For the past two years, Conor Daly has been competing on a full-time basis in the NTT IndyCar Series, though with the caveat of it being split between Ed Carpenter Racing and Carlin. For 2022, however, he will finally commit to just one team for every race as he will permanently pilot the #20 Chevrolet for ECR. Cryptocurrency holdings company BitNile Holdings will sponsor his car and the team on a multi-year deal.
“To be able to come back to Ed Carpenter Racing for the full season is incredible,” said Daly. “I haven’t had the chance to be with one team for the entire year since 2017, so this is something I am very, very thankful for. I have a lot of faith in ECR and each year we continue to get better together.”
While Daly has competed in IndyCar since 2013, only two of his seasons have seen him race with just one team. He finished eighteenth in points in 2016 for Dale Coyne Racing, followed by placing there again the following year with A.J. Foyt Enterprises. After two years of bouncing between various teams including Carlin, he joined ECR in 2020 for the road courses and street circuits while running the ovals for Carlin. The same arrangement was kept in 2021, during which he once again recorded an eighteenth-place championship finish with a best run of eleventh in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at Indianapolis and Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at Gateway.
Since 2020, Daly has also made one-off starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Niece Motorsports. While a deal to continue his stock car exploits has not been revealed, Racing America’s Matt Weaver reported he could run two races in addition to his full-time IndyCar slate.
Team owner Ed Carpenter will continue running the ovals, including the Indianapolis 500. With Daly in the #20, Carpenter is obviously unable to use that number, meaning he will have to utilise a different one for the first time since he raced with #67 for Sarah Fisher Racing in 2011. Rinus VeeKay returns to the #21 for a third season, making ECR a three-car operation.