New Zealand IndyCar star Scott Dixon kept his 2019 championship hopes alive with a podium finish on the streets of Toronto but indicated he is struggling with an injury that will need surgery.
Dixon finished second to Simon Pagenaud in Canada on Monday (NZT), overcoming early contact and slight car damage to recover strongly.
With series pacesetter Josef Newgarden finishing fourth, Dixon was able to eat into the American driver's lead on the points table.
It was Dixon's sixth podium in 11 races and with six races left the five-time champion hasn't given up defending his title.
The Kiwi started the race 94 points adrift of Newgarden and is now 86 points behind and still in fourth place with six races left in the championship.
Dixon, who started second on the grid, had a thrilling duel with pole-sitter Pagenaud.
Dixon lived up to his pre-race talk of an aggressive approach, put real heat on the Indy 500 champion over the final quarter of the race but was frustrated by lapped traffic as he looked claim his second chequered flag of the season.
Dixon, a three-time winner in Toronto, was pressing again on the final lap when his hopes were extinguished by a full yellow caution with Australian Will Power's crashed car in a dangerous position.
"We just didn't have the pace to get past Simon. We are making up points at the right time but ultimately we came up just short," Dixon said.
"All in all a good day to get some points but we need bigger hits than that."
Dixon indicated he will need offseason surgery on an ailing elbow - he has described the ligament strain as "tennis elbow" - and that it bothered him during his drive.
The slick Pagenaud led for 80 of the 85 laps showing consistent speed and good strategy with tyres and fuel to grab his third win of the season.
"I was confident all weekend, I never had a doubt," said Pagenaud who top-paced nearly every practice session.
"We were only focused on ourselves. I never really looked at who was behind. We were just focused on getting the car where we wanted it to be.
"Those days are the best. There are a lot of bad days in racing, but those sweet days make up for it."
The series now moves to Iowa next weekend.