ST. LOUIS - Finally. This is what IndyCar and its fans have been craving. It’s finally Penske vs. Penske with some bad blood in the water.

Josef Newgarden’s controversial — and ultimately, race-deciding — pass of Simon Pagenaud late in Saturday night’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 had the Frenchman irate after the race, saying he no longer trusted or respected his young teammate.

Good.

For too long this season, when it came to intrasquad competition, the dominant Penske brigade played nice, pretending to be above ego and sometimes even ambition.

Every time they were asked about running up front together, their cookie-cutter answers boiled down to something like: As long as a Penske crosses the finish line first, we’re happy.

Snooze.

Also, that’s not true. How could it be? Sure, they wear the same colors off the track, but these are four superstars in the sport. Four alpha males. All four are gunning for a championship, and all the while, we’re expected to believe they’re patting each other on the back every race weekend? Come on.

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In what could be his final IndyCar season, Helio Castroneves is desperate to finally win a series championship; Pagenaud badly wants to defend his; Power is fighting to keep pace with the legendary Scott Dixon; and Newgarden, as Townsend Bell put it, seems hellbent on “unleashing a fire and fury the likes of which IndyCar has never seen before.”

With all of that on the line, how could this not turn into a game of cutthroat? Well, 14½ races into the year, it seemed like the sparks might never fly, but Newgarden changed everything with that pass of Pagenaud.

Good for him for not playing nice anymore. Good for him for taking a risk to lock up a crucial win. And most of all, good for him for not apologizing for it afterward.

“It’s racing,” Newgarden said with a grin. “Simon knows that.”

In other words, get over it.

Right or wrong, that’s a beautiful sentiment and should be music to fans’ ears. With two races remaining and a championship on the line, we’re finally going to see these uber-talents really go at it. What a treat.

What is going on at Chip Ganassi Racing?

Fair warning, there are few answers coming here, just a lot of questions.

Other than Scott Dixon’s championship chase, nothing seems to be going well at Chip Ganassi Racing.

Let’s start with Max Chilton, who lambasted his team over the radio last week when he fell a few laps behind and they told him to pit despite having no significant mechanical problems.

“I’d love to know who is giving this instruction, because they’re brain dead,” Chilton chided over the radio. “This is the first time we’ve had a decent car in a while. Why can’t we learn? Or are we just a quitting team?"

After being told he needs to pit, Chilton replied, “I can’t wait for next year” and upon getting hold of his phone, tweeted, “I am not a quitter.”

Safe to say Chilton won’t be back with Ganassi next season, but where will he go? Smart money has Chilton leaving for Carlin Racing, which is rumored to be aiming at a full-time team next year. Chilton’s father owns a major ownership stake in that operation, which currently runs in a number of series, including Indy Lights.

Next up it the CGR fiasco, there’s Tony Kanaan. Kanaan, who recently said he is not retiring and declared himself a free agent, kicked off Saturday’s race in interesting fashion, spinning out during a pace lap and hitting the wall. He returned to the track and ran a majority of the race two to three laps down before unexpectedly coming off track, jumping on his scooter and heading to his trailer.

When Kanaan was asked by the TV broadcast why his day was done, he replied simply, “Talk to Chip.”

IndyStar reached out to Kanaan for comment Sunday but did not immediately hear back.

Again, safe to say Kanaan will not be back at CGR next season, but the tea leaves spelling out his next ride are harder to read. There should be plenty of seats open, and plenty of owners who’d be happy to have a driver of Kanaan’s talents.

Finally, there’s Charlie Kimball. His future at CGR is up in the air as well, as he been speaking to a number of teams about next year. He told IndyStar only that “everything is pretty delicate right now.”

He, like Kanaan, has not officially ruled out a return to Ganassi, but a 2018 reunion seems very unlikely. So will Ganassi really have three seats to fill for next season? Or does he plan to trim his garage? A lot of questions surround CGR right now and there are very few answers.

Daly doing all he can to keep IndyCar ride

Conor Daly will be the first to admit his first season at A.J. Foyt Racing has not gone as he’d hoped, but for a few hours Saturday night, the past didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the 25-year-old had a fantastic car, and he showed exactly why he had been looking forward to this race for months.

Daly conceded that his fifth-place finish might have been the best and most satisfying drive of his career. It certainly was his best of a trying season.

“I have to thank the team,” a jubilant Daly said after the race. “They gave me a great a car. All night. Really thankful to be here.”

He then added some perspective on just how important the drive was to his uncertain future with Foyt and in IndyCar.

“I want to have this job as a driver for as long as I can,” he said. “I’m trying to do everything I can to make sure that happens.”

Daly was fortunate that his big night didn’t end early and in disaster. On Lap 180, while trying to make a pass, he was nearly taken out by Kimball.

Kimball seemed to have dived down the front straightaway to keep Daly from going around, but IndyCar race control didn’t deem the action worth penalizing, much to Daly’s chagrin.

"How did he get away with that? Reactionary blocking! What an idiot," Daly yelled over the radio.

After the race, Daly had calmed down a bit but was still put off by by Kimball’s “silly” racing.

“The guy hit me, like twice. It was unreal,” Daly said. “And he hit Carlos (Munoz), too. Knocked Carlos damn near into the wall. And he drove into my wing as I was coming underneath him. It was kind of a shame to see that. Normally I race together quite well with him. But that was just kind of silly.”

Early congrats to the Indy Lights champion to-be

It’s not official yet, but when Kyle Kaiser starts the season finale at Watkins Glen, the Juncos Racing driver will be the 2017 Indy Lights champion. After his fourth-place finish Saturday night at Gateway Motorsports Park, Kaiser leads the championship by 31 points and will clinch his title simply by showing up at The Glen.

That title is accompanied by a $1 million scholarship and three guaranteed races in the Verizon IndyCar Series next year.

Many expect Kaiser, who has won three races so far this year, to put that scholarship to use with Juncos Racing, which is trying to make the jump to IndyCar as a full-season team. However, there is no guarantee that happens by next year, and Kaiser could find himself looking at a different opportunity. He, like so many others, will likely have to wait until silly season shakes out before knowing his future for certain.

Follow IndyStar reporter Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.

