IndyCar’s Conor Daly Steps In At Team Penske After David Malukas Crash

Team Penske has selected veteran IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly to climb into the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet after regular driver David Malukas had a hard crash in Turn 2 in Saturday’s practice at Nashville Speedway.

It’s the same area where Malukas crashed last year.

The No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet entered the turn at speed, the car whipped around and backed hard into the SAFER Barrier.

The impact was so hard, it popped the steering wheel off inside the cockpit.

Malukas needed assistance to get out of the car but walked to the AMR Safety Vehicle for the trip to IndyCar Medical.

Malukas was awake and alert and in good spirits but still under evaluation, according to Dr. Angie Fiege, IndyCar Deputy Medical Director. He was later transported by a private vehicle to an area hospital for further testing and has yet to return to the track.

The impact also damaged the SAFER Barrier.

Enter Conor Daly

Conor Daly arrived in the garage area at Nashville Speedway and headed into a meeting in the Team Penske Transporter. After about 20 minutes, Team Penske President Jonathan Diuguid explained the team had picked him to use Saturday’s qualifications as a “shakedown run” on the team’s backup car to prepare it for Saturday night’s extended final practice session.

"If the car is ready for qualifying, Conor is going to do a shakedown run for us and treat it as an install check," Diuguid said. "We already have a nine-place grid engine penalty for that car, so we are trying to get the car prepared. After we get through qualifying, if we are able to run, we will evaluate where David is for final practice. He is still being evaluated, and we are waiting for the outcome of that.

"We don't like to give out any health information now, but he got out of the car on his own and walked along. He is being evaluated by doctors right now."

Diuguid said he expected Malukas to return to the track from the hospital "after qualifying" which is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Central Time (3 p.m. ET).

Team Penske Details The Damage To Malukas’ Car

Team Penske Vice President of Competition Travis Law explained to me the process in preparing the backup car in time for qualifications. The damage to the primary No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet was too extensive to repair in time for qualifications.

“Matt Jonsson has been doing a great job working with the guys to get the car back together here and we have currently gone to the spare car with the engine and gearbox,” Law told me in the Nashville Superspeedway garage area. “The crew has done a really good job to get in the position here to get ready and go back out.

“At a minimum, it’s 3-1/2 hours to do what we are doing so we are trying to get done now versus what we can get done for the race. The main focus now is to get it ready for the final practice later tonight.”

Law said the primary car will be taken to the Team Penske shop in Mooresville, North Carolina to further evaluate the damage.

“We try to take the safe route and then evaluate everything else after we get home,” Law said. “It’s one team, one pride here and everybody takes a lot of pride to rise to these occasions in moments of adversity and come together as a group we are seeing that right now.

“If the car is ready for qualifying, great. If not, we will focus on tonight’s practice.”

If the backup car is prepared in time, Conor Daly will wheel it onto the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway for a “shakedown run” during qualifications.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com