A stunning qualifying effort at Portland gave Palou fifth (fourth on the grid after Josef Newgarden’s penalty) and he was the only Ganassi driver in the top 15. But his race turned sour when he felt something “not right” at the rear of the #10 car, and a disappointing 12th place finish dropped him out of contention.
Dixon’s charge from 16th to third, by contrast, means he arrives at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for IndyCar’s season finale as Ganassi’s best hope of landing its 15th drivers’ championship, 20 points behind Team Penske’s leader in the title race, Will Power. While teammates can normally be expected to act as wingmen in such circumstances, Palou has signed an agreement to join McLaren next year – a matter currently in the hands of lawyers.
Asked by Motorsport.com if Palou can be relied upon to help Dixon’s title bid when he metaphorically has one foot out the door, Hull replied: “I don't know where Alex's feet are. But he's a teammate. He's always raced as a teammate 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 teammates. I would expect nothing less on Sunday.”
Ericsson is mathematically still in the hunt but 39 behind Power, and 19 behind Dixon and Newgarden. On the subject of whether this year’s Indy 500 winner will operate for the good of Dixon and the team overall, Hull said: “I think we just have to race the racetrack 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, Alex and Jimmie [Johnson].”
