"It's a shame": Conor Daly echoes Pato O'Ward in blunt IndyCar admission about Detroit GP

Conor Daly expressed concerns about the Detroit GP circuit and its placement in the IndyCar calendar. The Juncos Hollinger Racing driver reckons the street race scheduled immediately after the prestigious Indy 500 isn't a "good look" for the series.

On the Speed Street podcast, Daly said that the 2.5-mile Belle Isle street circuit, which hosted the Detroit GP until 2023, should return. While the 33-year-old respected what Penske and Chevy are doing with the current 1.6-mile circuit in downtown Detroit, he said:

"The Belle Isle race in Detroit was one of my favorite events. I still have a trophy from it right behind me. That's one of my proudest moments, to stand on the podium with Juan Pablo Montoya and Sebastian Bourdais, my rookie year in IndyCar. So many good moments from Belle Isle, and it's a shame we can't race there."

Elaborating on why the race on the bumpy track, where overtaking opportunities are slim, shouldn't be immediately after the Indy 500, Conor Daly added:

"First of all, I don't believe having this race directly after the 500 is a great look. I look at this track, and I look at our cars, and I've seen better races and better racing elsewhere. And I don't believe this is a great look for our racing series, to be honest. Pato was out there talking some wild stuff too."

Pato O'Ward had voiced the same concern after the race.

"You guys know, I don't sugarcoat it. I hate this place. It sucks. It's a horrible track. I really miss Belle Isle. You get to really appreciate what an Indy car can do in Belle Isle. Here, you're just Mickey mousing around the whole time. It's just been very challenging. So I'm glad that it's over," the Arrow McLaren driver told reporter Tony Donohue.

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Conor Daly wants IndyCar to "renegotiate" with Belle Isle organizers

Conor Daly wants IndyCar to return to Belle Isle instead of racing on the current 1.645-mile circuit in downtown Detroit. IndyCar's history with Detroit goes back to the last millennium, when CART started racing at Belle Isle in 1990. It was a permanent fixture on the calendar of the premier American open-wheel series until 2001.

IndyCar returned there for two years, 2007 and 2008, before vanishing again until 2012, when it returned as a cornerstone event. However, the locals were unhappy with their public park being transformed into a racing circuit every year, which led to the series moving downtown to Renaissance Center.

Conor Daly hopes that IndyCar can find a middle ground with the locals, saying on the aforementioned podcast.

"I don't even know if there's a way to get back to Belle Isle. I think with the way nature and the folks out there have decided things that they wanted to take the race off of Belle Isle, maybe there's a way to renegotiate that and we can figure it out because I don't want to not race in Detroit."

Conor Daly is in the middle of a subpar first season with Juncos Hollinger Racing. The 109th Indy 500 was an outlier, as he was in contention for the race win before an issue with his right rear tire pushed him further back to an eventual result of P8, still his best this season.