DUQUOIN, Ill. – Conor Daly found an apt description for his journey to improve in dirt-midget racing during Saturday’s fourth annual Junior Knepper 55 inside the Southern Illinois Center.

“I think that, after Indy, my desire to run more on the dirt really came down to a quest for knowledge, because there were so few laps that I actually got to run,” Daly told SPEED SPORT.

The season-ending USAC non-points special was Daly’s second dirt-track start of the season, following an appearance at the inaugural Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September.

In that race, Daly finished 12th of 13 drivers in his qualifying race, driving a car out of the Landon Simon Racing stable. However, he was so hooked by the racing that it left him eager to get another shot at it.

That led to a phone call with the Byrd family, instrumental supporters of Daly’s open-wheel career, which eventually put Daly into a Jody Rosenboom-prepared machine for both DuQuoin and the upcoming Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa, Okla., in January.

“I think that when we counted it up, I was only on the track there (at Indianapolis) for 18 minutes or something, so I just wanted to learn more,” said Daly. “I left with my last lap being my quickest lap and said, ‘well shoot, I want to learn more, now.’

“I spoke with David Byrd for a while, because he was obviously a huge part of my rookie season in IndyCar, and all of his partners made it happen … and then Jody (Rosenboom) had a seat available for me to come and race,” Daly continued. “I’m super thankful for that whole situation, man. Racing is a wild environment right now, and in my eyes, you just have to race anything that you can.”

Daly certainly has driven anything he could get behind the wheel of this season, making selected starts in the IndyCar Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series in addition to his recent excursions onto the clay.

However, he was quick to say that nothing he’s ever driven could have prepared him for what it would be like to drive a dirt midget.

“From what I’ve been doing for 16 years, since I was 10 years old, this is literally the complete opposite of all of that. There’s no comparison,” Daly said. “It’s a total lack of control, but trying to make that lack of control go the fastest compared to everyone else. It’s interesting and a lot of fun, but it’s an incredible technique that takes track time to learn and to master.

“I have an incredible respect for all the drivers here, and there’s some incredibly talented people, and there’s no doubt about that,” he continued. “It’s cool to be able to be here and learn from some of the guys, and it’s even more fun for me because I got to race with Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe in the Xfinity Series … so it’s been cool to talk to those guys and be there with them.”

Beyond next month’s Chili Bowl appearance, Daly confirmed to SPEED SPORT that his schedule is blank for the time being, but that he’s hoping to fill it with at least some of the same things he did this year.

“Right now, the only race that I have on my 2019 schedule is the Chili Bowl,” Daly said. “We’ll see what develops beyond that, but I’m working on a lot of things. The current era of motorsport is so heavily business- and money-related that it’s tough, but we are working on things.

“I do feel OK about (having) something at least for the Indy 500 … and maybe more. You just never know what can happen,” he noted. “At this time last year, I would have never thought that I would have gotten to race an Xfinity Series car. I would love to do more of that, I’d love to do sports cars, I’d love to do more in IndyCar … maybe even more of these. We’ll start with the Chili Bowl and then we’ll see.

“I’m open to driving whatever, wherever; I can at least tell you that much.”

In the meantime, Daly has found a unique enthusiasm for dirt midget racing, and that enthusiasm propelled him to an even better showing in DuQuoin than he had at Indianapolis in the BC39.

Daly ended up fourth in his C-main on Saturday night, just two positions away from transferring onto the back of a qualifier, and afterward noted his favorite aspect of midget racing so far.

“Every driver likes to be sideways at some point. That’s kind of a cool feeling,” Daly said. “I think just the style of getting the car to go fast is quite interesting to me. It’s fascinating because I don’t understand it fully yet, but it’s a very cool challenge to take on.”

“Was I great here tonight? Not by the standards that everyone measures, but I certainly gained more knowledge than I had,” he smiled. “We learned a lot, I felt way more comfortable by the end of the C-main and I was racing something, instead of not racing something. In my eyes, that’s a successful night.”