INDIANAPOLIS — Ed Carpenter Racing kind of kickstarted the 2023 edition of NTT INDYCAR SERIES silly season off with a bombshell that they’ll part ways with Conor Daly effective immediately. That decision was mutual according to both the team and driver.

With that said, it’s not too early to look at where thing stand on the driver/car opening front.

I don’t foresee this silly season being as much movement as we’ve seen in year’s past, however, there are some big seats available.

Three of the four cars at Chip Ganassi Racing are as of right now, open and wildly enough, they’re 1-2 in points at the moment.

It’s almost a foregone conclusion that Alex Palou is gone and heading to McLaren. We know McLaren’s No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet seat is open as Felix Rosenqvist is a free agent. One could say that Rosenqvist is doing a good enough job to remain, but if Palou truly is heading over, which all all but certain, barring McLaren expanding to a four-car full-time effort and running a fifth Indy only ride, I don’t see Rosenqvist returning.

Plus, if they do run a fourth full-time car, don’t sleep on it being Marcus Ericsson.

“First, I don’t think people steal things. I think people lose things,” Zak Brown said during a Friday news conference from Carb Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Marcus has done an outstanding job. I’ve known him from Formula 1 for some time. He’s very humble. He’s done an awesome job. He’s won the Indy 500; led the championship for some time. He would definitely be in the consideration if we decided to do a fourth car.”

Brown called Ericsson the likely top free agent right now, so he was a little surprised with how strong things were commercially within Ganassi and reading the quote that they don’t have the confidence to sign him out right.

“I think he’s probably the top free agent, so I’m a little surprised, given how strong things are commercially that, reading the quotes, that his current team doesn’t have the commercial confidence that they can sell the Indy 500 winner and championship contender and sign him up,” Brown continued. “I understand they probably have a little bit of time so I’m sure they’re working at it, but I wouldn’t let him go if he was driving for me, and I would have the commercial confidence that I could get the sponsorship. But that’s not my issue. So, if he does become a free agent and we run a fourth car, he would definitely be heavily under consideration.”

The key thing is there, “if he becomes a free agent.”

“Yeah, I want him to stay. Yeah, I’m working hard to do it,” Chip Ganassi said of Marcus Ericsson during the Fast Friday press conference last month.

So what’s the hold up? Ganassi says the same thing as everything else.

“I’m not a big guy to be talking about our deals or our contracts or anything, but Marcus has a big future in the sport, and I want it to be on this team, sure, “he says. “Yeah, we just need to finalize some sponsorship, and away we go.”

He says they’re close despite Ericsson saying the ball is in Ganassi’s court. So we’ll see.

Ericsson wants to finally be a pay driver and not one who’s required to bring funding. With an Indy 500 win and being second in the championship again this year, he feels like he’s earned that right. It’s all about feeling wanted and right now, you get the sense that Ericsson doesn’t feel “wanted” by Ganassi.

Ericsson drove for the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports camp in 2019, so could he in theory make a return? Sounds like it.

Can Ganassi stand to lose Palou (2021 champion and current points leader) and Ericsson in the same free agent cycle?

Brown has signed Tony Kanaan (Ganassi last year), NTT (sponsor with Ganassi) and Kyle Larson (former Ganassi drivers in NASCAR) already. Does Palou and Ericsson both join that list next?

If so, that’s three open seats at Ganassi. The 11 car is a joint entry with Marcus Armstrong and Takuma Sato this year. Armstrong has done enough to run full-time, but does he have the funding to allow it?

Scott Dixon we know is returning and we know the 10 seat is funded. The other 2 need someone to bring Ganassi money. I think the easiest factor would be for Ericsson to slide into the 10 car, Armstrong to find enough money to run the 11 full-time and if the team can’t find a pay-to-play driver for the 8, then they can shut it down since their fourth entry isn’t a leaders circle one.

Does Ganassi utilize their HMD connection and bring up Kyffin Simpson or even bring over David Malukas and Simpson over to HMD’s No. 18 joint entry with Dale Coyne?

Then you have Andretti Autosport. Romain Grosjean isn’t yet signed even though both sides said they wanted to get a deal done by the end of May. Devlin DeFrancesco is a free agent with money and his improved results could make him a hot commodity on the open market with the funding that he has to bring with him.

Is Grosjean not signed because Andretti is waiting to see what Ganassi does with Ericsson? If Ericsson walks, McLaren, Andretti, MSR and RLL would come knocking.

Still, that’s two Andretti seats and three at Ganassi open.

We now know ECR’s seat in the 20 car is open. Rinus VeeKay is on a multi-year deal so he’s back.

RLL has 2 of their 3 cars open with Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey being free agents. Juri Vips is sitting there that could take over 1 of the cars. They’ve also tested Linus Lundqvist. Rahal told me in an extensive interview last month that he hasn’t even talked to other teams and didn’t want to. He just wanted to get through the Month of May before looking at his future. I struggle to see him leave and I know Christian Lundgaard is on a multi-year deal.

Meyer Shank Racing has both cars open for 2023 and Tom Blomqvist as a potential candidate to hop in one. Who’s his teammate?

Then you have Callum Ilott who’s got options to get out of his multi-year deal with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Ganassi would make a ton of sense there as long as Ilott has a budget. Or does Ganassi elect for Ilott to take over the funded 10 ride and pay him less than Ericsson would command for it?

What about Rosenqvist? Andretti, a return to Ganassi or even one of those funded Meyer Shank or RLL seats could fit him.

The dominos are already falling. There’s some seats out there that don’t need funding.

Top 10 Drivers Teams Are Eyeing

1. Alex Palou
2. Marcus Ericsson
3. Felix Rosenqvist
4. Graham Rahal
5. Callum Ilott
6. Romain Grosjean
7. Linus Lundqvist
8. Conor Daly
9. Devlin DeFrancesco
10. Jack Harvey

Top Indy Lights Candidates

1. Kyffin Simpson (Ganassi ties)
2. Christian Rasmussen (HMD)
3. Hunter McElrea (Andretti)
4. Nolan Siegel (HMD)
5. Reece Gold or Matteo Nannini (Juncos IF Ilott leaves)

Top 10 Seats Open

1. Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 10) *Has sponsor
2. Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 8) *Needs sponsor
3. Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 11) *Needs sponsor
4. Andretti Autosport (No. 28) *Has sponsor
5. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (No. 30) *Has sponsor
6. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (No. 15) *Has sponsor
7. Meyer Shank Racing (No. 60) *Has sponsor
8. Meyer Shank Racing (No. 06) *Has sponsor
9. Andretti Autosport (No. 29) *Needs sponsor
10. Ed Carpenter Racing (No. 20) *May or may not need sponsor depending on BITNILE