Conor Daly will be behind the wheel of the No. 88 Harding Group Chevrolet for the third straight Verizon IndyCar Series race at this week’s ABC Supply 500.
Harding Racing announced today that Daly will be the driver for Sunday’s 500-mile race on the 2.5-mile triangular oval at Pocono Raceway, as the team continues evaluations for how it will proceed in 2019. In his first two starts for the team last month, Daly finished 11th in the Honda Indy Toronto and 22nd in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
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“Having the chance to race at Pocono is really exciting for me,” Daly said. “Because it means as a team we’ll have had a chance to race at a road course, street course and superspeedway together. It’ll be a new challenge for us to work through, and I can’t wait for it.
“Thankfully, after competing at the Indy 500 this year, I have some experience with the superspeedway aero package which gives me some more confidence heading into the weekend,” added Daly, who finished 21st at the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil driving for Dale Coyne Racing with Thom Burns Racing. “The Chevrolet engine was obviously very strong at Indy, so I look forward to working with them alongside the Harding Racing boys yet again this year.”
Gabby Chaves drove the No. 88 Chevrolet in the first 11 races this season as Harding Racing moved up to full-time status in the Verizon IndyCar Series. In its part-time debut last year, Chaves competed in three oval races, including a 15th-place finish at Pocono.
“Harding Racing feels our second half of the season program has generated considerable benefits for us,” team president Brian Barnhart said. “We’re going to continue that at Pocono Raceway in an effort to make sure that Conor had an opportunity to participate on all the disciplines that are included in the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule.
“We would have done a street circuit, a permanent road course, and now a superspeedway with Conor when he runs at Pocono, and getting the feedback from him with each of those types of tracks is important for our future.”
The ABC Supply 500 is the 14th of 17 races on the 2018 schedule. On-track action at Pocono begins Saturday with a pair of 60-minute practices (10:30 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. ET, both stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com) sandwiched around Verizon P1 Award qualifying (1:30 p.m., NBCSN).
The race airs live at 1:30 p.m. Sunday on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.