Scott Dixon on Indy 500: "We had to take a gamble"

New Zealand's Scott Dixon has reflected on his weekend Indianapolis 500 race result — a third place that could have quite easily become a victory.

After going off-sequence for the last stint, Dixon emerged as the leading car to have made all of its pit stops. Dixon was able to stretch his fuel consumption to the end of the race, but lacked the pace to hold off race winner Will Power or pole-sitter Ed Carpenter. 

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"We were trying to save fuel at the end and we knew we had to take a gamble with the PNC Bank car," Dixon said.

"We just didn't have the speed, and the restarts were tough for us. That [finish] was all due to my team, though. They made that great strategy call and all I did was get the fuel number they gave me.

"Huge congrats to [race winner] Will Power. I know he's been very hungry for this and congratulations to him."

The result was Dixon's second podium of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, and moved him to fourth place in the title standings behind series leader Power, Alexander Rossi, and defending series champ Josef Newgarden. 

In terms of Dixon's Indy 500 results, last weekend's feat ranks as his fourth podium finish in 16 years of attempts — alongside his famous victory in 2008 and second-place finishes across 2007 and 2012. 

With 'The Month of May' now complete, the IndyCar circus now prepares to travel to Belle Isle Park in Detroit for a double-header event on June 2 and June 3.