Meyer Shank Racing confirmed on Sunday morning that Conor Daly will be sub for Simon Pagenaud in today’s 80-lap Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course.
Speaking about the news, Team owner Mike Shank said:
First and foremost, I have to speak to the safety of these cars. “To walk away from an accident like that is incredible and we cannot thank everyone at INDYCAR, the AMR INDYCAR safety team and the INDYCAR medical team for everything they did to get Simon out and evaluated as quickly as possible.
“This is obviously not a scenario that we had planned for, but everyone at MSR has pitched in to get our backup car ready for Sunday,” continued Shank. “It’s actually Helio’s Indy 500 car and the one he won the 500 with in 2021. We have to thank Conor for being here and stepping into this, he’s been super great through all of the chaos. Now we will get back on our feet and see what we can do in the race.”
Daly will take part in this morning’s 30 minute warm-up ahead of this afternoon’s race and will start from the back of the grid.
Speaking following the news, Daly said:
Obviously I have to think about Simon, you hate to see someone wreck like that. “The most important thing is to get him as healthy as possible, as soon as possible. This is his car and his group of folks and I am here to do the best job that I can for this team. I’ve known Mike (Shank) for a long time and I’ve tested for his sports car team many years ago. I’ve always had a lot of respect for this organization. It’s an honor to be a part of this group and fill in – we will just do the best job that we can.”