New sponsor brings new number for Daly

Conor Daly doesn’t want to go into detail on the last-minute number change on his No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy, but the fact that it started the event as the No. 78 and was changed to the No. 76 on Friday signals something positive is afoot.

The orange and blue No. 76 roundel placed on the car, which matches the logo of 76 – once known as Union 76 gas stations – comes as a result of Daly finding a new sponsor.

“This is me and my management team,” Daly told RACER. “The number change, it’s more of a ‘stay tuned for now.’ Obviously, it’s pretty obvious the way the 76 looks and the way it is, but it’s a growing program and there will be more I can say about it before we get to the race at Thermal. Thermal will be more of when it will become public.”

The arrival of 76, after the travails of trying to deliver a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Polkadot that ultimately fell through, coincided with Daly and the JHR team showing well by placing the car 13th on the speed chart. With a completely new driver line-up and 100 percent change in race engineers from the end of 2024, the little team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger didn’t look like it was starting from scratch.