Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull expects Alex Palou to be a team player at this weekend’s IndyCar finale, despite their ongoing contract dispute.
The two parties are still in mediation as the Spaniard seeks to move to McLaren Racing and hence drive for McLaren SP in next year’s IndyCar Series, while also testing Formula 1 machinery.
Until recent days, however, Palou had still been a title contender for the 2022 title, hopes which have now been extinguished after he finished 12th at Portland and dropped to 66 points off the series lead with just the Laguna Seca event to come.
Ordinarily, then, he could reasonably be expected to help team-mates Scott Dixon and/or Marcus Ericsson overhaul Team Penske’s Will Power and Josef Newgarden to win the series.
Hull thinks Palou will be of the same mindset, despite commentary that he has the proverbial foot out the door of the Ganassi squad.
“I don’t know where Alex’s feet are,” said Hull, notwithstanding that the team has removed the 2021 champion’s remote access to data.
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“But, he’s a team-mate, he’s always raced as a team-mate at Chip Ganassi Racing.
“My expectation is that’s the way he’ll race on Sunday. I think wherever he races, whether it’s with us next year or someone else…
“I’ve been advised not to comment on Alex, but I would simply say the experience with Alex has been fantastic.
“Personally, I have so much respect for driver talent. He separates himself from many people that he’ll race against or will race against next because of the ability that he has. It’s very, very special.
“On top of that, he supports and helps his team-mates.
“I would expect nothing less on Sunday.”
While Ericsson is mathematically still in the hunt, he trails Power by 39 points and hence is an outsider in the context of the battle for the drivers’ title.
Dixon, on the other hand, has a far better chance given his deficit is only 20 points, leaving him tied for second with Newgarden.
However, Hull says the Swede is not necessarily expected to help the New Zealander win the series for a seventh time this weekend.
“We shouldn’t discount the rest of the drivers that are in this field,” he remarked.
“So, if neither of us are running for the win and we’re just running to figure out who’s going to win the championship, we’re each going to need an MIT mathematician to help us.
“To answer your question, I think we just have to race the race track and see what happens here. It still comes down to that.
“It’s a very simple thing: we just race cars. That’s what we do. We race to the best of our ability. We do that as a team.
“For Marcus to help Scott, I think Marcus first needs to help Marcus. If that helps Scott, it helps Scott.
“And vice versa, if Scott needs to help Marcus on Sunday, he’ll do that.
“That goes for the other two people on our team, which are Alex and Jimmie [Johnson].”
A total of five drivers are mathematical title contenders, with Penske’s Scott McLaughlin 41 points behind Power after scoring a perfect 54 in the previous event.
Track activity at Laguna Seca starts on Friday at 17:30 ET/Saturday at 07:30 AEST, with Stan Sport carrying live and ad-free coverage of Practice 2, Qualifying, and the Race itself.
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