Following last week’s formal severing of ties with Agustin Canapino, leaving a vacancy in its No. 78 Chevy for the final five races of the 2024 IndyCar season, Juncos Hollinger Racing has hired IndyCar journeyman Conor Daly to complete the campaign.

The deal makes JHR the eighth full-time active IndyCar team the 32-year-old has driven for during his 11-season IndyCar career –  and 11th team overall. He initially competed with Ricardo Juncos' outfit for the 2010 Star Mazda championship, where he won seven races and clinched the title.

Wednesday’s news follows Daly’s test with JHR in the No. 78 earlier this month at World Wide Technology Raceway, the first race he’ll compete in for the team Saturday evening at 6 p.m. Race weekend events kickoff Friday with multiple practices a single-lap qualifying to set the field.

"I am extremely pleased to reunite with Ricardo Juncos after our success together in the Road To Indy. Ricardo took a chance on me when I was young and it made a huge difference in my career," Daly said in a team release. "There are a lot of people on this team that I’ve worked with before and I that gives me a lot of confidence. What Brad Hollinger and Ricardo have built here is extremely impressive in a short amount of time, and I consider myself very lucky to get to compete for the rest of the season and earn the necessary points for this #78 Chevrolet.

"There are a lot of partners in this effort, and I appreciate the support behind me to get back in the race seat.””

More: Juncos Hollinger Racing, Agustin Canapino split for rest of 2024 IndyCar season

Though Canapino’s future with the team had long seemed tenuous due to the team’s lack of funding, his rough results of late and his off-track antics earlier this summer, the swap for Daly comes at a time where JHR again finds itself in a precarious spot in regards to IndyCar’s Leaders Circle program. The program pays just over $1 million per car to the previous season’s top-22 eligible entrants in points. With five races to go, the No. 78 sits five points out of 22nd, with Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 51 just one point. Cars sitting 19th-24th are currently separated by just 29 points with five races remaining – four of them on ovals, where Daly has a noted strength.

“Having Conor Daly back in a JHR car after many years is like a flashback to some great memories, as we achieved a lot together," Juncos said in a release. "Now it's time to focus on what's ahead and aim for strong results in the rest of the IndyCar season”.

Daly’s role with JHR this weekend marks his fourth relatively unscheduled fill-in role he’s taken on in the last 13th months that has included Meyer Shank Racing (for the injured Simon Pagenaud), Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (for the fired Jack Harvey) and Dale Coyne Racing (for the injured Harvey).

After losing his full-time ride with Ed Carpenter Racing seven races into the 2023 IndyCar campaign, Daly has dove into a variety of corners of the motorsports world, making NASCAR Trucks and Xfinity starts in each of the last two years – highlighted by running both during NASCAR’s Indianapolis tripleheader weekend last month. Earlier this year, he also made his ARCA Menards series debut, and he’s dabbled in Nitrocross for his Indy 500 one-off outfit, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing. Later this year, he’ll contest the Indy 8 Hour in the GT World Challenge America series as well on the IMS road course.

Conor Daly World Tour: 7 days, 3 races, 4 cars, 4 states, finishes 14th in Pennzoil 250

His 10th-place finish in this year's Indianapolis 500 marked his third consecutive top-10 in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the fifth time in his last six 500 starts that Daly has consistently run up towards the front.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Juncos Hollinger Racing hires Conor Daly to replace Agustin Canapino