Conor Daly Hopes to Ride to IndyCar Rescue for Juncos Hollinger Racing

• Conor Daly, the 32-year-old series veteran will be driving the No. 78 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing.

• Daly is replacing Agustin Canapino, whose performance in the car fell short of expectations.

• The deal keeps Daly in an IndyCar ride with JHR for the rest of the season.

The NTT IndyCar Series is back, and so is Conor Daly.

IndyCar last raced July 21 on the streets of Toronto. After an extended break for NBC’s coverage of the Olympics, the series’ engines will be refired this weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, near St. Louis. The Bommarito Automotive Group 500, a 325-mile race on the 1.25-mile oval, is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

Returning to the paddock is Daly, the 32-year-old series veteran who will be driving the No. 78 Chevrolet for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Daly, who is replacing Agustin Canapino, whose performance in the car fell short of expectations, is scheduled to drive for JHR for the rest of the season.

Daly recently ran tests for the team at WWTR.

“I love this track,” Daly said. “After the test a couple weeks ago, I see no reason why we shouldn't be confident.”

Daly has danced around numerous racing series over the past two seasons but bounces back to IndyCar, where he has 110 career starts.

“It’s definitely been an interesting year,” he said. “This is what I do, though. I try to work hard just providing myself opportunities. I want to be involved in a competitive situation. This happened to come up. Obviously, I want to be as competitive as possible for Ricardo (team co-owner Ricardo Juncos), for this team. There’s points to score that need to be scored. I want to be that guy. I think with this group for sure it’s highly possible.”

The JHR 78 team sits 23rd, one spot out of the top 22 for the $1 million Leaders Circle program.

Daly, who will be teammates with Romain Grosjean, won the 2010 Pro Mazda championship driving for Juncos.

“I think we have a great chance at competing,” Daly said. “I hadn't been teammates with Romain before. We definitely kind of at the test pushed each other run by run. One run I'm fastest, then he goes faster, then I go faster, he goes faster. It's kind of nice to just go to work like that.

“For sure, this team, I think it's looked at as an underdog, but I think there's a lot of great things going on in this race shop and with this group. It's a very exciting opportunity because I think there's a lot of great potential here, for sure.”

Alex Palou carries the series point lead into WWTR. Since 2008, the point leader with five races remaining has won the championship nine times.

After WWTR, races remain at Portland, Milwaukee (2) and Nashville.