IndyCar’s silly season may have been seismically impacted by a court case filing – but not how you might think.

Last month, lawyers for McLaren Racing filed an amended claim in the team’s ongoing suit against Alex Palou in U.K. Commercial Court where, for the first time, McLaren included Pato O’Ward’s two-year extension worth $8.2 million (with $2 million in bonuses) as expenses the team believes Palou should be held responsible for after backing out of his three-year deal with McLaren nearly 18 months ago.

It provided a rare concrete figure for one of the top salaries in the sport – for a driver who, Graham Rahal astutely pointed out Friday to reporters in St. Pete, has only won four races and lacks an Indianapolis 500 win or even runner-up finish in the championship.

“We have the same amount of wins and it was laughable to me how different our base pays are, but that’s fine,” said the 35-year-old IndyCar veteran who actually has 6 wins to O'Ward's 4. “I think McLaren’s pay is an anomaly, compared to every other team, and I don’t really know how that works, but it’s not up to me.

“Good for Pato. I can’t wait to go to his house in Mexico. But it’s great for him and good for the sport. When I came into the sport, there were a lot of guys not making money – like any. Zero. Not being able to pay the insurance bill every year, and it’s changing in the right direction. Hopefully for the younger guys, this will change the market and help some of them get a little better off.”

How much, though, could change the course of the driver market for 2025.

Court documents: Pato O'Ward lands 2-year, $10.2 million payday after Alex Palou lawsuit

Newgarden: 'I think it's really encouraging for everybody'

At the top of that wish list for IndyCar’s perennial title challengers? A two-time series champion and defending Indy 500-winner who owns 30 victories – including the first of the year: Josef Newgarden. According to the Associated Press, the 33-year-old, who has spent the last eight seasons racing for Roger Penske, signed an extension in 2021 that is believed to have been for three seasons – through the end of this campaign.

When asked by the IndyStar about the status of negotiations following his 7.9-second season-opening win on the streets of St. Pete, Newgarden gave a brief chuckle and rolled into a short, business-like response: “I love the question. I’m going to be very polite. I don’t discuss contracts publicly.”

In a wide-ranging interview with IndyStar earlier that weekend, Team Penske president Tim Cindric did acknowledge that the sides are involved in ongoing discussions about the future.

The question remains: Will Roger Penske, who this past weekend was publicly called upon by Michael Andretti to substantially increase his investment in IndyCar, be willing to give Newgarden a significant hike to his annual salary in order to hold onto inarguably the greatest driver of his generation during his prime – coming off a 500 win, no less?

Team Penske IndyCar drivers have long been believed to make somewhere in the $3 million range, including incentives, per year. Those figures are believed to be some level less than Scott Dixon, suspected to fall between $3 million and $4 million per year.

The fact that a 24-year-old driver from a rival team, who has logged just two wins and a best championship finish of 4th in the last two years will be making $4 million in 2026 and $4.2 million in 2027, should have Newgarden grinning ear-to-ear.

And there’s no doubt he’s aware. When asked Friday about O’Ward’s figures being made public, Newgarden had quick recall about the exact numbers.

“Yeah, it’s interesting,” he said with a big grin. “News that comes out nowadays is very interesting, but I’m not surprised. It’s undeniable the health across some segments of the sport. There’s no doubting it, and I think it’s really encouraging for everybody.”

Could O’Ward’s new deal being made public, alone, reset the market for top-level drivers across the series?

“I don’t think it hurts anybody,” Newgarden replied. “I don’t think it hurts anybody, is what I would say.”

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Cindric: Team Penske balances continuity while eyeing future

Cindric might disagree; or, at least, he would argue some of the latest figures (Colton Herta is rumored to be making upwards of $6 million on a deal many believe was set at a commensurate F1 salary in case he and Andretti made the jump) are unsustainable.

“I’ve seen enough of these movies,” Cindric told IndyStar on Saturday. “I know that the business model can only sustain so much, and you see it in other sports. You can follow a trend forever, and eventually, you won’t have anything left to succeed with. You spend it all on one person, or a couple people, and at some point in time, you have to decide, ‘Where are we?’

“Just because someone pays someone $10 million doesn’t make it right. Or, in other words, it doesn’t make it sustainable.”

Team Penske has been enjoying a notably stable few years with three years – including 2024 – with the same three drivers.

Consider this run from 2014-2022, where to start those seasons, the team (in terms of its full-time driver lineup):

>>2014: Added Juan Pablo Montoya

>>2015: Added Simon Pagenaud

>>2016: No changes

>>2017: Dropped Montoya, added Newgarden

>>2018: Dropped Helio Castroneves

>>2019: No changes

>>2020: No changes

>>2021: Added Scott McLaughlin

>>2022: Dropped Pagenaud

Asked by IndyStar how Cindric viewed the three seasons of unchanged full-time lineups and how that would impact Team Penske’s approach to the latest set of negotiations – the team announced a multi-year extensions for Will Power in 2023 (believed to be through 2025) and another for McLaughlin in 2022 – Cindric offered this:

“I think there needs to be a balance of having continuity and people not being comfortable.”

He went on to note that he believes Team Penske has both been patient with its elder drivers, having phased them out of their IndyCar lineups at times when their stats clearly pointed to a decline, while maintaining an eye towards the future. It took years, he noted, to be able to make way for Montoya, Sam Hornish Jr. and other notable free agents Penske has landed in American open-wheel racing over the last couple decades.

“It’s my job to keep a pulse of what’s going on in the paddock and know and anticipate where we’re going two, three or four years down the road and who are the prospects,” Cindric said. “A lot of it is timing and how it all aligns.”

'Then sell the series': Andretti calls for Penske to invest more in IndyCar

Newgarden headlines star-studded free agent class

All of this could become a moot point, of course. Penske and Cindric could hand Newgarden a blank check – within reason – and lock down the series’ most valuable free agent in this class. Or Newgarden, seeing significant value in remaining with a proven title-contender and recent 500-winning team, could be willing to take less than what many would perceive to be his true value on the open market.

“We’ll figure it out. I’m not worried about all that,” answered Cindric, when asked how Newgarden’s season-opening win might help move talks along.

But holding onto the two-time champion likely won’t be simple. With as many as two seats up for grabs after this year – with Alexander Rossi believed to be in a contract year and David Malukas’ multi-year deal likely to include team options beyond this first season – Arrow McLaren and McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown appear all too likely suitors.

Brown hasn’t shied away from courting IndyCar’s top talent in the past – including runs at Ganassi’s star-studded duo of Dixon and Palou in recent years, along with singing Marcus Ericsson’s praises a year ago. Not only would Newgarden fit the pedigree of Brown’s recent targets, but if Newgarden again struggles to find championship form with his No. 2 Chevy crew – with finishes of 2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 5th since his 2019 title – there’s reason to wonder if he might long for a change of scenery?

Especially one likely offering a sizable raise as the most up-to-date technology in the sport.

Joining Newgarden in this silly season free agent class include Rossi and Malukas (in the loose manner stated above), as well as Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay and Callum Ilott, among others.

RLL focused on two things in 2024: Indy 500 recovery, extension for Christian Lundgaard

Before the season began, Bobby Rahal made his public pitch to his young Danish driver who provided RLL’s first win since 2020 a year ago, saying he didn’t believe Lundgaard needed to go anywhere else “because he’s faster than most of those other teams right now.”

The 22-year-old told reporters on Friday that his biggest focus is RLL achieving massive gains in its oval performance over a year ago, when five finishes of 13^th or worse across the oval calendar held back a campaign that could’ve been even better than his final spot of 8^th.

“I think everybody has a shot, but (RLL) has the first pick. It’s where I am, and they’re the people that gave me the opportunity to come into IndyCar,” said Lundgaard, who noted he’s already permitted to openly negotiate with other teams. “If we improve the oval performance, I don’t think there’s too many teams where it’s better to be. The have the potential as an organization to improve and be one of the absolute top teams.

“Those conversations behind the scenes need to stay behind the scenes, because that’s between us and the decisions we will make. At the same time, it comes down to results, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to win. We’re not just here to compete, and they’re showing the improvements to me already.”

Similarly, VeeKay said his own priority is becoming increasingly competitive with the only IndyCar home he’s known. After runs to a career-best 12^th in points both in 2021 and 2022, the Dutch driver thinks a top-10 is very much in play.

“I have to focus on myself to get the best possible result out of what we have, but as a team, we need to put a step forward to being a competitive team and start challenging those top-4 teams,” he said Friday.

With Andretti Global seemingly happy with its three-driver lineup it has secured through 2026, and with it likely too early to have a feeling for how Chip Ganassi Racing will move forward with its trio of young drivers all signed to multi-year deals (thought to be loaded with team options), Team Penske’s Newgarden decision, Arrow McLaren’s choice whether to look toward at least one swap and the hopes of RLL and ECR to keep their young stars locked down are where this seemingly never-ending marry-go-round begins this year.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: O'Ward's new deal hints at major payday for Newgarden, IndyCar free agents