Carlin announced Tuesday that Conor Daly, fresh from a 10th-place finish less than two weeks ago in the 103rd Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, will drive the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet this week at Texas Motor Speedway in the DXC Technology 600.
Daly will this week replace Max Chilton, who will not drive in the remaining oval events on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule in 2019. Carlin has not announced who will drive the No. 59 entry for the remaining oval events at Iowa Speedway, Pocono Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
DXC TECHNOLOGY 600: Entry list
A veteran of 44 NTT IndyCar Series starts since 2013, Daly will enjoy a homecoming with Carlin. He raced for the team in 2011 in the former GP3 Series in Europe, the same year he drove in five Indy Lights races, including a win at Long Beach.
Carlin will mark the sixth NTT IndyCar Series team for Daly, who has become a “super sub” of sorts. He has previously raced for AJ Foyt Racing, Dale Coyne Racing, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Harding Steinbrenner Racing and Andretti Autosport. It was with Andretti last month where Daly qualified 11th and finished 10th in the Indy 500.
“I want to thank everyone at Carlin and Gallagher for the opportunity to get back in a race car at Texas,” Daly said. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with Carlin back in 2011 as I started my European racing journey, and to now drive for them in the NTT IndyCar Series is pretty special. I look forward to being able to contribute to the team as best I can.”
Daly, 27, has raced twice previously at Texas Motor Speedway, including a seventh-place finish for Foyt in 2017.
Chilton, who is competing in his fourth NTT IndyCar Series season, will drive the No. 59 entry in the remaining road- and street-course races this season. The 28-year-old Brit finished a career-best fourth in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 but was among three drivers who did not qualify for this year’s race.
“I would like to thank Gallagher for being supportive of my decision to not compete in the remaining oval races this season,” Chilton said. “I am extremely fortunate to have such a supportive partner. Risk management is a central consideration of both Gallagher and myself in how we operate.
“I’m excited and pleased by the outstanding proactive work being done by INDYCAR around driver safety and the innovation of the solution developed in partnership with Red Bull Advanced Technologies that has created a new Aeroscreen. The innovative solution will be the most advanced single-seater driver head protection in the world and will be introduced in 2020. My focus remains on getting the best possible results for the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin crew, and I will be helping the team and Conor in any way I can to that end.”