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QUALIFYING NOTES: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix

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14th: RINUS VEEKAY 01:02.1911 (95.223 mph)
15th: CONOR DALY  01:02.9522 (94.071 mph)

RACE: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
TRACK: Streets of Downtown Detroit
LOCATION: Detroit, Michigan, USA
TRACK LAYOUT: 1.7-mile, 9-turn street circuit
RACE LENGTH: 100 Laps/170 Miles

BROADCAST: Sunday – 3 p.m. ET (NBC)

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

CONOR DALY, No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet, Qualified 15th:This is our best street course qualifying of the year, it is a big step forward for us! We’re in good company where we are starting, Alex Rossi is right in front us. We hadn’t had any clear laps all day, that entire first session I didn’t get one clean lap where I got to go fast through Turns 6 and 7. Qualifying was the first time I actually got to feel what the grip increase was like. We can work from here! It’s going to be crazy tomorrow, hopefully we can stay out of the chaos!” 

OF NOTE: 

Conor Daly has earned his best street course qualifying position of the year. He was assigned to Round 1, Group 1 of qualifying. The course distance (1.7 miles) and 10-minute session allowed Daly time to turn 8 laps, all of which were on Firestone’s alternate green Firehawk tire. His final lap was his fastest by nearly a second and earned him the 15th starting position in tomorrow’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. 

• Daly has competed in four NTT INDYCAR SERIES doubleheaders in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix and made his 9th Detroit start in the free-standing race last year. In the 2022 event, Daly narrowly missed advancing to the second round of qualifying, gained two positions during the final lap and finished 12th. The previous track layout is home to his best NTT INDYCAR SERIES finish to date as the first of the 2016 races awarded him a second place finish.

• Second-generation racer Daly climbed into a kart for the first time at the age of 10; within five years, he was competing in both United States and international open-wheel ladder systems. He found success in each before concentrating solely on American motorsports in 2015. Daly is now in his fourth season with ECR and recently reached a career milestone as he competed in his 100th NTT INDYCAR SERIES race.

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITNILE.COM CHEVROLET

RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet, Qualified 14th: “Missed it by one thousandth of a second! That’s just carrying a little bit of speed in one corner or hitting a bump differently. It’s so tight. We had the pace to transfer! It was hard getting everything out of the tire. Yesterday, the track was so much different when we ran green tires. Also this morning, it was much more traffic than actual clean laps. Pretty proud of the effort! It’s good to be that close to advancing. We are trending in the right direction. It’s been a tough season, but there’s a lot of positive energy from the Indy 500 even though the race could have ended a lot differently. I am proud of the guys! They put a lot of effort. I am pretty happy, the car felt pretty good, and a really good job by the team coming into a new track. We’ll pass some cars tomorrow!”

OF NOTE: 

• A margin of .0011 of a second separated Rinus VeeKay from the second round of qualifications in Detroit this afternoon. He started on the primary black Firehawk before switching to the alternate green tire. He turned nine laps during Round 1, Group 2 and was bumped down to 7th in the closing seconds. He will start from 14th on the new Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix layout.

• VeeKay had never driven on the streets of Belle Isle in any series until the opening NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice in 2021. Less than 24 hours later, his first race in Detroit ended with a podium finish as he took the checkered flag in the 2nd position. He was running in the Top 10 in last year’s event when the No. 21 slid in into the Turn 6 tire barrier, resulting in a 16th place finish. 

• Born in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Rinus van Kalmthout began karting in 2009 at the age of 8. With sights set firmly on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, he transitioned to the Road to Indy in 2017 and launched his U.S. career driving as Rinus VeeKay. Just four years into his time in the United States, he not only reached the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, but earned 2020 Rookie of the Year honors. The 22-year-old recently made his 50th career start. 

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