Long: A mother’s hug caps emotional night for Conor Daly

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After one of his most significant accomplishments in racing, Conor Daly stood alone on pit road with no one to celebrate with.

Even before he exited his car, sitting on the door briefly to take in what he achieved and then raising his arms as he stood next to a vehicle that plugged and chugged its way to a spot in Sunday’s Daytona 500, congratulatory text messages were flying to his phone from friends and competitors in the IndyCar Series. But he didn’t have his phone yet to see those notes.

So, he stood alone on pit road … except for media members who crowded around him, camera flashes freezing a smile that seemed to grow with each burst of light.

As he leaned against his car, media moving closer, a path suddenly opened in the crowd. Daly bowed his head, looked up and smiled even wider.

Beth Boles walked to her son and embraced him.

“She’s always crying and then it makes me want to cry,” Daly said afterward.

 Both stayed composed, although they admitted the last 24 hours had been rough.

The 31-year-old Daly is a veteran of nearly 100 IndyCar starts. The son of a former IndyCar driver and stepson of the president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, racing has been a way of life for Daly from birth.

But it has not been an easy path. His career has had starts and stops. He has yet to win in IndyCar. His greatest accomplishment in that series was leading the most laps in the 2021 Indianapolis 500, a race remembered for Helio Castroneves becoming the fourth driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times.

Castroneves and Daly also will be linked with this Daytona 500. Castroneves was considered to drive the No. 50 car from The Money Racing Team, a part-time Cup team owned by Hall of Fame boxer Floyd