"Santino Ferrucci plays up the quotes really well": Conor Daly gives fresh update on their IndyCar feud at Iowa

Santino Ferrucci and Conor Daly reignited their rivalry in IndyCar after the two had an incident at the Mid-Ohio race weekend, leading the two to shoot anger-charged messages at each other. However, steward Max Papis made the two drivers talk to each other ahead of the Iowa race, which led the Juncos Hollinger Racing (JHR) driver to assert how Ferrucci blew the saga out of proportion with his quotes for the media.

Daly races for Juncos Hollinger Racing while Ferrucci races for AJ Foyt Racing. The pair have raced at both the top tiers of IndyCar and at the depths of the field.

While the 27-year-old Ferrucci initially had a torrid start to the 2025 season, much like Daly. But, his fortunes soon struck gold in the past few race weekends, where he claimed two podiums, and he was on course to secure another top-10 finish at Mid-Ohio at the previous race weekend.

But, the two had an on-track contact which resulted in the Woodbury-born driver Ferrucci being penalised and dropping down the road. The duo then made several comments about each other in the build up to the Iowa race, growing their rivalry into a bigger thing.

However, Daly was not of the same opinion and claimed that Ferrucci plays up the quotes. Speaking after Saturday's qualifying session, Daly said (via Bob Pockrass on X):

"It was fine, I actually think Santino [Ferrucci] plays up the quotes really well for the internet. I think he's very good at that and obviosuly I never lie about what I want to say. But yeah, if people actually saw us communicating, you'd be like 'oh that's not as violent as we thought it would be.'"

Conor Daly has only mustered two top-10 finishes in comparison to Ferrucci's four in the first 10 races of the 2025 IndyCar season.

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Santino Ferrucci on his ordeal with Conor Daly

Santino Ferrucci at the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend - Source: Getty

Santino Ferrucci had initially called Conor Daly a backmarker, due to which he had lost out on a crucial result at Mid-Ohio. Though this altercation went on for a few more days, the two have seemingly cleared the air between them.

Reflecting on how the pair talked to each other after the incident, Ferrucci said (via Bob Pockrass on X):

"Funny enough, I think it's the first time that the two of us have talked and actually, saw eye-to-eye on a bunch of things. So we were kind of laughing about, at the end of the day are we ever going to be best pals? Probably not, and I think he'll agree with that. At the end of the day, we're going to race each other hard, fair, and clean; and respect each on the track. Hell yeah."

Meanwhile, Conor Daly will start the upcoming IndyCar race in Iowa from the second position on the grid, seven places ahead of Santino Ferrucci.

Edited by Sumeet Kavthale