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INDIANAPOLIS — For more than a month, questions have swirled around Ed Jones’ future with Chip Ganassi Racing, and few were more surprised to hear those whispers than Jones himself.

“It was a bit unexpected to me,” the driver of the No. 10 car told IndyStar on Tuesday, three days after his eighth-place finish at Gateway Motorsports Park. “From the inside, it seemed everything was great. I never heard one word that things weren’t good. It was very peculiar. I want to stay with the team, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.”

Jones’ maiden season at CGR has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride. The highs have included a third-place finish at Long Beach along with Detroit Dual 2, where the 23-year-old Jones not only out-qualified his legend of a teammate, Scott Dixon, but also edged him to score his second podium of the season. Then there was Gateway last weekend, where Jones battled with championship contenders up front before scoring his seventh top-10 finish of the season and fifth since Indy.

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Jones knows, though, that he wasn’t brought in to CGR to score top-10s. He was brought in to win races, and so far, he hasn’t done that.

What’s more, he’s also endured some brutal rough patches. May (22nd at the IndyCar Grand Prix and 31st at the Indianapolis 500) was a bitter disappointment, considering his fabulous rookie run at the 500 last season (third) and Dixon’s sterling May results (second at the Indy GP and third at the 500).

Before Gateway, it had been two months since he lasted posted a top-10 finish — though some bad luck reared its head at Mid-Ohio, where Jones suffered the latest of three tire punctures this season.

There’s no doubt, he concedes: Year 1 at CGR has had its ups and downs, so he was truly looking forward to returning in Year 2 and showing the IndyCar world how much he’s improved.

Except, he might not get that chance. Jones said he recently sat down with CGR management. He said they gave him no “clear answer” about his future with the team.

That comes amid persistent rumors that 26-year-old Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist will replace him in the No. 10 car next year.

Team manager Mike Hull told IndyStar on Tuesday that other than Dixon — who recently signed a multi-year extension with CGR — no decision has been made about next year’s drivers. He said that team has no plans to expand its two-car program.

“We would like to have a place for Ed, but nothing is settled at this point,” Hull said. “I feel the same about Ed as I did at the beginning of the season. He’s an enormously talented, unselfish individual who possess everything it takes on the race track to get it done.

“But at this point, we’re not ready to announce anything as to where we’re going next year.”

In light of the uncertainty, Jones has been talking to other teams about possible openings for next year — though he declined to specify which teams he’s engaged.

Jones said he wished he weren't in a situation where he had to engage other teams, though. Ten months ago, when he left Dale Coyne Racing to sign with CGR, he called it an “amazing opportunity.” He still feels that way.

“You have to do what you can to protect your own interest, so I’m seeing what’s available and looking at seeing what position I can get into to be competitive in IndyCar,” Jones told IndyStar. “The ideal situation would be to stay with Ganassi. I really enjoy my time with the team there. I have a good relationship with Scott and all of the engineers. It’s a good atmosphere. From that side, everything feels good.”

Jones was confident that no matter how things shake out at Ganassi, he will be in an Indy car next year.

The learning curve at Ganassi has been a steep one, Jones admitted. Team support has been wonderful, but over the course of Dixon’s nearly two decades with the team, setups of the car and characteristics of the car have been naturally tailored to suit the legend’s tastes.

Jones has no complaints about that — it’s Dixon’s team, and Jones regards him as one of the best to ever sit in an Indy car cockpit — but said it takes time for another driver to learn the nuances of how the Kiwi prefers the car.

“It’s not always something other drivers are familiar with or doesn’t really work for them,” Jones said. “Most other drivers have struggled here recently, but I think we're starting to get into a place where we were figuring things out. … Detroit we were on an identical setup and that worked for both of us. Other places, I’ve struggled, but it’s a process.

“So it’s frustrating, because I feel like one more year … things are just starting to click now. I just need a clean run at it, and I can be really strong.”

Jones cited Ed Carpenter, Sarah Fisher and “Wink” Hartman’s patience with Josef Newgarden during the reigning champion’s initial years in the series. Newgarden wasn’t always a superstar, Jones said. He was always immensely talented, of course, but it took time for that talent to develop and manifest into results.

Regardless of what happens at CGR, Jones is confident he, too, will blossom into a IndyCar championship contender one day.

“This situation is tough,” Jones said, “but I signed up for this sport. This is the way it is. I’m not bitter. I’ve had great opportunities and I’m looking forward to showing people what I can do and proving any doubts about me wrong.”

Follow IndyStar Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter and Facebook: @jimayello