Conor Daly will drive the No. 60 Dallara-Honda for Meyer Shank Racing at Iowa Speedway this weekend with Simon Pagenaud yet to be cleared to return by the NTT IndyCar Series medical team in his recovery from a July 1 practice crash at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Since the wreck (which Pagenaud called “the wildest” of his career), the 2019 Indy 500 winner and 2016 series champion has missed IndyCar races at Mid-Ohio and Toronto.
In a tweet posted Tuesday morning, Pagenaud said, “With the care and recommendation of the IndyCar medical team who has been tremendous through the process, I have not been cleared to race Iowa. I am working hard to get back to 100% and I hope to return to competition soon.”
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In a Tuesday morning interview with the Indianapolis Star’s Nathan Brown, MSR co-owner Mike Shank said Pagenaud hoped to return for the Music City Grand Prix on Aug. 6 in Nashville, Tennessee.
"(Simon) is definitely progressing, but (Dr. Julia Vaizer of IndyCar) just isn’t ready to sign off on him quite yet,” Shank told the Star. “The good news is he is progressing. Everyone reacts to concussions differently, so he’s just not totally out of it yet, but on this little blender bowl we’re going to be on this weekend, he’s just not ready in her eyes. I have a feeling he probably could’ve done it, but there’s no reason to risk it at this point. I don’t want any more harm to happen. We need him to heal properly before he’s ready to come back.”
IndyCar will hold its only race weekend doubleheader this season with 250-lap races Saturday and Sunday at the 0894-mile oval in Newton, Iowa.
Daly finished 20th in place of Pagenaud at Mid-Ohio. Two-time Rolex 24 at Daytona winner Tom Blomqvist made his IndyCar debut this past weekend in the No. 60 at Toronto (but was unable to complete the first lap because of a multicar crash).
In seven starts at Iowa, Daly has a pole position in 2020 and two other top-three starts. He finished eighth at the track three years ago.
“I’m thankful to (team co-owners) Mike and Jim (Meyer) for calling me up to fill in for Simon again this weekend in Iowa,” Daly said in an MSR release. “Obviously, I’m wishing him the best and hope that he gets well soon. Iowa has definitely become one of my favorite tracks in the last couple of years.
“Obviously I have qualified really well there - on the pole and started in the top three the last two years. Hopefully we can replicate that qualifying performance but also deliver in the race. The team does an incredible job to prepare the car, so we’re going to do our best for Simon again. We’ll do everything we can to score some more points for the team and I’m thankful to drive this No. 60 car again for AutoNation and SiriusXM.”
Thinking about @simonpagenaud first off. I will do my best to score points for this incredible team at one of my favorite tracks this weekend. Can’t wait to work with the @MeyerShankRac group again. 2 full races, 2 opportunities to succeed together. @iowaspeedway #60 pic.twitter.com/DBSL5Et58X
— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) July 18, 2023