Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL) announced a change to their 2023 driver lineup for the No. 30 entry today. Veteran Conor Daly will compete for the team at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) on August 27. The driver for the No. 30 entry for races at Portland International Raceway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca will be announced at a later date.

“It means a lot to have a chance to drive for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team,” said Daly. “I’ve known Bobby ever since I was a child, our families are very close. Mike Lanigan is someone that has known my dad for a long time, and I’ve known him well too. And David Letterman is a friend of our family as well so it’s very special to have the chance to drive for this organization. I will obviously do the best job that I can for them to make them proud and make their partners proud and I hope to be able to deliver everything they are looking for. I’m excited for the chance to get back behind the wheel at one of my favorite tracks at World Wide Technology Raceway.”

Daly has made 107 NTT INDYCAR SERIES starts since his debut in 2013 and earned his first series pole at the Iowa Speedway short oval in 2020 for Race 1. He has competed in six of the last seven INDYCAR SERIES races held at WWTR and has earned four top-10 finishes with his best being fifth in 2017.

By making this move, this signifies the end of Jack Harvey and RLL. It makes sense to do this now because the car is dangerously close to missing out on the leaders circle bonus. Right now, the No. 30 Dallara-Honda enters Gateway -2 in the entrant standings for the bonus program.

Daly is a top driver on the 1.25-mile St. Louis area race track and can get the job done by getting a good enough finish to get them back on the plus side. Ironically enough, he’s chasing the 60 car that he drove at both Iowa races as well as Mid-Ohio too.

There’s no word yet on if Simon Pagenaud is cleared or if they need a replacement driver. By getting Daly locked in now for RLL, they don’t have to worry about the risk of him going to MSR for Gateway.

The 78 at Juncos is only five points up on the 30 car too so in theory, if all goes well, Daly could at least put the 30 car back up to 21st in the leaders circle standings leaving the track next weekend. Heck, the ride is only eight points back of his old ride at ECR too.

In the case of Harvey, this brings a close to a tumultuous chapter at RLL. It was supposed to be greener pastures when he left MSR for this seat, but it’s been anything but.

The 30-year-old has one top 10 finish in 30 races for the team. His average finish was only 18.4. While RLL was down in this span, it’s not like they’ve not been competitive at times and have honestly gotten better in the second half of the last two seasons.

When you see Christian Lundgaard win and net two poles, Graham Rahal score a pole at Indy last weekend and get on the front row in Mid-Ohio and Harvey far back, the writing was on the wall.

It’s a shame too because he really does have talent. It’s just for whatever reason, it didn’t work out at RLL.

In 49 starts with MSR, Harvey had 16 top 10 finishes and went from 15th in points in 2020 to 13th in 2021.

“First, I would like to thank Jack Harvey for all of his efforts on behalf of RLL for the last year and a half,” Bobby Rahal commented. “He committed fully to the team but for whatever reason, we weren’t able to achieve the results that he or the team deserves and we wish him well in the future. We will use the final three races of the season to gauge other racing talent. I’m very pleased that Conor has agreed to join us in St. Louis. He’s been strong there and I feel that he can bring value to the team while also providing us with a strong effort. I look forward to having him with us.”