IndyCar veteran Conor Daly will drive the No. 78 car for Juncos Hollinger Racing for the remainder of the season, beginning with this weekend's race at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis, the team announced Wednesday.
Daly is taking over for Agustin Canapino, who parted ways with the team last week after a series of social media firestorms.
“I am extremely pleased to reunite with (team co-owner) Ricardo Juncos after our success together in the Road to Indy,” Daly said, referring to the IndyCar feeder system. “Ricardo took a chance on me when I was young and it made a huge difference in my career. There are a lot of people on this team that I’ve worked with before and that gives me a lot of confidence.”
Canapino stepped away from Juncos Hollinger Racing in June before a race at Road America after disputing claims that rival driver Théo Pourchaire of Arrow McLaren Racing had received online death threats from Canapino's fans following an on-track incident between the two. Arrow McLaren wound up severing its technical and marketing relationship with the team.
Another driver, former Juncos Hollinger teammate Callum Ilott, has said Canapino’s passionate fan base had made threatening comments last season. Ilott said he felt he never received support from the team and was released at the end of last season.
Meanwhile, Canapino's performance also had been on a downward spiral. A string of five consecutive finishes of 18th or worse had dropped him to 23rd in the standings, and in danger of falling out of the top 22 of the $1 million Leaders Circle.
Daly will be driving for his third team this season. He drove from 29th to 10th in the Indianapolis 500 in an entry for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, and he replaced the injured Jack Harvey for Dale Coyne Racing for a race at Iowa in July.
Daly will work with Juncos Hollinger teammate Romain Grosjean for the remainder of the season.
“Having Conor Daly back in a JHR car after many years is like a flashback to some great memories," Juncos said. “We achieved a lot together. Now it’s time to focus on what’s ahead and aim for strong results for the rest of the NTT IndyCar Series season."
In other news, Katherine Legge will be back in the No. 51 car for Dale Coyne Racing for Saturday night's race near St. Louis.
Legge was in the car for the Indianapolis 500 and the doubleheader at Iowa, and now will continue with the ovals on the IndyCar schedule when she goes to World Wide Technology Raceway to drive alongside teammate Jack Harvey.
“Katherine has done a good job for us this year on the ovals and we’re happy to have her back this weekend in the 51 car,” team owner Dale Coyne said. “We’ve had success at that oval track in the past, so we look forward to seeing what Katherine and Jack will do this weekend.”
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FILE - Conor Daly walks to driver introductions before an IndyCar auto race, Sunday, July 14, 2024, at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Saturday signed legislation that averts a government shutdown heading into Christmas, bringing a final close to days of upheaval in Washington after Congress passed a bipartisan budget plan just past the deadline and rejected Donald Trump's core demand in the negotiations.
The deal funds the government at current levels through March 14 and provides $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had insisted lawmakers would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to close. But the outcome at the end of a tumultuous week was uncertain after Trump had insisted the deal include an increase in the government's borrowing limit. If not, he had said, then let the closures “start now.”
Johnson's revised plan was approved 366-34, and it was passed by the Senate by a 85-11 vote after midnight. By then, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.
“There will be no government shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
Johnson, who had spoken to Trump after the House vote, said the compromise was "a good outcome for the country” and that the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”
The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. The difficulties raised questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry Republican colleagues, and work alongside Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk, who was calling the legislative plays from afar.
The House is scheduled to elect the next speaker on Jan. 3, 2025, when the new Congress convenes. Republicans will have an exceedingly narrow majority, 220-215, leaving Johnson little margin for error as he tries to win the speaker's gavel.
One House Republican, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, criticized Republicans for the deficit spending in the bill and said he was now “undecided” about the GOP leadership. Others are signaling unhappiness with Johnson as well.
Yet Trump's last-minute debt limit demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around that pressure. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the slim Republican majority alone to pass any funding package because many Republican deficit hawks prefer to cut the federal government and would not allow more debt.
Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate in the new year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.
The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the coronavirus pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will exceed spending on national security. The last time lawmakers raised the debt limit was June 2023. Rather than raise the limit by a dollar amount, lawmakers suspended the debt limit through Jan. 1, 2025.
There is no need to raise that limit right now because the Treasury Department can begin using what it calls “extraordinary measures” to ensure that America does not default on its debts. Some estimate these accounting maneuvers could push the default deadline to the summer of 2025. But that’s what Trump wanted to avoid because an increase would be needed while he was president.
GOP leaders said the debt ceiling would be debated as part of tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.
It was essentially the same deal that flopped Thursday night — minus Trump’s debt demand. But it's far smaller than the original deal Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.
Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
