Scott Dixon detours from IndyCar to drive 12 Hours of Sebring

Being persistent and being talented has allowed Scott Dixon to quietly construct a career of mounting milestones: tied for fifth in all-time IndyCar wins with 35, second in series history with three championships.

Being willing has put the 2008 Indianapolis 500-winner in position to join more elite company this weekend at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway. Partnered with Scott Pruett and Joey Hand in Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 01 Ford EcoBoost Riley Prototype, Dixon could become just the 19th driver and first since 1998 to win the 12 Hours of Sebring and Rolex 24 in the same year.

Dixon, 34, drove the final stint this January in helping his IndyCar teammate Tony Kanaan and his Ganassi counterparts in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Larson, claim the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Didier Theys, Mauro Baldi and Gianpiero Moretti won both Florida sports car classics in 1998 for Doran Racing. Dixon, who trails former teammate Dario Franchitti by one IndyCar title, also won the Rolex in 2006.

"I love it. I always put my hand up if there's a ride going at another part of the team," Dixon told USA Today Sports. "It's fun and exciting, actually, to follow other drivers and people from the team in other races or on off weekends, but to join for the big ones, the 24 Hour, the 12 Hour, we're all very lucky to have that addition to the team as well."

Dixon and McMurray swapped race cars for a day at Barber Motorsports Park and Talladega Superspeedway, respectively, in Alabama for an afternoon in 2011 and Dixon lobbied for a full Sprint Cup test that was eventually scuttled because of scheduling conflicts. Moonlighting for trophies seems satisfying, however.

"Very few teams have that. It's nice to show up and actually, everything is the same, you see the same faces," Dixon said. "It's another perk of the job, I guess."

Especially since Ganassi has won seven United SportsCar titles, a record six Rolex 24s and last year — with Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti driving — gave Ford an overall win in at Sebring for the first time since 1969. Pruett and Hand finished 23rd at Daytona in January after retiring with a clutch failure.

"We're going down there to win. Obviously, that's our goal," Dixon said.

​PHOTOS: Behind the wheel with Scott Dixon