It’s no secret that Chip Ganassi and Zak Brown don’t like each other. A lot of that is predicated by Alex Palou. But, with Palou staying put, it wildly enough has set both organizations up for the future too.

Ganassi confirmed last Sunday that Palou will in fact be returning for 2024.

“Alex Palou’s going to be in our car,” Ganassi boasted. “I can tell you that.”

With his contract ending in 2023, that also likely means that Palou will be operating on a multi-year deal as well. As a result, all four of the drivers in 2024 will have multiple years of service left now.

Scott Dixon is already under contract but Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong just signed multi-year deals in consecutive weeks.

Palou is only 26. Lundqvist is 24 and Armstrong 23. They’re set up for the future.

Dixon just completed his 17th top four points finish in the last 18 years. There’s no signs of slowing down. That’s a good thing.

Palou has won 2 of the last 3 championships.

Armstrong is likely to become the rookie of the year while Lundqvist was strong in his 3 starts this year and was the 2022 Indy NXT champion.

With Ganassi going 1-2 in points this season and likely producing the Rookie of the Year, the future is as bright as ever.

“They have the best cars right now,” Will Power says “They do. They’re able to extract the most out of qualifying. Their cars look good off the tires, they’re very fast in the race, and their strategy’s good — they’re just simply the best team right now. They are.

“They’ve got good cars, good drivers. You think about Palou and Dixon and even Ericsson. Marcus Armstrong is a rookie, but also very quick. They’ve got a very tough group.”

Power says that it is has nothing to do with a Honda vs. Chevy thing here either. It’s just the fact that Ganassi is purely outperforming them across the board.

“No, I don’t think much to do with the engines. I think the engines are pretty equal,” Power said. “I think the Chevy has a bit more top end. Honda might have a bit more torque down low. But all in all over laps, it’s probably pretty similar.

“Ganassi definitely have good cars right now.”

Still, while Penske is regarded as the top team ever in the sport with 236 wins and 298 poles compared to 130 wins and 95 to Ganassi, they’ve also been doing it for decades longer too. Ganassi is by all accounts, closing that gap back up.

If you go back to 1996, Penske leads Ganassi 140-129 in regards to trips to victory lane. In the two most important matrix, Indy 500 wins and championships, Penske leads 8-5 in trips to victory lane on Memorial Day weekend. However, Ganassi has doubled Penske up in championships 15-7 in that span as well.

This duo has ebbed and flowed with Penske winning 7 times in 2020 to 5 by Ganassi. In 2021, it was Ganassi with 6 wins and Penske with 3. Last year it was 9-4 and this year 7-5. That’s Penske leading 24-23 in victories during the Aeroscreen era.

Penske outperformed Ganassi in 2022 only for Ganassi to pay them back.

Now, maybe McLaren is built for the future too.

With Lando Norris shining and Oscar Piastri finding his footing as a rookie, the McLaren F1 team has a bright future. Norris is just 23. Piastri is only 22. If McLaren can keep the vulchers like Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari away from Norris, they’re set up for the future overseas.

Here stateside, they have Alexander Rossi locked in. He’s about to be 32. He has no interest in heading back to F1 so he’s set. Pato O’Ward is only 24. Even if the F1 dream never comes to fruition, I don’t think it’s a secret that he’s on the verge of being a star here.

Now you get 21-year-old David Malukas and the announcement on Friday. So long as these three perform and the cars keep getting more and more better, this NTT INDYCAR SERIES program has a 5-10 year runway ahead of strength.

Plus, I’ve heard about an alliance with Juncos Hollinger Racing coming and how high they are on Callum Ilott. This can get him too. Ilott is going to only be 25 in November.

“When we look at our driver lineup with Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi, it’s a fierce lineup of experience and youthfulness. I’m excited to go racing next year with David, Alex and Pato,” Zak Brown said on Friday.

“Looking at the trio of drivers, what we’re trying to build with Gavin and the addition of Brian Barnhart joining the team. Having Tony, I’ve always been a fan of former champions as part of a racing team. I think we’re building something to be a formidable competitor not just in ’24 but beyond.”

Which means they’re also now set up for the now and the future. If the F1 side does so well it gets 1 or even both of Norris and Piastri taken elsewhere, O’Ward, Ilott and Malukas are easy targets to replace them. If they replace them, it means they did well here. If they did well here, they have quality rides other young stars will want to come to.

Which is why this pipeline is strengthening and a much better scenario than the Palou drama for both sides. This could be a blessing in disguise for them and a big blessing for Ganassi to keep Palou too.