At one point in Sunday evening’s media conference with the Indy 500 winner, someone asked Marcus Ericsson a question about being the overlooked driver in the Chip Ganassi Racing team. It wasn’t a question without merit because there’s six-time champion Scott Dixon – one of the pillars at Ganassi for more than two decades. There’s Alex Palou, the reigning champion, who everyone inside and outside the team seems to like as well as admire. There’s Jimmie Johnson, the seven-time NASCAR champion who’s bravely living out his open-wheel fantasy on a very public stage and remains refreshingly candid about his efforts. And then, at Indy, there’s also Tony Kanaan, who at 47 is old and wise enough to say ‘no’ to a closing gap between cars on a racetrack, but young and hungry enough to say ‘yes’ to a hot ride in the Indianapolis 500.
And then there’s Marcus Ericsson.
