Doyel: Alex Palou might be IndyCar's GOAT, but Conor Daly has the crowd in his pocket.
Doyel: Indy 500 qualifying had Alex Palou domination, and two touching moments with Conor Daly and fans – and one mass crowd moment you won't believe.
INDIANAPOLIS – Once a year I go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and am reminded at the incredible number of stories out there. Every IndyCar driver is a story. Every team is a story.
Shoot, every fan is a story. As I found out in the column I’m about to mention… And there are a lot of fans out there these days. The 2025 Indianapolis 500 was a sellout, and so is the 2026 Indy 500.
That’s a lot of people – more than 300,000 at each race – and if I had to guess which current driver is the absolute crowd favorite, I’d make it a toss-up between four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves … and Conor Daly. Daly has never won the Indy 500 – or any IndyCar race. Not once in 131 starts since 2013.
But he challenges every year at the Indy 500, and he’s from Noblesville, though I think his popularity is about more than either of those. Something about the way he drives, talks, even struts, speaks to this fanbase. That’s as detailed as I can get.
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