Daly's reunion with Leandro Juncos nothing short of 'surreal'

Conor Daly’s return to the Juncos Hollinger Racing team where he won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship has been a bit of a time warp for the 32-year-old veteran.

Since his time with Juncos on the Road to Indy, Daly has amassed more than 100 NTT IndyCar Series races over a span of 11 years, and with the late-season call to replace Agustin Canapino in the No. 78 JHR Chevy, there’s been a new wrinkle to Juncos reunion.

In his Pro Mazda days, Ricardo Juncos’s young son Leandro was always present within his father’s team, cheering for Daly as he won the team’s first major open-wheel championship. That little boy has not only grown up, but he’s become an invaluable crew member working on Daly’s No. 78 program as the assistant race strategist.

“I'm very happy to work with Conor and be his strategist,” Leandro Juncos told RACER. “It's amazing to combine nostalgia with the chance to learn from someone so influential in the world of motorsport.”

My how time has flown for Daly and the Juncos family. Juncos Hollinger Racing

For Daly, it’s somewhat surreal to consider how the team co-owner’s son, who was barely out of diapers back in 2010, is on his timing stand for Saturday night's Bommarito 500 race at World Wide Technology Raceway and for the rest of the season.

“Well, it's the first time in my career where I've felt extremely old,” Daly said with a laugh. “Like, I knew that my IndyCar career was on the back end, but now I'm like, okay, my engineer Adam Blocker is 27, so he’s younger than me, and then I've got Leandro informing me about very important things, studying the average lap times of everyone out there, telling me smart things.”

Daly starts ninth for the night race at WWTR.

“He's a smart young kid, obviously, grew up around racing and what a cool deal,” he continued. “And then he's right next to his dad, Ricardo, who's calling me in and out of the pits. It's a surreal situation. But also, racing is a family. It’s a cool deal.”