Conor Daly will swap the usual No. 18 on his Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Honda to No. 88 for this weekend’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, to pay tribute to the late Bryan Clauson.
Additionally, the car will take on a “BC Forever” logo and signage on the sidepods of the car.
Clauson, 27, was killed last week following a midget accident at the Belleville Nationals.
The three-time Indianapolis 500 starter wore No. 88 for his last two starts in the race (was No. 39 in 2012), and the Jonathan Byrd’s support and colors transferred to Clauson’s No. 88 Dale Coyne Racing Honda for the Indianapolis 500 this year.
Daly, meanwhile, took on an American-themed red, white and blue livery courtesy of Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee’s new “Shirts For America” T-shirt company, with additional support coming in late from Lilly Diabetes.
Daly announced the move over the weekend on 1070 The Fan radio in Indianapolis, with the move confirmed by the team today in its Pocono advance release.
Honored to carry the initials of a legend on the side of our car this weekend. Let's ride #BCforever @ByrdRacing pic.twitter.com/KFgbLFNmoJ
— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) August 16, 2016
“It means a lot to our whole team to be driving the No. 88 BC Forever entry this weekend,” Daly said. “I think everyone enjoyed working with Bryan throughout the month of May. Jonathan and David Byrd have sort of accepted us into their family. They already had a big racing program with Bryan and then they added me and Dale Coyne Racing to that as well. It’s going to be a great way to pay tribute and obviously a little extra motivation to ‘Park it’ in Victory Lane for Bryan.”
We've decided to honor our friend and teammate @BryanClauson by running the #88 at Pocono next weekend. Gotta #ParkIt for him! #BCforever
— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) August 13, 2016
I can only hope to make the @ByrdRacing black and green look as good as you did. We will miss you brother #RIPBC pic.twitter.com/P0UouB9Tzy
— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) August 8, 2016