Conor Daly very nearly transferred into the Top 12 during the first day of Indianapolis 500 qualifying, but a couple mistakes kept him just outside.
Daly was the eleventh driver to take to the track late on Saturday morning, and seemingly locked in a position in the middle of the field.
His car’s front wing angle was found to be out of compliance after the run, however, and his time was subsequently disallowed.
After fixing the issue back in the garage, the Juncos Hollinger Racing crew wheeled Daly’s car back out on pit lane so he could complete another run.
He successfully locked himself into the 21st grid slot, then decided to make another late attempt to improve his position.
Daly was the last car on track before time ran out and looked like he could lock in a position in the Top 12, but ended up being short by 0.004 MPH over the course of four laps.
The veteran admitted afterwards that it was his own mistake with in-car weight jacker adjustments that cost him too much time on his final run.
“I’m obviously very frustrated and I’m super honest with everyone when it comes down to me making a mistake,” said Daly after his runs.
“I have to take responsibility for that one, you know what I mean? I would say I definitely got creative on that last run and used some gearing strategies that were not suggested to me. I just took a gamble and they worked, so that’s good.
“But then I cost myself on the last lap, too. It’s part of the game here. It’s so close, so crazy.
“This day was a range of emotions. I wanted to ram my head through [some] drywall earlier. Now I still want to do the same but I’m slightly happier while doing so.
“Thankful for the team. They gave me a shot today. That is all you can ask for, is a proper shot at it.”
Daly will not have to take part in Sunday’s qualifying runs, and has his 13th starting position for the 109th Indianapolis 500 locked in.
