the first four races of the season, with his last win at Barber coming with a 16-second lead over Christian Lundgaard (P2). Daly is currently nowhere in Top 10 contention, facing several challenges at JHR.

Conor Daly reveals his 'struggle' in IndyCar's 'wild' era

INDYCAR Open Testing - Indianapolis - Source: Getty

Conor Daly has been struggling so far in the 2025 season. The Juncos Hollinger Racing has failed to get past Round 1 of qualifying in all four races until now. He recently revealed how difficult it has been to get the tires in the right window to put in a decent qualifying lap.

On the Speed Street podcast, he spoke about how competitive it has become in IndyCar and the effect it has on tire preparation. Daly said: [13:30 onwards]:

"Earlier on in my IndyCar career, when you put on the reds, it's probably gonna be the second, the third lap, you might have two or three to get it done (in qualifying). Now it's like we gotta figure out the exact temperature window, the exact pressure window for everything to be perfect and deliver the best lap. If not, someone else is gonna do it. So it's become a wild situation for that. This has been a real struggle," he added [13:23 onwards]

The No. 76 Chevrolet also revealed how JHR lost an engineer to another team, not making things easier. However, he remains grateful for the work being done by the Argentinian-American team.

Conor Daly's best result this season was a P16 finish at the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix in March. He stands 22nd in the standings after four races. The upcoming Sonsio Grand Prix at the IMS road course is where he has fared well before, with a Top 5 finish in 2022.