Conor Daly’s Ed Carpenter Racing Indy 500 entry will be overseen by renowned crew chief Cole Pearn, who took Martin Truex Jr to the 2017 NASCAR Cup title.
Pearn became crew chief for Truex in 2015 before going on to take the title two seasons later, while last year they earned seven wins – more than any other entrant.
Pearn quit full-time NASCAR competition at the end of 2019 to return to his native Canada and run a business with his wife, but he has served as an analyst for NASCAR.com.
He will become lead engineer on Daly’s third ECR entry for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on 23 August, alongside three-time Indy 500 polesitter and team owner Carpenter and full-time ECR driver Rinus VeeKay.
“I am super excited to get a chance to compete in the Indy 500 with Conor Daly and Ed Carpenter Racing,” said Pearn.
“I wasn’t sure when I would want to get back to racing, but this is a great opportunity to do so. To be able to do it at a high level was too hard to pass up.
“Obviously, it will be a steep learning curve but getting to work with [No. 20 engineer] Pete Craik again and the rest of the ECR team is about the best situation I could hope for.”
Daly, who will be making his seventh Indy 500 entry but his first with Carpenter, added: “I am really excited to get to work with Cole for the first time at the Indy 500.
“We’re both going to have to get up to speed with this ECR operation, but I can’t wait. Cole has had an incredible amount of success in the NASCAR world and now we’ll be going for our first Indy 500 win together.”