Daniel Ricciardo gets repeated Indy 500 invitation from IndyCar star Conor Daly

IndyCar driver Conor Daly recently revealed how he has been trying to convince Daniel Ricciardo to attend the prestigious Indy 500. The Honey Badger stepped away from F1 in mid-2024 and hasn't been seen at any big races since.

The reason for his exit was an underwhelming run with Red Bull's junior team, Visa Cash App RB. He couldn't match teammate Yuki Tsunoda's results and was let go from the team after the Singapore Grand Prix. With six more races left in the 2024 season, Liam Lawson replaced him for the remainder of the season.

Though Ricciardo hasn't shown any interest in racing in IndyCar, IndyCar fan-favorite driver Conor Daly mentioned how he'd like to get the Aussie driver as a guest on his Speed Street podcast. And if possible, get him to attend the Indy 500.

In a recent appearance on the FanAmp podcast on YouTube, Daly spoke about getting F1 drivers on his podcast, saying [16:54 onwards]:

"I want to have Daniel Ricciardo on the show. He's a good dude. We'll have him on at some point. I feel like I got to convince him to come to an Indy 500 first, too. Oh, I know he would (love it). I keep telling him."

Though Daniel Ricciardo didn't officially announce his retirement from racing after exiting the Red Bull family last year, he hinted at it during an interaction with a fan in New York at a pop-up store for his clothing brand, Enchante. When the fan asked if he'd like to return to F1 with the new Cadillac F1 team in 2026, he replied: "Nah, I'm done."

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Daniel Ricciardo feared racing on IndyCar's ovals

In August 2022, McLaren announced that it would part ways with Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the season. The eight-time Grand Prix winner's performance graph had slumped. In October that year, he addressed a potential switch to IndyCar in 2023, having found no full-time F1 seat.

Ricciardo gave an unfiltered response for not thinking of joining the American open-wheel series. He said (via Autosport):

"F**k that. Ovals scare me. My Formula 1 career-slash-ambition is not over, so that’s really like first and foremost. I don’t want to deviate, I would say primarily for that reason. But also ovals, nah. Ten years ago, I would have said yes. I’m OK to admit that I’m not OK with ovals."

Ahead of the 2024 Singapore GP, his final F1 race, Ricciardo was posed with the IndyCar question yet again. He echoed his stance from 2022, saying (via PlanetF1):

"IndyCar still scares me. I’ve thought about it because I also thought about it a couple years ago when I knew I wasn’t going to start the 2023 season, but, I don’t know. I know I’m still a competitor. Like, I know I still have a lot of fire in me, but maybe that itch is scratched doing something else."

While racing at the Indy 500, which takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar's biggest oval, might be out of question for Daniel Ricciardo, he could give in to Conor Daly's requests to attend it. The 109th running of the race will take place on May 25.