Dreyer and Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports Conor Daly in the No.24 Polkadot Chevrolet was the biggest mover during Sunday’s 108th running the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge.
The race start was delayed by four hours due to torrential rain and lightning.
Daly started the race from 29th place and made an incredible 19 spots to finish the race in tenth place.
Speaking following the action, Daly said:
Honestly, I’m super pumped. Biggest mover, love to see that. Thankful for Polkadot and Chevrolet for working with us. We had some trials and tribulations over the last week and a half. We knew we were faster than where we started and we proved it. We got up front thanks to great strategy from Dennis and the boys. I love running at the front of this race. I love running with the true professionals up there. The McLaughlins of the world, the Josefs of the world, if we just make one move in the pit lane right at the end, we’re in a better spot. We were lacking maybe just a little bit of speed but that was the first time we ran with that group all month. We weren’t really sure what to expect. I think for what we had, for the amount of time together in this car, we have to be super proud of that. Another top-10 finish and for me here, that’s super cool.”
Team owner Dennis Reinbold commented saying:
We were in the mix all day long. It felt good to be up front for most of the running. Conor (Daly) did a great job. All the crew. Our pit stops were really, really strong all day, and that allowed us to go from where we started up to 10th. We were positioned to be even better than that at about three-fourths of this race. I thought we had a really good shot at winning. It just got tough at the end, and we shook out in a restart and got pushed back a little bit on track. It was tight racing. That’s what happens. It was difficult to get spots back at the end. Everyone was running kind of identical laps except for the lead two cars, it looked like. We have finished three of the four races here in the top-10 with the exception being 11th, so we do feel we come here to be able to win. We were definitely in the mix for that today. It was truly a team effort all day long. With the No. 24 car, we’re disappointed with what happened with Ryan (Hunter-Reay). He fell back a little bit, and then they were going to work on the car and be able to get him in the same spot, I think. He would have been right there vying for a top-10 at the end, so anything can happen at the end of this. The top-10 cars were very equal, and anything can happen. If we would have found ourselves cycling through on pit stops, to be in the top-two cars, we would have duked it out with whoever would’ve been up there with us in that group.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay in the No.23 VensureHR Dreyer and Reinbold Racing with Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet was left extremely angry after contact with Scott Dixon saw Hunter-Reay retire from the race.
It was unfortunate to get taken out there in a pretty unnecessary move. What I think was a pretty dirty move. Ultimately, Dixon, who we were running with ran up front at the end so potentially we could have been there for the fight at the end. We had a hard time at the beginning of the race with a big imbalance. From there, we just continued to add on the stops, front wing, make the balance better. But all in all, it was a tough day. We were up against it, unfortunately got taken out. This team has done a fantastic job, a top-12. I honestly know what I need in this car coming back next year and hope we have the chance to do that.”