Scott Dixon finished a remarkable second in the opening race around the streets of Belle Isle on Saturday despite racing with a painful left ankle, which he has been struggling with throughout the week following his vicious crash during the Indianapolis 500.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had limited his laps during practice in order to rest his ankle as much as possible, but came through from sixth on the grid to finish as Graham Rahal’s closest challenger, but even he had nothing for the eventual race winner.
For Dixon, he will now be resting the ankle and preparing himself for more of the same on Sunday for race two, although he hopes to improve the performance of his car to be in with a better shot of victory.
“It was a tough race no matter what,” admitted Dixon, who’s second place moves him to the top of the championship standings. “Physically for me it was tougher than normal.
“I think I was favouring a lot of things, but I’m just so proud of the whole Camping World crew. They did an amazing job, and the car was fast. Today was great for points.
“I’m definitely going to go back to my RV here and put my foot in a big bucket of ice, and see if I can cool it off. Hopefully get some good rest tonight and obviously qualifying tomorrow is going to be key for the race.
“We’ve got to come out blazing. We’ve definitely got to improve the car – it’s not perfect right now.”
