LEXINGTON, OH – The news became official on Saturday afternoon at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Alexander Rossi will remain with Andretti Autosport for the foreseeable future. Rossi, as well as Honda, signed extension with Andretti to stay with their outfit for next season and beyond.

While rumors were also circulating that Team Penske was once courting Rossi, the free agent status for one of America’s rising stars is put to bed. He’s not going anywhere.

I think that’s a great thing for the NTT IndyCar Series too.

While a team with both Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi would be fun to watch, it also would be just that – a TEAM that’s fun to watch. They’d be two talented American drivers under the same umbrella for the same organization for the same manufacturer.

How much fun would it really be?

Nothing against Team Penske, but some fans aren’t crazy to watch them win all the time. They’ve got 210 career Indy Car wins to their total including 18 of those being in the Indy 500. In fact, Penske has won the Greatest Spectacle in Racing two years in-a-row now. Furthermore, they’ve won 15 Indy Car championships including two in the last three years.

Rossi, has stamped his name as arguably one of the best, if not the best, driver in the series right now. Newgarden, is too. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are in the top five or six themselves.

Would you really want to see the 2016 Indy 500 champion, the 2018 Indy 500 champion, the 2019 Indy 500 champion as well as the 2016, 2017 and now likely 2019 series champion all on the same team?

Then there’s this, there were rumors Andretti could switch back to Chevrolet and get help to retain Rossi as well. Andretti had a few good years with Chevy and it would make sense. But, why would you want to see Penske and Andretti with Chevy and see the bowties own a majority of the victories in 2020 and beyond?

Now, since Andretti as well as Rossi were retained with Honda, it gives us the balance of power that we need for the series’ growth in the future. Instead of two American drivers battling each other as friendly teammates, we can see them become possible rivals going for multiple championships against one another on different teams for many years.

This was a big announcement for the series on Saturday too.