By alley - Oct 12, 2016, 12:33 PM ET

INDYCAR 2016 Driver Review: Conor Daly

Just when you thought that the Verizon IndyCar Series had run out of ways to surprise, 2016 came along. The championship was won by a guy who looked all at sea 12 months earlier, his closest rival didn't even participate in the first race, and the winner of the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 was a recent F1 refugee who apparently figured out how to make a car work without fuel.

Twenty-four drivers made at least three starts during the 2016 season, and each one is a story. Join RACER.com each day as we retrace their journeys.

CONOR DALY

NO. 18 DALE COYNE RACING HONDA

2016 Best result: 2nd (Detroit, race 1)
2016 Championship position: 18th (313 points)

Daly struggled in qualifying everywhere this year. What is the remedy?

PRUETT: Conor found himself working from Tony Kanaan's familiar playbook of turning Saturday's frustration into an afternoon of passing on Sunday. It wasn't a surprise to see Daly coming up short in qualifying while driving for IndyCar's smallest team, but it was a surprise to see it become a pattern. Having RC Enerson show up late in the season and out-qualify Conor in two out of three races, and by a combined nine positions, further highlighted Daly's need to work on this part of his game.

The remedy could be as simple as focusing on ramping up his intensity and using a year of experience with Firestone's red tires to apply what he learned in 2017. It's not as if he can't improve, and he's incredibly smart, so I'd bet he can't wait to solidify his future and get started on making gains in his approach to qualifying.

MILLER: A strong, veteran teammate would do wonders for Daly, especially on the ovals, because Coyne's lineup of kids in 2016 were all learning. Conor's confidence seemed to wane as the season progressed, and he definitely pressed a few times in qualifying, like Mid-Ohio. He's got a good engineer in Mike Cannon and they seemed to communicate just fine, but struggled mightily with the setup on ovals.

If you take Indy out of the equation, Daly's results across the season weren't too far south of Alexander Rossi's. Does that represent a good rookie year?

PRUETT: Without a doubt. And I don't want to keep banging the same drum, but if Coyne had Andretti's collective budget and engineering resources, it would have been a much closer race for Rookie of the Year honors - even if we factor in Rossi's double-points win at the Indy 500.

MILLER: A podium at Belle Isle, a fourth at The Glen, three sixth places and 56 laps led was a damn good start on the smallest budget in the paddock. And his best run of the year at Elkhart Lake (where he qualified ninth and was running in the top five) ended when a lower wishbone failure sent him into the Armco.

Would Daly have been better off at Coyne or Foyt?

PRUETT: Coyne by a mile. It's not even close. Trust me, Jack Hawksworth would have given anything to have his name on the second DCR car to partner with Daly this year.

MILLER: Tough call. He definitely would benefit from A.J.'s oval-track knowledge and Sato's experience, because they're always fast at Indy, Pocono and Texas - three tracks Conor really struggled on. But Dale Coyne's strategy, be it sticking on red tires in the first qualifying session or pitting early, helped get Daly to the front of the field several times and, as mentioned, he bonded well with his engineer.

What did you see in Daly's performances that give you the most cause for optimism about 2017?

PRUETT: His racecraft. Yes, we know qualifying is Conor's big area to improve in his sophomore season, but there's no question the kid is a relentless performer once the green flag waves. He goes hard, goes forward, and that's a relatively rare trait for a rookie.

MILLER: The kid may not be much of a qualifier just yet, but he's definitely a racer. True, pit strategy got him up front at the IMS road course, Detroit, Mid-Ohio and The Glen but the fact remains he stayed there and even pulled away. He was comfortable leading the pack and that says a lot. He deserves a full-time ride and with a veteran teammate he can improve his qualifying but his race craft is just fine.