DETROIT – Alex Palou appreciates the flattery of the latest IndyCar paddock rumor, but the defending series champ insisted Friday in every way possible, while trying to obey team rules of avoiding contract talk, that he’s not in line for Arrow McLaren SP’s third seat for 2023.

With Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport’s No. 27 Honda) and Alexander Rossi (an unnumbered Chevy seat at AMSP) confirmed by their respective future teams this week, AMSP’s third seat has been the next hot topic of gossip in recent days. Team president Taylor Kiel again asserted Friday, during Rossi’s introductory news conference, that the incumbent Felix Rosenqvist is still in play.

Whether it’s completely accurate or not, it would make sense for the team not to reveal Rossi’s number for the near-future so as not to either imply that Rossi was or wasn’t taking the Swede’s seat for next season. This way, it’ll only be abundantly clear whether he’s in or out when such a decision is formally announced.

Whether Rosenqvist controls his own destiny or not – and in what way – we may not truly know, but the talk of the paddock leading up to Friday’s weekend-opening practice was that Palou was under consideration by Brown and Kiel. Shortly after the Associated Press’s Jenna Fryer reported as much on Twitter Thursday, Ganassi driver and series veteran Tony Kanaan replied to a tweet from a Brazilian journalist who wondered who the ride might end up going to and suggested it might be either Rosenqvist or Rinus VeeKay – another popular future free agent name of late.

“Nenhum dos 2. Povo vai cair da cadeira quando souberem,” wrote Kanaan, which roughly translates to, “None of those two. People will fall off their chairs when they know.”

With that in mind, several members of IndyCar Twitter immediately flocked to the idea of McLaren F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo switching open-wheel racing series within the same organization, given the driver’s continued poor form halfway through his second year of a three-year deal. Only mildly more crazy, though, was the idea the defending IndyCar champ, who finished 2nd in the Indy 500 in 2021 and appeared to have one of the two or three best cars there last weekend and who sits 3rd in the title race this year jumping ship to a team that has yet to win a 500 or a championship.

The latest IndyCar news:

• Arrow McLaren SP confirms signing of Rossi on multi-year deal starting in 2023

• Andretti confirms Kyle Kirkwood for 2023 to replace outgoing Alexander Rossi

• Ilott out of Detroit race with broken right hand, Santino Ferrucci to fill-in

• Pagenaud believes MSR is capable of a street win in 2022. Detroit is up next.

Navigating conversations about contracts past, present and future is always a tough game with Ganassi drivers. The team owner has long made clear he doesn’t want his deals talked about in public, beyond announcing they’re done, but Palou was willing to touch the subject enough to make a couple things clear: he’s not actively talking to other teams and he’s more than happy at his Ganassi home.

At the same time, according to Palou, he hasn’t signed a new deal since he arrived at CGR days after his 2020 rookie season was complete, and when asked whether there could be some confluence of events that could lead him to landing elsewhere before the start of the 2023 campaign, he said, “Chip doesn’t really like us to…sorry. I know you have to try.”

What he could say was this: “I’m happy where I am, and just because somebody is interested doesn’t mean that I’m actively looking for a place for the future.”

Given his 500 and championship-level success over 22 races with Ganassi, the only foreseeable reason for someone in Palou’s position to jump ship, barring massive discontentment within the team (which appears to be anything but true), would be a level of salary Ganassi either wasn’t capable or willing to match. According to Palou, more money for the sake of it isn’t something that drives him these days. Whether he was paid well in his initial contract with Ganassi, or if he was given a pay bump after his three-win championship season last year, the 25-year-old Spaniard said he’s plenty satisfied with where he’s at.

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“I’m making more money than I ever thought I would when I was a kid growing up, so making a lot of money, or a lot more money (than I am now) doesn’t drive me,” he said. “Maybe it will in two years, three years or five years, but now; I’m not a person driven by that. I’m looking forward to winning more races, more championships, and I’m in a position to do so.”

In that same vein, Palou also noted he’s not currently being paid less than he thinks he deserves, given what he’s achieved two-plus years into his IndyCar career. Said in another way, don’t expect the type of public spat about more money we saw from Pato O’Ward in the first couple of months of this season before he and AMSP settled on a new long-term deal.

“Everybody, when you have a good result, you want to get more, but if you already have (a deal), you have to wait until that time comes,” he said. “It’s not that I won the championship and I suddenly was like, ‘Whoa, $25 million a year!’”

Neither would Palou entertain the idea McLaren might have something else in mind: a ride in Formula 1, should the team yank Ricciardo prematurely from his seat.

“If I won the (IndyCar) championship last year in my first year with a big team, and I’m not in F1 now, why should I be next year or in two years, when I’m 28?” Palou reasoned. “Obviously, Formula 1, as everyone knows, is the No. 1 thing, but as I always said and will continue to say, I’m not giving away fighting for a championship to be part of a bigger series.”

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar: Alex Palou shrugs off rumored interest from Arrow McLaren SP