Conor Daly - Baptist Health 200 Race Preview
Race: Baptist Health 200 (134 laps / 201 miles) | Race 21 of 23
Track: Homestead-Miami Speedway
Location: Homestead, Florida
Date & Time: Saturday, October 26th | 12:00 PM ET
Tune-In: FOX Sports 1 | Motor Racing Network (MRN) | Sirius XM Ch. 90
No. 44 Polkadot Chevrolet Silverado RST
Driver: Conor Daly | Crew Chief: Jon Leonard
- Daly Returns: NTT INDYCAR SERIES veteran Conor Daly plans to make his final NCTS start of the season on Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Daly has competed in two other races with Niece Motorsports this year - finishing 29th at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park and more recently, 17th at Kansas Speedway.
- Daly Homestead Stats: Conor Daly will make his first start in any series at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Saturday's Baptist Health 200.
- Leonard's Homestead Stats: Jon Leonard has called one prior Truck Series race at Homestead which resulted in an impressive third-place finish by Stewart Friesen in 2022. Leonard has also called two Cup Series races at this track, posting a best result of 24th with Michael McDowell in 2017.
- On the Truck: Daly's No. 44 Chevrolet Silverado RST will race with support from Polkadot. Polkadot is a digital platform designed to build a more inclusive and transparent internet, where power and decision-making are in the hands of its users. Polkadot utilizes a public governance platform to empower its community of 1.3 million members to directly control all steps of the decision-making process, even when it comes to the largest global marketing initiatives.
- Local Partnership Connections: Daly's primary partner, Polkadot, is a large supporter of sports teams in the Miami area. The company is the Official Global Training Partner of Inter Miami CF, a prominent team in Major League Soccer. Daly plans to visit Chase Stadium, the home of Inter Miami CF, following practice/qualifying day to film content with the team.
- Owner Points Outlook: The part-time No. 44 truck out of the Niece Motorsports stable remains 34th in the owner's points standings after making its fifth start of the year at Talladega. Daly, along with Danny Bohn, Bayley Currey, and Matt Gould have all shared time behind the wheel of the No. 44 entry. Currey is earmarked as the driver with the best result having finished 15th at Bristol Motor Speedway last month.
- Quoting Daly: Do you think your experience of running up near the wall in Kansas will help you in Homestead?
“I’m excited to get to Homestead only because I’ve watched this race so many years and it’s always been an exciting product, no matter what rank of the NASCAR ladder it is - whether its the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, or the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. It’s my last race of the 2024 season as well, so I want to finish on a strong note.
I thought I learned a lot at Kansas for sure, and learned a lot about the rules as well which I can use in the future.We just want to try and take advantage of the practice session as quick as possible. It’s a new track for me, somewhere I’ve never driven before, but definitely ran the wall a lot at Kansas so hopefully that helps me. We want to obviously continue to try to better my best truck finish in my career and then hopefully we can slide into the top-10 this weekend.”
- Quoting Leonard: What will be your biggest advantage in working with different drivers to end the year?
“I’d say that opportunity will help improve my repertoire so to say. Everyone drives a bit different and uses their own set of terms, so learning those different characteristics will be useful. Whether it’s in-house at the shop, different drivers, spotters, or crew members, I’d say working with different people is a good thing. We’ll see what we can put together with the No. 44 team to close the year out on a high note.”
About Niece Motorsports: Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2024, Niece Motorsports enters its ninth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as X @NieceMotorsport.
About Polkadot: Polkadot is the powerful, secure core of Web3, providing a shared foundation that unites some of the world's most transformative apps and blockchains. Polkadot is the first of its kind — modular, resilient, interoperable — but governed by its users, the biggest Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) in the world. It enables Web3’s biggest innovators to have one place and to get their ideas to market fast, with flexible start-up costs and an exceptionally flexible builder environment. Today, Polkadot attracts best-in-class teams building stand-out apps like Mythical, Frequency, Moonbeam, Astar, and more.
