"Hard to beat Josef Newgarden": Conor Daly shares his feelings after nearly creating IndyCar history for JHR

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden has secured pole position for the upcoming Race 1 at the Iowa Speedway. In line with this, Juncos Hollinger Racing's Conor Daly (P2) has acknowledged Newgarden's might.

The Indianapolis, Indiana-based Juncos Hollinger Racing was on the verge of securing its first-ever pole position with Daly. However, Josef Newgarden stormed to pole position with his blistering lap for Race 1.

Immediately after the end of the qualifying session, Daly shared the following take via his team's social media:

"What's up, everyone? We're on front row for the race tonight. Qualified second, really wanted the pole, but hard to beat Josef Newgarden here. Really excited for the team, I think it's an awesome display of our speed, and excited to see what we can do in the race. Tonight we want to go for the win, but yeah, front row is awesome for Race 1, yeah, let's get after it."

Conor Daly has secured a second-place start for Race 1, and when it comes to Race 2 at the Iowa Speedway, he has secured a decent seventh-place starting position behind the two-time IndyCar Champion Will Power (P6), Nolan Siegel (P5), Josef Newgarden (P4), David Malukas (P3), Felix Rosneqvist (P2), and the reigning IndyCar Champion, Alex Palou (P1).

After the first 10 rounds of the ongoing 2025 IndyCar season, Conor Daly is in 18th place in the drivers' standings with 144 points. In P17, is Arrow McLaren's young driver Nolan Siegel, who is sitting on 147 points.

Conor Daly hits back on Santino Ferrucci following Mid-Ohio jibe

NTT INDYCAR Series Sukup Race Weekend - Source: Getty

While Conor Daly is eagerly looking forward to the fast-approaching Race 1 at the Iowa Speedway, following the recently concluded qualifying, he took the time to hit back at AJ Foyt Racing's Santino Ferrucci.

Following the end of last week's Mid-Ohio race, Daly called Ferrucci a "clown" following their on-track incident (Ferrucci pushed Daly out of the track), and in line with this, the latter took a jibe at the JHR driver and deemed him a backmarker.

"I just got caught up messing with a backmarker. We would have finished inside the top 10. I’m mad at myself." Via FOX.

While some may have thought that this was the end of their beef, it seemingly escalated further, following Daly's post on X after the end of Iowa Qualifying. He wrote:

"Front row Race 1, thanks to this @juncoshollinger @TeamChevy for giving me a great car. Wanted the pole position but excited to get to work this afternoon. Not bad for a back marker I guess."

Conor Daly acknowledged Santino Ferrucci's comment in a cheeky fashion and came up with a hilarious response. Ferrucci will start the upcoming Race 1 at the Iowa Speedway from P9.