Dreyer & Reinbold Racing took a massive step toward its full-time return to the NTT IndyCar SERIES by completing a successful road course test on Monday, Oct. 26, at Barber Motorsports Park. For the Indianapolis-based organization, this outing marked their first time running on a road course since 2020. Handling the driving duties in the No. 24 Chevrolet was Conor Daly, who was named the team's driver on Sept. 5.
Getting this machine out on the 2.38-mile Alabama road course was no small feat. As Daly put it, simply arriving at the track was a major accomplishment given how difficult it is to turn ambitious racing plans into reality. The team rolled out and logged laps with no issues, marking the culmination of months of preparation as they build the personnel, equipment, and infrastructure required for a full 17-race calendar.
It’s an awesome challenge for this group. Everyone’s been close to that point and excited to get there, and now we’re here. We’re not here to just be on the track.
“Just getting there in the first place was a big deal,” Daly said. “There’s a lot of things we see in racing where people say we’re going to do this or we’re going to do that, but it doesn’t happen as easy as it sounds. It’s a great step forward to get there and to get on track with no issues and to just start logging laps. It’s a huge process and challenge that we’ve taken on.”
The groundwork for this comeback was laid on July 22, when the team announced the purchase of an IndyCar SERIES charter from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. That purchase sets the stage for the squad's first full-time season since 2012, a significant shift for an operation whose recent efforts have focused exclusively on the Indianapolis 500 every year since 2000. Back in 2020, the team prepared a road-course car for three races on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, but expanding past the month of May demands an entirely different level of resources and preparation.
With 133 IndyCar SERIES starts under his belt, Daly noted that the Barber test represented a whole different world compared to racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He pointed out that jumping into this tough sport is never easy, but seeing the hard work pay off and watching the smiles on the crew's faces made the massive undertaking worthwhile.
“We’re all competitors on this team, everyone wants to do well,” Daly said. “We’ve seen so many times people want to enter this arena. It is not easy. It’s a tough sport to be involved in and jump into. I have so much I want to do in this series. This is a great deal to do it. To get going in 2027, to get on the grid and to get this process started is super proud.
“Great to see the smiles on people’s faces. There’s been a lot of work put in. To see it come through, to see it take place here on a road course, we’re not at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, this is a whole different world.”
This new chapter comes following the passing of the team’s founder and owner, Dennis Reinbold, who died June 13 at 65. Derek Reinbold has taken over as chief executive officer to lead the organization his father established in 1999—a team that famously earned its first and only IndyCar SERIES victory in 2000 when Robbie Buhl captured the season opener at Walt Disney World Speedway during their debut.
Now, more than a decade after their last full-time campaign, testing offers this group the chance to rebuild and expand as they work toward competing all year long. Describing the atmosphere in the paddock, Daly likened the experience to a fresh start.
“It’s like first day of school, but it’s a new school,” Daly said. “It’s an awesome challenge for this group. Everyone’s been close to that point and excited to get there, and now we’re here. We’re not here to just be on the track.”
