SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The majority of Marcus Ericsson’s career was devoted to trying to prove his racing prowess.
As a result, the 32-year-old Swede enjoyed every second of the apparently lengthy victory lap as he crossed the finish line first at the Indianapolis 500 last year.
The defending race winner and current leader in the IndyCar standings is returning to the Brickyard with a new objective: demonstrating why he merits a new contract.
Two days before the Indianapolis Grand Prix on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course, he declared on Thursday, “I want to be hired as a professional racing driver for my skills as a driver.” “I feel that I merit that. So that’s what I’m trying to do.”
After describing himself as a “pay driver,” someone who joins a team because of the sponsorship money attached to the driver rather than someone contracted to the team regardless of sponsorship cash, Ericsson’s résumé unquestionably appears different a year later.
That was maybe irrevocably transformed by Indy.
He finished sixth in the final standings for the second consecutive year after earning his third career IndyCar victory and enduring the customary post-race victory media splash. Dixon, a six-time series champion and Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate finished third, finishing just 15 points ahead of Dixon.
Ericsson won the first race of the year in March in St. Petersburg, Florida, and he has four top-10 finishes so far this season, giving him a three-point advantage over Pato O’Ward as we head into May. In order to win the race last May, Ericsson had to fend off O’Ward on the penultimate restart.
Ericsson, one of just two Swedish winners of the 500, stated, “I’ve been working my entire career to get where I am today and I’ve gone through a lot of tough years.” Kenny Braack was the other winner. “I don’t think I’ve won a race in eight years. To keep working and believing in myself, I really push myself.
“I’ve devoted my entire life to racing and have worked so hard to position myself to be able to win a major race, so I find it difficult to adequately express how it feels to win the greatest event.”
Off the track, he has also been quite active.
The Borg-Warner Trophy departed American soil for the fourth time when Ericsson brought it back to his native Sweden in November. He visited the Swedish Embassy while in Stockholm, appeared in many magazine photo shoots, and took part in a nocturnal celebration on the city square in Kumla, where he was born and raised.
Ericsson visited the NHL’s New York offices and saw an NHL game at Madison Square Garden in February. After two weeks, he returned to Indianapolis to see the NBA’s Indiana Pacers and meet rap artist, actor, and television producer 50 Cent.
Ganassi noted earlier this year that compared to other previous winners, “He seems to have gotten more out of winning the Indy 500.” “He has traveled the world. Marcus, the squad, and the series have benefited greatly from it.”
He used his time off in April to Wed Greek beauty Iris Tritsaris Jondahl.
