Chip Ganassi Speaks: 'Alex Palou Is Under Contract to My Team for Next Year'

IndyCar team owner Chip Ganassi remains adamant that defending IndyCar champion Alex Palou will be back in his No. 10 and honor the remaining option year on his contract, despite Palou claiming this past week that he’ll be racing for Team McLaren in 2023.

“Alex Palou is under contract to my team for next year,” was the only thing Ganassi would say about the matter before Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto, talking briefly off-camera with NBC analyst Townsend Bell.

Palou, who had a rough weekend with both engine failure and a poor qualifying spot, smiled when interviewed pre-race on the Peacock Premium by NBC streaming service about what his status is with Chip Ganassi Racing going forward.

“Umm, well you know, we spoke on Friday,” Palou said of a conversation with his current boss. “I don’t really have much else to add to what I already said before.”

Palou then quickly pivoted, obviously not wanting to talk about his situation with CGR any longer.

“We’re here in Toronto and I’m 100% focused on the race,” Palou said. “Unfortunately, we haven’t had the easiest of weekends. We had a failure (Saturday) in qualifying but we have an amazing car, an amazing team around us and we’re going to try and win this race today.”

When asked if he’s “okay” with Ganassi, Palou again demurred, saying, “Yeah, of course, why not? At the end of the day, we want the same and it’s to win. The race is going to sort itself out and it’s not going to be doing the race weekend as it should be. So yeah, we still have the same target, it’s to win today.”

One thing mentioned on the Peacock broadcast Sunday was that 2021 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, whose contract was not renewed by Andretti Autosport after last season (paving the way for Romain Grosjean to take Hunter-Reay’s spot), apparently is under contract to CGR as a fill-in driver.

If the Palou vs. Ganassi drama ratchets up even more, Hunter-Reay would be a potential option if Ganassi decides to park Palou due to the ongoing contract squabble. But that appears unlikely, as Palou is currently third in the standings, just 37 points behind series leader and teammate Marcus Ericsson.