The turnaround was much-needed for the 33-year-old Swede after enduring a miserable month of May that began with a big practice crash and ended with a wreck on the opening lap of the Indianapolis 500.
Coming to the tight and twisty 1.645-mile, nine-turn temporary street course set in the heart of Motor City, Ericsson – who joined Andretti Global over the off-season – only had one top 15 finish (fifth, Long Beach) through the opening five points-paying races.
“It was a really tough month of May,” Ericsson said. “We had a habit of a tough start.
“St. Pete and Long Beach, we showed we were fast. Should have been top five, top six in both those races.
“Yeah, going into this weekend after the month of May we had, it was really tough mentally. That month of May was draining because we had to work so hard and we got so little.
“I think the whole No. 28 group has come together well going into this weekend. We all talked together and said let's reset, press that big red button, reset, get our 2024 2.0 going. That was the mindset coming into this weekend.”
After starting ninth, Ericsson dodged the plethora of chaos that delivered eight cautions that slowed 47 of 100 laps, made only two stops and was on the charge to challenge for victory in the late stages.
On the final restart on lap 75, he lined up fifth, but marched past the likes of team-mate Kyle Kirkwood and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong to progress up to second.
He had only the last two laps to make up over two seconds on race winner Scott Dixon, ending up only 0.8567s behind the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda at the checkered flag.
“Yeah, I think we (had) 15 laps to go when I felt the car was really good,” Ericsson said. “I had no fuel concerns.
“I could push hard. Then I could see Scott and Marcus up the road. The tough thing is with Scott Dixon, he's the best ever in doing what he did today, like saving the fuel, then having enough pace. If there is someone that's hard to beat, it's him. It was tough.
“Also Marcus (Armstrong) here put on a really good fight. Yeah, one more lap, who knows what would have happened. I think he did a really good job.
“We'll have to take a P2 today. We tried. We gave it everything.”
The combination of Dixon, Ericsson, Armstrong and Kirkwood also gave Honda a sweep of the top four spots – and did so at the headquarters of General Motors no less – to provide a quick response after Chevrolet went 1-2 in the Indy 500 and also swept the Fast Six in qualifying.
“It felt good to spoil the party, for sure,” Ericsson said with a wide smile. “Honda did a great job this weekend.
“We obviously had a tougher month of May than we would have liked as a manufacturer. I know how hard they work over at HRC.
“This 1-2-3-4 couldn't be better for us.”
