Conor Daly addresses possibility of replacing Marco Andretti at Andretti Global for the 2026 Indy 500

IndyCar veteran Conor Daly has addressed the possibility of replacing the newly retired Marco Andretti at Andretti Global for the 2026 Indy 500. The 38-year-old Andretti announced his retirement from the Indy 500 and racing on October 29.

The third-generation racer, son of 1991 CART champion Michael Andretti and grandson of four-time IndyCar champion and 1978 F1 champion Mario Andretti, shared that he wanted to turn the page after 30 years in racing (10 since he began karting and 20 in IndyCar). He would turn his focus to his business ventures and being a "great father" to his daughter, Miura.

Tributes poured in from all sides of the IndyCar world and beyond, and soon enough, the big question arose - who would fill Marco Andretti's shoes at the 110th Indy 500 in 2026? Conor Daly, an oval specialist who has yet to find a seat for 2026, was one of the names fans thought of.

However, the Juncos Hollinger Racing driver put that speculation to rest in a recent episode of his Speed Street podcast.

"I did get a lot of comments, people were like, 'Oh, can you go to the 98-car (the No. 98 Andretti Global Honda of Marco Andretti) now if you only had to do the Indy 500?' That's not what's going to happen for me," Daly said [16:14 onwards]. That would be amazing... let's say if that was the only, if for some reason a full-time option is not available, let's just say there's probably more folks in their network that would occupy that seat over me. So not really on the cards for me."

One driver that is seemingly guaranteed to be higher than Conor Daly on Andretti Global's list is Colton Herta. The 25-year-old vacated the No. 26 Honda after the 2025 season to join sister team Cadillac F1 as a test driver. He will also compete full-time in the 2026 Formula 2 season with Hitech GP.

However, there are no F2 races in May, which would free Herta for the entire month to prepare for the Indy 500. He recently said that he would "love" to return to the Indy 500 next year, but the final decision isn't expected in the near future.

Conor Daly "still in the fight" for a full-time IndyCar seat for 2026

Conor Daly greets fans at the 2025 IndyCar Snap-On Milwaukee Mile 250 - Source: Getty

Conor Daly isn't entirely out of the picture for a full-time 2026 seat. On the aforementioned podcast, he highlighted that he is continuing to grind on the sponsorship front, with one seat open at Dale Coyne Racing (and unofficially a couple more at other teams).

"Overall, I am still in the fight," Daly said. "Like, we are not dead yet by any means. We are continuously looking for more partners. We need to build our program to where when we walk to the front of, essentially, the Dale Coyne Racing shop, because that's the only seat left, we can't be turned away."

There are a couple more unconfirmed seats for 2026 - Devlin DeFrancesco's seat at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing that Mick Schumacher could fill, and Sting Ray Robb's seat at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Rinus Veekay will join JHR as its 'lead driver', and though Robb's manager has emphasized that he is on a multi-year deal that extends into 2026, the team has yet to officially confirm Robb's employment for next year.

While Schumacher is the favorite for the third seat at RLL, Conor Daly realistically has two options - get retained at JHR or become rookie Dennis Hauger's teammate at DCR.

Edited by Yash Kotak