IndyCar: 5 longshot picks to win the Indy 500

Indy 500 longshots: No. 4 – Conor Daly (+4000)

A driver with just two top 10 finishes with his current team, a team for which he has competed for the last four seasons, may not deserve to be seen as a true contender to win the Indy 500. But in Conor Daly’s case, he fits the bill.

Daly led more laps than anybody else in the 2021 Indy 500 before being knocked out of the lead pack due to damage from a flying tire. He just happened to be in its path when it came off of Graham Rahal’s wrecked No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda in turn two.

Ed Carpenter Racing have been known to qualify very well and then sort of fade on race day in recent years. Rinus VeeKay, for instance, has never started worse than fourth place, yet his top finish is eighth, and his average result is exactly 17 positions worse than his average starting spot.

But for Daly, it has been the exact opposite. While some may have thought his effort in 2021 was a fluke, since it was, in fact, good pit strategy which got him his track position at first, he ended that talk in 2022 by leading more laps and placing a career-high sixth.

There is something about Indianapolis Motor Speedway that clicks with Daly, and even though he hasn’t finished in a top 10 in a non-Indy race in three years, nothing else matters when IndyCar is Back Home Again.