Conor Daly has rejoined Niece Motorsports for his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series return. On Wednesday, Niece announced the IndyCar Series veteran will pilot their #44 Chevrolet Silverado in the third race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on 5 March.
While Daly is more known for his open-wheel résumé, he joined Niece for the Las Vegas Truck race last September alongside friend Travis Pastrana. With no practice or qualifying, he started twenty-seventh and finished eighteenth, one lap down. It was his second start in NASCAR, with the first coming in 2018 when he finished thirty-first at Road America in the Xfinity Series for Roush Fenway Racing.
Although Roush and Niece race with different manufacturers (Ford for Roush), various employees and drivers from the former have gone on to work for the latter including general manager Cody Efaw and Brett Moffitt‘s crew chief Phil Gould. Like Daly and Pastrana, Trevor Bayne, Ross Chastain, and Ty Majeski have also driven for both teams.
“It was a blast to have Conor in the truck last year,” Efaw stated. “Conor genuinely loves racing, and it’s evident any time that you’re around him. I think he learned a lot last year in the truck and will be able to pick up where he left off. We are excited to have him again this year and are looking forward to a solid performance.”
For his 2021 IndyCar schedule, Daly is running the road courses and street circuits for Ed Carpenter Racing. In 2020, he had the same plans for ECR in addition to doing the ovals for Carlin; he finished seventeenth in his first full IndyCar season since 2017 with a best run of sixth at Texas and a pole and fastest lap at Iowa Race #1.
“Ever since the checkered flag fell in Las Vegas last year I was bothering Cody about another chance to get in a truck,” said Daly. “I learned so much during my first experience in the Truck Series, I had to try and come back to put it to good use!
“Working with everyone at Niece was an incredible experience and I want to go out and be able to deliver for them. It will be a shame not to have Travis Pastrana out there to chase around, but I hope to be able to make him proud. A big thank you to Fatheadz Eyewear and Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts for coming back to support this effort!”
Niece’s #44 serves as their multi-driver truck. Former series champion James Buescher drove the #44 in the season opener at Daytona, while Jett Noland will make his CWTS début in Friday’s event on the road course, a layout that Daly has competed on through the Rolex 24 Hours in 2014 and 2017. After the Daly announcement, Noland tweeted, “#AllStarTruck FTW”.
